I've never heard of Shalom Auslander before picking up Beware of God, his debut collection of short stories. I approached the book without any specific expectations, but ended up reading them all during a surprisingly warm afternoon at the park. I'm happy that I've read it and that I discovered Shalom Auslander, as his book is a total hoot, and I really had a lot of fun while reading it. I'm now looking forward to reading more of Shalom Auslander, and I'm already eyeing his novel and memoir.All fourteen stories collected here are - obviously - concerned with God and belief in general; it's difficult to classify them. I think that they'd be best described as a combination of parable with parody - a sort of satirical homage, so to speak. But what's most important is that these stories are funny - I have actually laughed out loud while reading this book, and the humor seemed to be cut out just for me - surreal, very satirical and quite dark, at times openly bordering on juvenile but never dumb (I know it sounds like a contradiction, but trust me - that's how it is). These stories contain a fair amount of profanity and swearing - but both are natural elements of language and everyday expression, and in Auslander's stories profanity comes naturally - it's not forced and put there for shock value, only to offend.Since the book is concerned with God and The Allmighty himself is not only portrayed in these stories but appears as an actual protagonist in several of them. None of these stories come off as purposefully blasphemous and written purely to attack the religious - although they contain elements of recognizable (Jewish) theology the're not pointing it out and mocking it. If anything, they show how a religion can eat its own tail and become lost in the endless dogmas and rules of the book, disassociated from the God that it worships and the reality of the believers who follow it.Having God as a protagonist is never easy, but Auslander pulls it off. How can we know the mind of God if he works in mysterious ways? However, if we're created in God's own image, doesn't it follow that He can be a bit like us? Can God not feel to well sometimes, and simply have a bad day when things don't go according to His divine plan? Can God say bad words? Well, here he can. We have an irritated and grumpy God having to arrange a drive-by to off a guy whom Death missed on his rounds; in another story God is a divine CEO who organizes a conference and has people go forward with proposals on how to make faith - and himself - more appealing in modern time. In another story, he becomes the annoying voice in a prophet's head, demanding all his wishes to be fulfilled and ultimately achieving the exact opposite result; In a highlight of the volume, a very religious and devoted man dies and discovers that God is literally a giant chicken - and is horrified by the thought of all the people who slobber on His Body every day, and begs to be allowed to go back and stop his wife and kids from going to the KFC.Stories also focus on the relationship towards God, or those whom we perceive to be God - two hamsters argue theologically at how to best please their divine benefactor who seems to have forgotten to fill up their food - a teenage boy with raging hormones; in what is probably my favorite story a man called Epstein reads Kabbalah for Dummies and creates himself a Golem, whom he intends to be his faithful servant - one who would obediently do the dishes, the laundry, and all the things that Epstein - his creator, and therefore, God - doesn't really like doing. Things go very well, so well in fact that Epstein decides to create a second Golem - two servants are always better than one! - but this proves to be a fatal mistake, as both Golems are total fundamentalists, hopelessly devoted to pleasing Epstein. Even when he issues them a simple order, they argue endlessly between themselves as how it should be interpreted and can never come into an agreement, driving old Epstein crazy - but the vain bastard sort of had this coming, and by the end we feel sorry for the poor Golems rather than for the man who created them.Humor is obviously a very subjective thing and a book like this will not appeal to every reader, but I believe that it deserves a wider audience than it has so far enjoyed. Beware of God is short and funny and bound to entertain those who don't fear the possibility of having some of their sensibilities ruffled - buy or borrow it, read it, laugh and share it with your friends, but maybe don't bring it to your Bible study group just yet.
