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Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16
by
Moshe Kasher
Rising young comedian Moshe Kasher is lucky to be alive. He started using drugs when he was just 12. At that point, he had already been in psychoanlysis for 8 years. By the time he was 15, he had been in and out of several mental institutions, drifting from therapy to rehab to arrest to...you get the picture. But KASHER IN THE RYE is not an "eye opener" to the horrors of a...more
ebook, 320 pages
Published
March 28th 2012
by Grand Central Publishing
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I only really know Moshe Kasher from the two times I've heard him as a guest on Stop Podcasting Yourself, an excellent podcast from Vancouver based comedians Graham Clark and Dave Schumka. His appearances were pretty funny, the guy has a quick wit and an interesting sense of humor.
On his most recent two appearances, he talked about writing a book that detailed his pretty sordid past involving drugs and mental health. Having gone through so much before his sixteenth birthday, there was no way thi...more
On his most recent two appearances, he talked about writing a book that detailed his pretty sordid past involving drugs and mental health. Having gone through so much before his sixteenth birthday, there was no way thi...more
I was reluctant to start it for reasons that have nothing to do with the book or author, but once I did, I thought it was excellent, and I don't even really like Catcher in the Rye so much. As a memoir, I appreciated that the author didn't spend too much time on insight, because it would have disrupted the voice and recounting of events--sometimes description stands on its own and the reader can make their connections. The better authors avoid anvils, and I think Kasher's writing is polished and...more
I had heard Moshe was a comedian, but I knew him from else elsewhere and had never looked into it. I used to live in Seattle and was back for a few nights for work. A mutual friend told me Moshe was passing through on his comedy/book tour and picked up a copy of the book there.
I had told my mother about all of this. She called me the other day and said she had read the book. Her brief comments carried a weight that conveyed there was more to say than words could be found for. Something unspoken...more
I had told my mother about all of this. She called me the other day and said she had read the book. Her brief comments carried a weight that conveyed there was more to say than words could be found for. Something unspoken...more
I ordered this book on Amazon after seeing a few minutes of Moshe Kasher on our local Shaw TV, but most especially after hearing him on the Vancouver-based podcast, Stop Podcasting Yourself. My husband joked that the book would arrive, and I would have finished reading it, before we even finished listening to that episode of SPY.
I'm loving this book. I'm a big fan of autobiographical works/memoirs, and this one is hitting all of my favourite buttons.
He tends to write in a way that is similar to...more
I'm loving this book. I'm a big fan of autobiographical works/memoirs, and this one is hitting all of my favourite buttons.
He tends to write in a way that is similar to...more
Kasher in the Rye is like mana from heaven. Moshe Kasher's adolescence, filled with much confusion and anger, never takes itself too seriously. Often times, Kasher's humor is its main weapon, fighting off the kind of "whoa was I" measure most like autobiographies suffer. Plus Kasher is a comedian, he intuitively knows pacing and structure. All the stories here have all of the fat cut away, leaving the prose to flourish in the straight forward vignettes it is told. I identified with Kasher's stru...more
Moshe Kasher's memoir is funny, and horrifying, and even a little sentimental if one can yearn for the broken version he used to be. I kept waiting for the spark to happen when I could put Moshe the comedian together with Moshe the borderline sociopath and addict, for the moment I would see the intelligent, thoughtful person of real depth he seems to be now in the stories of his misspent youth, but it didn't happen. On its own, this memoir reveals a life of struggle and violence and is beautiful...more
I liked this book a lot, even if I felt like a lot of the narrative surrounding the drug use, criminal behavior and mental disorders sort of tried to romanticize it in a way. It definitely made the story more interesting to kind of see Kasher go through his entire childhood all over again with commentary that put you right there in the moment, but some of it read as if he was proud of it all - even though clearly he's not. I don't know if I'm explaining this in a way that makes sense, but it's j...more
Jun 25, 2012
Elizabeth
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
wigga wannabees
Shelves:
2012
I read this book in one day, laughing the whole way even though some of it is not funny. How can one not love a book with chapters titled with songs from rap stars in the 90s... Snoop, NWA, Geto boys... they're all here. If you too were enamored with them growing up, you will immediately relate.
