Shalom Auslander

En su lecho de muerte, la madre de esta novela susurra antes de apagarse: "Comedme". Todos sus hijos sabían que lo haría, pero no deja de ser un último deseo engorroso, cuando no cruel. Los Seltzer son canibal-americanos, pero los hermanos deben ahora enf

Vale, Dios no dice nada cuando Le hablan, asunto a partir del cual se han escrito pliegos interminables, pero no por eso es menos vengativo y cruel. Lógicamente, el mayor conspirador de la historia actua en silencio, y de El no hay manera de escapar, como bien sabe cualquier paranoico de orientacion pesimista (alguien que ha entendido la situacion y no temeria lo peor si no esperase algo mejor).Estamos hablando de Shalom Auslander, educado en la ortodoxia judia, de la cual se desvio primero a traves de la pornografia y la comida no kosher, la marihuana, el hurto y la masturbacion compulsiva, yluego a traves de una vida que podriamos llamar laica. Y que viene a ser lo mismo, porque el autor sigue creyendo es decir, temiendo de modo agobiante, incurable, miserable. Por eso, ahora que su hijo esta por nacer, no sabe si hacerle cortar el prepucio segun ordena la tradicion o esperar algo peor que la muerte, una tortura mas lenta, dolorosa y, sobre todo, divertida a los ojos de Dios.Dejando de lado la anecdota, este memoir (pues no hay aqui mas ficcion que en la Biblia, aunque tanto castigo parezca mentira) da cuenta de una rebelion inevitable y al mismo tiempo inutil. Estas Lamentaciones meditan, pues, sobre la identidad. ¿Soberania y sujecion a partes iguales? Nadie responde.Los calificativos hilarante aunque triste, subversivo e iconoclasta pero piadoso, conmovedor y sobre todo genial se repiten casi como una plegaria en los muchos elogios de la critica, junto a las comparaciones con Philip Roth, que no son odiosas porque Auslander incluso sale ganando, Sedaris, Eggers y Woody Allen. Si usted no se rie con el sufrimiento del autor, le devolvemos el dinero. Pero, si solo se rie y no padece y se maravilla y empieza a temer un castigo desproporcionado a su complicidad en la lectura de esta blasfemia, le recomendamos que vuelva a comprarla como se compra a veces, ingenuamente, el perdon.

Nuestro librero Albert Fernández (Librería de Barcelona Rambla) recomienda Lamentaciones de un prepucio: "Inaugurando el género de la autobiografía irreverente, Auslander se ríe de su borreguil educacion en la ortodoxia judia, del temor a Dios y de las laicas evasiones hacia la marihuana y la mastrubacion compulsiva. Dios es cruel".Vale, Dios no dice nada cuando Le hablan, asunto a partir del cual se han escrito pliegos interminables, pero no por eso es menos vengativo y cruel. Logicamente, el mayor conspirador de la historia actua en silencio, y de El no hay manera de escapar, como bien sabe cualquier paranoico de orientacion pesimista (alguien que ha entendido la situacion y no temeria lo peor si no esperase algo mejor). Estamos hablando de Shalom Auslander, educado en la ortodoxia judia, de la cual se desvio primero a traves de la pornografia y la comida no kosher, la marihuana, el hurto y la masturbacion compulsiva, y luego a traves de una vida que podriamos llamar laica. Y que viene a ser lo mismo, porque el autor sigue creyendo es decir, temiendo de modo agobiante, incurable, miserable. Por eso, ahora que su hijo esta por nacer, no sabe si hacerle cortar el prepucio segun ordena la tradicion o esperar algo peor que la muerte, una tortura mas lenta, dolorosa y, sobre todo, divertida a los ojos de Dios. Mas alla de la anecdota, este memoir (pues no hay aqui mas ficcion que en la Biblia, aunque tanto castigo parezca mentira) da cuenta de una rebelion inevitable y al mismo tiempo inutil. Estas Lamentaciones meditan, pues, sobre la identidad. ¿Soberania y sujecion a partes iguales? Nadie responde. Si usted no se rie con el sufrimiento del autor, le devolvemos el dinero. (Los calificativos hilarante aunque triste, subversivo e iconoclasta pero piadoso, conmovedor y sobre todo genial se repiten casi como una plegaria en los muchos elogios de la critica, junto a las comparaciones con Philip Roth, que no son odiosas porque Auslander incluso sale ganando, Sedaris, Eggers y Woody Allen). Pero, si solo se rie y no padece y se maravilla y empieza a temer un castigo desproporcionado a su complicidad en la lectura de esta blasfemia, le recomendamos que vuelva a comprarla como se compra a veces, ingenuamente, el perdon.

