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Auslander's combination of unrelenting humor and anger--one that draws comparisons to memoirists David Sedaris and Dave Eggers--renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith, family, and community.
Riverhead Hardcover
October 2007
On Sale: October 4, 2007
320 pages
ISBN: 1594489556
EAN: 9781594489556
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction 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 his way to a life where he didn't struggle against God
daily. Foreskin's Lament reveals Auslander's youth
in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox community, and
recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart
from it. Auslander remembers his youthful attempt to win the
"blessing bee" (the Orthodox version of a spelling bee), his
exile to an Orthodox-style reform school in Israel after
he's caught shoplifting Union Bay jeans from the mall, and
his fourteen mile hike to watch the New York Rangers play in
Madison Square Garden without violating the Sabbath.
Throughout, Auslander struggles to understand God and His
complicated, often contradictory laws. He tries to negotiate
with God and His representatives-a day of sin-free living
for a day of indulgence, a blessing for each profanity. But
ultimately, Shalom settles for a peaceful cease-fire, a
standoff with God, and accepts the very slim remaining hope
that his newborn son might live free of guilt, doubt, and
struggle. Auslander's combination of unrelenting humor
and anger--one that draws comparisons to memoirists David
Sedaris and Dave Eggers--renders a rich and fascinating
portrait of a man grappling with his faith, family, and
community.
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