We follow Moshe in Oakland as he struggles through adolescence, wigga style. He's quick witted, chubby and has a loud mouth. Growing up in a fractured family with extremes: deaf parents and religion. At t...more
We follow Moshe in Oakland as he struggles through adolescence, wigga style. He's quick witted, chubby and has a loud mouth. Growing up in a fractured family with extremes: deaf parents and religion. At t...more
Disclaimer: don't read this book without first watching/listening to Moshe Kasher's stand up comedy. This book's narrative undercuts Kasher's genuine intelligence, mostly because he fails to distinguish his juvenile 'then' voice from his learned, adult 'now' voice. Doing so would have improved the readability and overall value of the book for readers searching for some meaning in teenage strife. Furthermore, I would prefer that he write a book that is strictly about his experience growing up wit...more
I stumbled on Mr Kasher's stand up on netflix and this ebook while browsing not initially putting the two together. I spent about 1/2 the book trying to piece the narrator, the young Moshe, and the comedian together. It was working until, like many readers, I tired of the litany of misadventures. I was cynical. I too was a young Jewish addict with 'behavior' issues, (granted some 15 years earlier) and attended my share of rehabs and reform programs yet had never seen the revolving door of utterl...more
I wonder if I would have liked this book as much if I hadn't already been familiar with Moshe Kasher as a stand-up. I wonder if I would have liked this book as much if I hadn't related so strongly to the boy it described, who couldn't stop himself from fucking up no matter how much he wanted to.
But those questions are moot. I was already familiar with Kasher, and enjoy his stand-up quite a bit. I find him incredibly intelligent, and very good at subverting what seems like fairly standard, offens...more
But those questions are moot. I was already familiar with Kasher, and enjoy his stand-up quite a bit. I find him incredibly intelligent, and very good at subverting what seems like fairly standard, offens...more
This book is an absolutely fascinating read. I had just finished reading several romantic fiction books before starting this one and was honestly not prepared for the harsh realities that Kasher had in store for me. The journey starts out with a sympathetic character who is the son of two deaf parents - which I assumed, meant they were the most loving of parents because of their disability (these are the kind of characters I met in fiction). It turns out deaf people are like regular folks and ge...more
My Review
This is a very eye-opening read! It is the perfect read for adults who say things like, "You're not old enough to have problems!" This book is proof that there is no such thing as too young! You spend pages following the young Mr. Kasher through a drug and booze soaked childhood that would make Keith Richards blush. It is nothing less than a miracle that enough of his brain cells have survived the abuse that his "too high to die" lifestyle inflicted upon them at such a tender age.
The da...more
This is a very eye-opening read! It is the perfect read for adults who say things like, "You're not old enough to have problems!" This book is proof that there is no such thing as too young! You spend pages following the young Mr. Kasher through a drug and booze soaked childhood that would make Keith Richards blush. It is nothing less than a miracle that enough of his brain cells have survived the abuse that his "too high to die" lifestyle inflicted upon them at such a tender age.
The da...more
Picked up the book because the author grew up and hung out in the neighborhoods I have inhabited for the past twenty years. His story is a familiar but very well told narrative arc of the junkie redeemed.
Kahser's life is resonant in the ways in which he is able to identify and own the aspects of a difficult start in life (e.g. divorce, drugs, deaf parents, etc.) and tell his story relevantly at each stage in the decent into chaos.
Best of all, he spent very little time on the recovery. The lion's...more
Kahser's life is resonant in the ways in which he is able to identify and own the aspects of a difficult start in life (e.g. divorce, drugs, deaf parents, etc.) and tell his story relevantly at each stage in the decent into chaos.
