false 1446153 12 From Publishers Weekly: Auslander, a magazine writer, describes his Orthodox Jewish upbringing as theological abuse in this sardonic, twitchy memoir that waits for the other shoe to drop from on high. The title refers to his agitation over whether to circumcise his soon to be born son, yet another Jewish ritual stirring confusion and fear in his soul. Flitting haphazardly between expectant-father neuroses in Woodstock, N.Y., and childhood neuroses in Monsey, N.Y., Auslander labors mightily to channel Philip Roth with cutting, comically anxious spiels lamenting his claustrophobic house, off-kilter family and the temptations of all things nonkosher, from shiksas to Slim Jims. The irony of his name, Shalom (Hebrew for peace), isn't lost on him, a tormented soul gripped with dread, fending off an alcoholic, abusive father while imagining his heavenly one as a menacing, mocking, inescapable presence. Fond of tormenting himself with worst-case scenarios, he concludes, That would be so God. Like Roth's Portnoy, he commits minor acts of rebellion and awaits his punishment with youthful literal-mindedness. But this memoir is too wonky to engage the reader's sympathy or cut free Auslander's persona from the swath of stereotype—and he can't sublimate his rage into the cultural mischief that brightens Roth's oeuvre. That said, a surprisingly poignant ending awaits readers. 610736 2007 Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir total:1017|5:204|4:425|3:294|2:73|1:21| 1017 3769 1637 313 5 5 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 17:39:31 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 01 08:13:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 3 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 05:47:32 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 17 04:34:47 -0800 2008 4 2 false false Thu May 08 12:47:07 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 12:49:18 -0700 2008
Shalom Auslander learned early on that the God who was watching over him was one he describes as “eternally pissed off.” A...more...]]> 5 3 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 12:59:53 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 09:15:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Sep 26 08:00:18 -0700 2007 Sun Feb 10 11:14:09 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Sep 02 08:54:25 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 08:13:18 -0700 2007 I believe in God. It's been a real problem for me.

Alas, Shalom Auslander's problems with God aren't so easily shrugged off. His problems with God are all-encompassing, paralyzing, potentially life-threatening. They've followed him from birth, through adolescence, and now into adulthood, ...more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Dec 21 11:28:29 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 11:28:33 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 08 16:58:54 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 13 11:33:12 -0800 2007
Like Auslander, I grew up in a suffocating Jewish environment and ultimately grew to resent the heavy-handedness of it all. Whether you were ra...more...]]> 4 6 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 22 07:16:23 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 15:47:36 -0800 2007 3 1 false false Sun Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 03 14:00:42 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 19:20:19 -0700 2008 Foreskin's Lament an entertaining read, though a little repetitve.

I definite...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 20:15:41 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 17:37:54 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 19:01:31 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 05:14:09 -0800 2008
I liked ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jan 19 18:30:59 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 19 18:39:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Apr 17 14:43:12 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 14 11:23:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 08:20:26 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 10 06:14:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Thu May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 20:56:15 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 13:18:23 -0700 2008
The book's ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 06:39:19 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 06:51:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Feb 20 09:25:41 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 09:32:28 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 07:44:22 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 07:52:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Aug 18 06:11:15 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 06:13:17 -0700 2009
Entre Chaïm Potok, Woody Allen et Philip Roth, un régal de drôlerie et d'émotion, un vrai morceau de bravoure contre tous les fondamentalismes relig...more...]]>