In his bitingly funny memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional Jewish family and wrestling with a vengeful God, Auslander's combination of unrelenting humor and anger renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith, family, and community.

Outrageous satire . . .extremely funny, weirdly touching' - Guardian'A work of genius' - Scotsman'Close-to-the-knuckle farce with a big beating heart' - Daily MailThis is the story of an unusual family. Though they are nothing like yours, you will recognize them. They are the last Cannibal-Americans.And they have a problem. When their mother dies, twelve children gather to dispose of the body in the traditional manner . .. by eating it. But can they follow the ancient rituals of consumption? Is their unique cultural heritage worth preserving if it's this gross? And what about dietary requirements - one of them is vegan.Surely it can't be this hard to do the right thing?Mother for Dinner is a dark comedy about modern life and its many difficulties.

Violent rabbis, lovelorn wives, a busy Grim Reaper, shame-filled simians, and one seriously angry deity populate this humorous and disquieting collection. Shalom Auslanders stories in Beware of God have the mysterious punch of a dream. They are wide ranging and inventive: A young Jewish mans inexplicable transformation into a very large, blond, tattooed goy ends with a Talmudic argument over whether or not his father can beat his unclean son with a copy of the Talmud. A pious man having a near-death experience discovers that God is actually a chicken, and hes forced to reconsider his life -- and his diet. At Gods insistence, Leo Schwartzman searches Home Depot for supplies for an ark. And a young boy mistakes Holocaust Remembrance Day as emergency preparedness training for the future. Auslander draws upon his upbringing in an Orthodox Jewish community in New York State to craft stories that are filled with shame, sex, God, and death, but also manage to be wickedly funny and poignant.

Après La Lamentation du prépuce, Attention : dieu méchant et LEspoir, cette tragédie, Shalom Auslander fait un retour fracassant avec un roman encore plus drôle et plus iconoclaste... Un livre tout e

ONE OF THE TIMES BEST LITERARY NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2024Hurrah for one of our most merciless humorists. Auslanders prose isnt just laudable, its frightening David SedarisFrom the acclaimed author of Foreskins Lament, a memoir of the authors attempt to escape the biblical story hed been raised on and his struggle to construct a new story for himself and his family.Shalom Auslander was raised like a veal in a dysfunctional family in the Orthodox community of Monsey, New York: the son of an alcoholic father; a guilt-wielding mother; and a violent, overbearing God. Now, as he reaches middle age, Auslander begins to suspect that what plagues him is something worse, something he cant so easily escape: a story. The story. One indelibly implanted in him at an early age, a story that told him he is fallen, broken, shameful, disgusting, a story we have all been told for thousands of years, and continue to be told by the religious and secular alike, a story called "Feh."Yiddish for "Yuck."FEH follows Auslanders midlife journey to rewrite that story, a journey that involves Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a Pulitzer-winning poet, Job, Arthur Schopenhauer, GHB, Wolf Blitzer, Yuval Noah Harari, and a pastor named Steve in a now-defunct church in Los Angeles.Can he move from feh to merely meh? Can he even dream of moving beyond that? Auslanders recounting of his attempt to exorcize the story he was raised with-before he implants it onto his children and/or possibly poisons the relationship of the one woman who loves him-isnt sacred. It is more-than-occasionally profane. And like all his work, it is also relentlessly funny, subversively heartfelt, and fearlessly provocative.

