Mother for Dinner (Paperback)
Shalom Auslander (author)Published: 16/09/2021
The author of Foreskin’s Lament and Hope: A Tragedy returns with an outrageous and wickedly funny novel about the moral – and practical - dilemmas of devouring the corpses of family members.
Seventh Seltzer has done everything he can to break from the traditions of the past, but in his overbearing, narcissistic mother's last moments, she whispers in his ear the two words he always knew she would: 'Eat me'.
This is not unusual, as the Seltzers are Cannibal-Americans, a once proud and thriving ethnic group, but for Seventh, it raises some serious questions. Of practical concern, she's six-foot-two and weighs over thirty stone - even divided up between Seventh and his eleven brothers, that's a lot of red meat. Plus, Second keeps kosher, Ninth is vegan and Sixth is dead. To make matters worse, even if he can wrangle his brothers together for a feast, the Can-Am people have assimilated, and the only living Cannibal who knows how to perform the ancient ritual is their Uncle Ishmael, a far from reliable guide.
Beyond the practical, Seventh struggles with the sense of guilt and responsibility he feels - to his mother, to his people and to his unique cultural heritage. His mother always taught him he was a link in a chain, stretching back centuries. But he's getting tired of chains.
Shalom Auslander's Mother for Dinner is an outrageously tasty comedy about identity and inheritance, the things we owe our families and the things we owe ourselves.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529052091
Number of pages: 272
Weight: 196 g
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 18 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Bad taste has a purpose in this outrageous satire . . . grotesque, extremely funny, weirdly touching and acute - Guardian
Daring, provocative and controversial . . . the outrageous nature of the comedy is done perfectly . . . This is a work of genius - Scotsman
I loved [it] . . . I devoured it in one sitting . . . I recommend you dig in - The Times
Laugh-out-loud funny . . Underlying the dark humour, it is, dare I say, a tender tale - Financial Times
A terrifically funny book . . . Close-to-the-knuckle farce with a big beating heart - Daily Mail
A grotesque family comedy . . . Written in fast-moving, deadpan prose - New Stateman
[A] laugh-out-loud, gravely serious satire - Economist, The Best Books of 2021
Auslander is an enfant even more terrible than Philip Roth . . . it provides plenty of dark laughs and inspired comic riffs - TLS
A virtuoso humorist, and a brave one - New York Times Book Review
You’re unlikely to read anything funnier this year - Big Issue
Auslander’s greatest strength is the zip and ping of his dialogue . . . uproariously funny - Literary Review
Brilliantly written, often hilarious but also deeply thoughtful - Jewish Chronicle
Consistently funny, consistently wise and consistently disturbing in ways that probably only Shalom Auslander could arrange. It is a rare and agile narrative . . . Perhaps not a perfect gift for Mother’s Day, but then again, it could be just the thing - A. L. Kennedy, Costa Prize-winning author of Day
Portnoy-era Roth couldn't hold a candle to Shalom Auslander - Entertainment Weekly
Blends tragedy, comedy and satire in the mold of Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka. - The Wall Street Journal
Auslander turns his taboo-shattering satiric gaze to cannibalism in this outrageous, salty take on contemporary culture . . . more effective is the riotous dissection of cultural formation and a community's hunger for meaning - Publishers Weekly
A book that’s funny enough not just to make you nod to show you got the joke, but to make you laugh and laugh - The Critic
Dead funny and dead serious. A deliciously appalling satire on the hazards of tribalism, religion and tradition – and eating your relatives - Rhidian Brook, author of The Killing of Butterfly Joe
Irreverent and written with Auslander's incomparable humor, Mother for Dinner is an exploration of legacy, assimilation, the things we owe our families, and the things we owe ourselves - The Jewish Book World
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“Recommended”
It's a great satire that made me laugh and think at the same.
I think you must be a genius to write a novel about Cannibal-Americans and their way of living.
Even if it's definitely entertaining it also...
More
“Eat up!”
When I saw that Shalom Auslander had a new book coming out, I rushed to put it on my wishlist. I absolutely adored his outrageous book 'Hope: A Tragedy', a taboo-smashing offence-giving rollicking tale of a... More
“Makes you want to scrub your eyes.”
It's brilliant. Maybe it doesn't achieve the same level as his fantastic 'Hope: A Tragedy', but this is laugh out loud funny in places and there is cleverness to spare on every page. It is not for... More
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