Best of all, he spent very little time on the recovery. The lion's...more
I have a thing for comic memoirs. I especially have a thing for comic memoirs from stand-ups who regularly appear on the Chelsea Lately roundtable. Lastly I have a think for hisptery, nerdy guys with big glasses and skinny jeans and tatoos. So, this book was a must read for me.
Imagine my surprise to find a very fleshed out, very well written memoir focusing on Moshe's extremely messed up behavior as a teen. The title does say it all and the title is exacty what the book focuses on. There are no...more
Imagine my surprise to find a very fleshed out, very well written memoir focusing on Moshe's extremely messed up behavior as a teen. The title does say it all and the title is exacty what the book focuses on. There are no...more
I snagged this after seeing Moshe Kasher's standup special, which I really liked. Kasher was raised by two Deaf parents, and spent time in both hip-hop culture and Satmar Chasidism, although this isn't really a memoir about any of those things. It's an addiction memoir, and it's honest about the single-minded pursuit of getting high and drunk at the expense of school and family. Sometimes it comes through in a hurried way, and we don't get to hear as much about these various settings as we'd lik...more
This is an easy to read and fairly interesting memoir. I have to admit I did skip through a few parts, just because details of the incessant partying and what not became boring. I think that if you like this type of memoir, it's definitely one worth reading because it is pretty funny but don't expect it to be shocking. Somebody mentioned the trouble he gets into is pretty tame, and I agree.
I am disappointed that he did not spend more time discussing the details of his recovery and eventual break...more
I am disappointed that he did not spend more time discussing the details of his recovery and eventual break...more
There always seems a perverse logic in that twelve-steppers seem to replace their addiction with an addiction for telling war stories about when they were addicted. This book to me felt like an extended form of one of those war story sessions, and not much more. It was well-written, and had some funny lines in it, but it seemed to dwell in the glorification of being fifteen, taking lots of acid, ripping people off, and causing property damage. It almost read like one of those religious motivatio...more
I know Moshe, but I know him as a sober comedian who has done well and is a great, well-adjusted (for the most part :) dude. I didn't really know too much of his story because when I see him, he jokes and good things are discussed that are of the current persuasion. He did not tell me about his book coming out, I saw it on the book shelf at Barnes and Noble. I am glad I bought it.
This book made me laugh out loud... like, literally, not this LOL bull. Moshe has one hell-of-a story to tell and it...more
This book made me laugh out loud... like, literally, not this LOL bull. Moshe has one hell-of-a story to tell and it...more
What kept me motivated reading this book was, “How will this teenage druggie get out of this mess?” Obviously he will, evidence being this highly readable book. After all it takes a bit of intelligence and wherewithal to do that. The setting is Oakland, Calif., and author was a white kid amid many blacks. He adopted an X-rated language and lifestyle and descended into becoming an addictive monster that virtually no one except his fellow white druggies could tolerate. Nor could the public school...more
A very entertaining, easy-to-read book. Kasher is a stand-comedian, and I think this helps because otherwise it would be a pretty harrowing autobiography he tells. But he's got the distance of having come out OK on the other side, as well as his excellent sense of humor, and this makes it worth reading.