Lamentacións dun prepucio revela episodios da infancia e adolescencia do autor nunha comunidade xudía ortodoxa estricta e rememora a súa rebelión e esforzos por emanciparse, a través da pornografía, a comida non kosher, a marihuana, o furto e a masturbacion compulsiva, ata acadar unha vida practicamente laica. Poren, o autor segue crendo de xeito abafante, incurable e miserable. Agora que vai ter un fillo, debatese entre cortarlle o prepucio ou esperar algo peor ca a morte. Comparado en varias ocasions con Woody Allen e Phillip Roth, Shalom Auslander brinda un rico e fascinante retrato dun home pelexando coa fe e a familia cunha mestura de humor e ira.

Shalom Auslanders stories have the mysterious punch of a dream: a pious man having a near-death experience discovers that God is actually a chicken, and is forced to reconsider his life and his diet. Leo Schwartzman searches Home Depot for supplies for an ark. And a young boy mistakes Holocaust Remembrance Day as emergency-preparedness training for the future. Auslander draws upon his Orthodox Jewish upbringing to craft stories that are filled with shame, sex, God and death.

Possibly the funniest novel of the decadeSunday Times, Books of the Decade 2010-2019 Solomon Kugel has had enough of the past and its burdens. So, in the hope of starting afresh, he moved his family to a small rural town where nothing of import has ever happened. Sadly, Kugels life isnt that simple. His family soon find themselves threatened by a local arsonist and his ailing mother wont stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she didnt actually suffer through. And when, one night, Kugel discovers a living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of history hiding in his attic, bad very quickly becomes worse.The humour, at times can leave you gasping . . . comic brilliance Sunday Times Singularly inventive and superbly shocking . . . nothing short of genius Scotland on Sunday He will make you laugh until your heart breaks New York Times Book Review

Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for God. Even as he grew up, defying and eventually being cast out of his community, he could not find his way to a life in which he wasnt locked in a daily struggle with Him. Foreskins Lament is a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith, his family and his community. Bracing and witty . . . Never, frankly, can there have been a more blasphemous book . . . Foreskins Lament somehow expresses the ideas of Richard Dawkins in the tone of David Sedaris. You can read it for the humour, you can read it as reportage into a secretive and bizarre world, you can read it as a personal tale of triumph over adversity, or you can just read it for the misery. It doesnt really matter. But do read it William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday One of the funniest books Ive ever read, killingly so Hilary Spurling, Observer Exceptional . . . very, very funny Time Out Painfully poignant and hilariously noir Jewish Chronicle By turns hilarious and devastating . . . Few books are laugh-out-loud funny. This one is Naomi Alderman, Sunday Times Americas hottest, funniest, most controversial young Jewish memoirist . . . blackly hilarious, groundbreaking The Times

SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021Outrageous satire . . . extremely funny, weirdly touching GuardianA work of genius ScotsmanClose-to-the-knuckle farce with a big beating heart Daily MailThis is the story of an unusual family. Though they are nothing like yours, you will recognize them. They are the last Cannibal-Americans. And they have a problem.When their mother dies, twelve children gather to dispose of the body in the traditional manner . . . by eating it. But can they follow the ancient rituals of consumption? Is their unique cultural heritage worth preserving if its this gross? And what about dietary requirements - one of them is vegan. Surely it cant be this hard to do the right thing?Mother for Dinner is a dark comedy about modern life and its many difficulties.

From the acclaimed author of Foreskins Lament, a memoir of the authors attempt to escape the biblical story hed been raised on and his struggle to construct a new story for himself and his familyShalom Auslander was raised like a veal in a dysfunctional family in the Orthodox community of Monsey, New York: the son of an alcoholic father; a guilt-wielding mother; and a violent, overbearing God. Now, as he reaches middle age, Auslander begins to suspect that what plagues him is something worse, something he cant so easily escape: a story. The story. One indelibly implanted in him at an early age, a story that told him he is fallen, broken, shameful, disgusting, a story we have all been told for thousands of years, and continue to be told by the religious and secular alike, a story called "Feh."Yiddish for "Yuck."Feh follows Auslanders midlife journey to rewrite that story, a journey that involves Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a Pulitzer-winning poet, Job, Arthur Schopenhauer, GHB, Wolf Blitzer, Yuval Noah Harari and a pastor named Steve in a now-defunct church in Los Angeles.Can he move from Feh to merely meh? Can he even dream of moving beyond that?Auslanders recounting of his attempt to exorcize the story he was raised withbefore he implants it onto his children and/or possibly poisons the relationship of the one woman who loves himisnt sacred. It is more-than-occasionally profane. And like all his work, it is also relentlessly funny, subversively heartfelt and fearlessly provocative.

