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Hope: a Tragedy

A Novel

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About this listen

 The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: No one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has ever happened there, which is why Solomon Kugel, like other urbanites fleeing their pasts and histories, decided to move his wife and young son there. To begin again. To start anew. But it isn't quite working out that way. His ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life, and won't stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further, some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one he bought. And when, one night, Kugel discovers history-a living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of history-hiding upstairs in his attic, bad quickly becomes worse.

The critically acclaimed writer Shalom Auslander's debut novel is a hilarious and disquieting examination of the burdens and abuse of history, propelled with unstoppable rhythm and filled with existential musings and mordant wit. It is a comic and compelling story of the hopeless longing to be free of those pasts that haunt our every present.

Fiction Genre Fiction Jewish Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire World Literature Comedy Witty

Critic reviews

"A virtuoso humorist, and a brave one: beware Shalom Auslander; he will make you laugh until your heart breaks.” – New York Times Book Review

“A caustic comic tour de force.” – NPR

“Poisonously funny…. Like an unintentional bark of laughter at a funeral.” – Entertainment Weekly

“Staggeringly nervy… Other fiction writers have gotten this fresh with Anne Frank. But they don’t get much funnier… [Auslander] is an absurdist with a deep sense of gravitas… It’s a tall order for Mr. Auslander to raise an essentially comic novel to this level of moral contemplation. Yet Hope: A Tragedy succeeds shockingly well.” – New York Times

“Shalom Auslander writes like some contemporary comedic Jeremiah, thundering warnings of disaster and retribution. What makes him so terrifyingly funny is that he isn’t joking.” — Howard Jacobson, author of The Finkler Question and winner of the Man Booker Prize

“A wonderful, twisted, transgressive, heartbreaking, true, and hugely funny book. It will make very many people very angry. It will also make very many people very happy.” — A. L. Kennedy, author of Day

“Can the darkest events of the twentieth century and of all human history be used to show the folly of hope? And can the result be so funny that you burst out laughing again and again? If you doubt this is possible, read Hope: A Tragedy. You won’t regret it.” — John Gray, author of Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals
All stars
Most relevant
Outlandishly bizarre premises. Hateful and pitiful characters. Deliciously comical and radically cynical. Provoking metaphors on refrain. For those with a subpar mother, listening to it before bed might lead to matricidal dreams.

Auslander may be the perfect narrator of his novels.

Would recommend to anyone who enjoys David Sedaris and doesn’t get easily offended. Emphasis on the latter.

Would not recommend listening while you cook/eat. Some passages are so vivid and kill my appetite like a boot over a bug. Hats off to Auslander though.

More enjoyable if you go in cold

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Very clever story of Jewish family with their trials and tribulations. Particularly in the light of the current world situation.
In parts it is very witty in a way that Jewish can be but it is never lighthearted.
I enjoyed the story; it made me think, and that is never a bad thing.

Thought provoking tale of Jewish life

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This is my second listen and those came after reading the book. Each time I learn more. Each time I laugh out loud, many times. Each time I feel horror and sadness. And each time, when the book is again finished, I'm left confused and in wonderment and somewhat in awe.
I'll have to listen again!

Excellent, I think.

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Blackly hilarious, deeply true funny reflection of life in post war II New York and New England. Recommend.

Blackly hilarious

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