"Straordinario.. C'è della genialità in Auslander. Le sue storie non vi usciranno più dalla testa". - The Guardian.Menghia vero, cioè, tipo quella in cui c'era..ma sì la tipa..oddio come si chiamava..WHATEVER, come dimenticare comunque quella..oddio me so' scordata il titolo..beh, ma però parlava..parlava.........The Guardian, ..seriously?L'aggettivo migliore per definire tutti questi racconti incentrati sul rapporto con la divinità ebraica è..inutile. Non metto in dubbio che alcuni, attenti, alcuni di questi siano anche carini, ma come hanno detto altri, ti fa pensare, ma non riflettere e sinceramente non ti fa nemmeno sorridere. E non perché sia triste, ma perché non ti suscitano proprio nulla.Auslander va a mirare ad un campo ormai trito e ritrito, l'ebreo sarcastico che ridicolizza la propria religione è quasi un prototipo. Ne parla Roth, Woody Allen ne è il simbolo. I primi due esempi che mi vengono in mente. Fra l'altro il libro di Roth sulla religione ebraica è Lamento di Portnoy, quello di Auslander Il lamento del prepuzio. Sospettosa la cosa, per quanto nella versione americana il lamento di Roth sia "complaint" e quello di Auslander "lament". Il succo è questo: oh tu ebreo dispettoso, se non hai niente di davvero efficace da dire, fai prima a non dir nulla. Quelli che si salvano dal mio disappunto sono Bobo, lo scimpanzé che si odiava, Lassù qualcuno ti ama, Una sola morte alla fine e Le allarmanti rivelazioni del libro perduto di Stan.Guarda caso quasi tutti trattano il tema del genere umano e della società odierna, lì Auslander se la cava. Niente di distinto o singolare, però se la cava. Su certi racconti m'interrogo ancora adesso. Ad esempio, Dritte sull'Olocausto per ragazzi è una serie di informazioni più o meno sapute e risapute, oppure inutili, sull'Olocausto e alcune indicazioni per un'ipotetica fuga. A leggerlo è quasi una schifezza tanto non ha utilità. A parte che..David Bowie nazista? Wtf?Ma anche Punisci i pagani, Charlie Brown è alquanto..insulso. Un racconto sulla continua battaglia fra Schulziani e Cocomeriani dopo la morte di Schulz. Scontri a ritmo di paccate, partire di baseball e i "santo cielo" di Charlie. Va bene, ma..embé? Forse è addirittura il racconto più embé di tutti. Si è capito il problema di questo libro per me.Non fa ridere né sorridere né intristire né riflettere.Essenzialmente è il nulla. (la faccia di Shalom mi fa paura..e se adesso mi viene a cercare sotto casa? che faccio, smentisco tutto e dico che ero in preda agli effetti dei funghi allucinogeni?)
What do You think about Beware Of God: Stories (2006)?
Catching up on my reviews...Picked this up, remaindered, because I'd admired a couple of Auslander stories I'd read elsewhere. Taken in this quantity, though, I'm less impressed; Auslander's stories, most of which are concerned with the religious-inflected travails of Jewish characters, read as if they were written by a less-funny Woody Allen, circa Without Feathers, one who was more concerned with theology than philosophy. I still admire "Holocaust Tips for Kids," which is the one story centered on a recognizable human character rather than an archetype, stereotype, or a concept masquerading as a character; much of the rest are merely diverting (though "Waiting for Joe" is just plain awful in its obviousness). He definitely can write, so it will be interesting to see if he's more than a one-trick pony.
—John
I had come to Auslander from his "Hope: A Tragedy," and was hoping to find similar hilarity in this collection of short form stories. Hilarity indeed! Mr. Auslander is perhaps even funnier in the short form than in the novel. His wit, sarcasm, and use of American Jewish life as a window on the American soul are artful and flawless. The stories herein are at once brilliant and tragic: much of the laughter stems from a sort of schadenfreude as we watch individuals flounder and fail.This is a book of characteristic style, and a strongly suggested read!
—Chory
These stories are razors. There is one about what happens to you if you discover new information about the holiest of Books. There is one about what happens when fundamentalism comes to Charlie Brown's neighborhood. There is one in which consciousness is bestowed upon a chimpanzee and all he gets out of it is poop. There is one that portrays God as a put-upon balancer of life and another one that portrays God as a chicken (not as in "yellow," but as in "buck-buck-ba-caw"). Auslander's head is damaged, scary place, but I found it full of cunning, moving allegory.Don't listen to the people who say you can't get this book if you aren't Jewish. I'm not Jewish. I got a lot out of it. What's more, the writing is crisp and smooth without seeming like he's trying too hard. Auslander clearly builds from his upbringing, but he is his own author. I read the whole book in a day and I don't even care that much for short stories.It's the next day and I'm already a quarter through Foreskin's Lament. You can see they are related. I imagine these are the stories he keeps deleting in the latter book.
—Sarah