A New York Times Notable Book, and a chaotic, laugh riot (San Francisco Chronicle) of a memoir. Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for God. Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find the path to a life where he didnt struggle daily with the fear of Gods formidable wrath. Foreskins Lament reveals Auslanders painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox Jewish community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. His combination of unrelenting humor and anger renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith and family.

A hilarious and haunting examination of the burdens and abuse of history, propelled with unstoppable rhythm and filled with existential musings and mordant wit.The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: no one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has ever happened there, which is why Solomon Kugel, like other urbanites fleeing their pasts and histories, decided to move his wife and young son there. To begin again. To start anew. But it isnt quite working out that way for KugelHis ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life, and wont stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further, some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one Kugel bought, and when, one night, he discovers historya living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of historyhiding upstairs in his attic, bad quickly becomes worse.Auslander gives us a comic and compelling story of the hopeless longing to be free of those pasts that haunt our every present.

By the author of Foreskins Lament, a novel of identity, tribalism, and mothers.Seventh Seltzer has done everything he can to break from the past, but in his overbearing, narcissistic mothers last moments he is drawn back into the life he left behind. At her deathbed, she whispers in his ear the two words he always knew she would: "Eat me."This is not unusual, as the Seltzers are Cannibal-Americans, a once proud and thriving ethnic group, but for Seventh, it raises some serious questions, both practical and emotional. Of practical concern, his dead mother is six-foot-two and weighs about four hundred and fifty pounds. Even divided up between Seventh and his eleven brothers, thats a lot of red meat. Plus Second keeps kosher, Ninth is vegan, First hated her, and Sixth is dead. To make matters worse, even if he can wrangle his brothers together for a feast, the Can-Am people have assimilated, and the only living Cannibal who knows how to perform the ancient ritual is their Uncle Ishmael, whose erratic understanding of their traditions leads to conflict. Seventh struggles with his mothers deathbed request. He never loved her, but the sense of guilt and responsibility he feels--to her and to his people and to his "unique cultural heritage"--is overwhelming. His mother always taught him he was a link in a chain, thousands of people long, stretching back hundreds of years. But, as his brother First says, hes getting tired of chains. Irreverent and written with Auslanders incomparable humor, Mother for Dinner is an exploration of legacy, assimilation, the things we owe our families, and the things we owe ourselves.

Todo hombre tiene derecho a ser infeliz, y quizá tenga incluso el deber. La esperanza (por ejemplo, del que añora ser feliz) es nociva, y la humanidad se habría ahorrado muchos problemas si no fuese adicta a este engañoso narcotico.¿Hitler? El mayor optimista del siglo xx: un soñador, un romantico. Despues de todo, nada mas esperanzado que la idea de una solucion, encima final. ¿Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot? Tres cuartos de lo mismo.Asi podrian resumirse las enseñanzas del Profesor Jove, terapeuta sui generis al que Solomon Kugel acude porque, paradojicamente, sueña con una vida mejor.Victima de la esperanza, Kugel no solo es padre, sino que ha decidido llevarse a su familia a una casa rural en Stockton, Estados Unidos,un poblado donde nunca ha pasado nada, del que no ha salido nadie famoso excepto un piromano muy activo en los ultimos tiempos.Kugel quiere empezar una vida nueva, quitarse de encima el peso de la historia; la suya, personal y familiar, y la de su pueblo. Porque ambas historias parecen una y la misma. Su madre solo ha estado en un campo de concentracion durante una visita turistica, pero se comporta como si fuera Ana Frank.Hasta que un olor fetido y unos ruiditos llevan a Kugel a descubrir a una mujer que lleva treinta o cuarenta años escondida en el desvan (se trata, al finy al cabo, de una casa antigua). Y que dice ser, ella si, Ana Frank.