Join 2020 Literary Legend Elisa Albert as she virtually chats with award-winning author Shalom Auslander about his new novel Mother For Dinner.
Coming as the second installment to the three-part series How Hard Could It Be? A Literary Salon hosted by 2020 Literary Legend Elisa Albert, Shalom Auslander joins us virtually to discuss his new novel Mother For Dinner. How Hard Could It Be? is hosted virtually on the second Wednesday of each month and began in March with Courtney Zoffness, author of essay collection Spilt Milk, continues with Shalom Auslander on April 14th, and Gregory Pardlo, author of recent memoir Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition & Manhood in America on May 12th.
Shalom Auslander, American novelist. memoirist, and essayist, joins Elisa Albert in discussing his new novel Mother For Dinner. Auslander grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Monsey, New York, where he describes himself as having been “raised like a veal”, a reference to his strict religious upbringing. His writing style is notable for its Jewish perspective, existentialist themes, and dark humor. His fiction has drawn comparisons to Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, and Groucho Marx. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages, and are published around the world.
In his new book, Mother For Dinner, Auslander comedically chronicles the identity struggles of Seventh Seltzer, a member of the dwindling Cannibal American cultural group, and the logical and emotional conflict in honoring his narcissistic mother’s deathbed request to be eaten by her sons as part of an ancient ritual. Mother For Dinner utilizes Auslander’s signature satirical humor and his refusal to shy from the taboo to tackle issues of balancing familial identity, self identity, and the resulting guilt that may arise from disparities between the two. The dark comedy was called a “riotous dissection of cultural formation” by Publisher’s Weekly, and a “brilliant satire on tribalism” by Booklist. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Mother for Dinner . . . turns a jaundiced eye toward ethnic identity and the burdens of tradition as they concern a different oppressed minority group… the jokes are dependably good.” The Guardian calls the novel “extremely funny” and “weirdly touching”.
Books from all How Hard Could It Be? authors, including signed copies of Spilt Milk are available at Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. Call the Book House at 518-489-4761 to order and mention Albany Public Library or How Hard Could It Be? to receive a 20% book club discount.