It also happens to be one of the most frank and honest descriptions of addiction I've ever read. A couple choice quotes I love:
"Getting loaded feels good, but if it's the first thing that's ever...more
It also happens to be one of the most frank and honest descriptions of addiction I've ever read. A couple choice quotes I love:
"Getting loaded feels good, but if it's the first thing that's ever...more
May 14, 2012
Lee (Rocky)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2012,
non-fiction
Moshe Kasher is a fantastic stand up comedian with a compelling personal story. This book is his memoir of his first 16 years, the son of divorced parents (both deaf). He spent most of the time living with his mom in Oakland,doing basically did everything you shouldn't -- drugs, theft, mom beating, flunking out of school and rehab, etc -- and six weeks in the summer in his father's Hassidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Kasher does a great job of keeping a steady story arc throughout, even thoug...more
I enjoyed this book, but not so much that I eagerly read through it all at once. It was easy to put down. I found it interesting to read about the boy's descent to rock-bottom, it seemed in many ways different than what I imagine the trip would be like for an adult. Kids are naturally bad at long-term planning, having so little life perspective, so I empathize with his situation. I did keep rooting for the narrator, it's obvious to adults he needs help, but it is tricky to deliver that help in a...more
I haven't read a lot of addiction books but as far as I'm concerned this is as good as entry as any into the mind of a child and teen addict. There are some factual inaccuracies in the book like Reagan letting people out of mental hospitals in the 1980s in California as if he was still governor that suggest that publishers haven't learned their lessons, but the writing is swift and of high quality and the story felt honest to me. It's not too much of a spoiler to say he made it out and I'm glad...more
It's hard to parse my lack of enjoyment of this book from my distaste from the genre. I think that the drug-tell-all has produced zero great books as a genre. I went into this with a lot of good feelings toward Moshe Kasher, who I know as a comedian from a variety of shows and podcasts. I hoped that my affection for his personality would help me get through this book. No such luck.
The story features basically no insight of any meaning, the writing is sloppy and simple. I'm sure that these event...more
The story features basically no insight of any meaning, the writing is sloppy and simple. I'm sure that these event...more
Absolutely loved this. I dl'd from Audible, and the audiobook is read by the author. Since I adore Moshe Kasher and everything about his voice, this was a super awesome added bonus for me. The book is surprising, hearing about all these things that he's done, and I actually found myself being shocked over and over again at the depths of the shit he got himself into. Anyone who remembers what it's like to be 14 can relate to his story, in one way or another. I found it hilarious and gripping...on...more
I can't remember where I first heard Moshe Kasher, but he's one of those people that once you know they exist, they seem to pop up everywhere. I saw his recorded Live in Oakland show, then heard him mentioned on a podcast. He's funny, so I thought I'd check out his book.
Not so funny. I mean, it IS funny, but the kind of funny that makes your stomach hurt. And that's good. Argggh. So hard to explain.
Kasher, the son of divorced deaf parents, describes how he tried to negotiate a childhood composed...more
Not so funny. I mean, it IS funny, but the kind of funny that makes your stomach hurt. And that's good. Argggh. So hard to explain.
Kasher, the son of divorced deaf parents, describes how he tried to negotiate a childhood composed...more
For any number of reasons, the catchline of this book -- he True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16 -- was irresistable to me. And it is a very funny book, laugh out loud funny. Despite the drugs and psychosis, the comic that Kasher most resembles is Woody Allen. They both have this preoccupation with mortality. The one member of the club audience who is never laughing, just sittng quietly at his table nursing a flat club soda,...more
I ordered this book after seeing Moshe Kasher on a segment of Last Call with Carson Daly. Dude was hilarious and I just had to get his book. Other things drew me to order the book..I lived in Oakland for a number of years and yadda yadda..
It was pretty good. Kasher is very funny. As he should be, being a comedian. I think you have to have a particular interest in Kasher or Oakland or crime or deaf parents or Judaism or teen angst to really get into this book..or maybe not.
I'm not good at writing...more
It was pretty good. Kasher is very funny. As he should be, being a comedian. I think you have to have a particular interest in Kasher or Oakland or crime or deaf parents or Judaism or teen angst to really get into this book..or maybe not.
I'm not good at writing...more
Kasher in the Rye : The True Tale of a White Boy From Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16, is unlike any biography I’ve ever read. The closest equivalent that I have encountered would be “The Basketball Diaries” by Jim Carroll, a rough and tumble coming of age diary of a heroin addicted teen. However, this comparison doesn’t really give this biography the justice it deserves.
Moshe was born the Jewish hearing child of deaf parents. His early life experie...more
Moshe was born the Jewish hearing child of deaf parents. His early life experie...more
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Dec 10, 2012 07:50pm