It's easy to overstate the value of the Internet, but here's one instance where it comes in really handy. You don't have to take my word about this book and you don't have to buy it or check it out of the library; three of the better stories are actually available online : The Twenty-Seventh Man; The Gilgul of Park Avenue; and For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Take a look for yourself, for free, and draw your own conclusions. Of these, I would particularly recommend Twenty-Seventh Man, which I thought was the best in this collection.
Personally, I think that these three stories demonstrate both the considerable
strength and the significant weakness of Englander's style. Each
of the stories is built up around a clever idea : a group of writers is
taken away to be executed, but an unpublished writer, accidentally included,
authors their final tale; a WASP has an epiphany in a New York City taxi
cab and realizes he has a Jewish soul, much to his wife's chagrin; and,
an Orthodox Israeli whose wife won't sleep with him gets a dispensation
from his rabbi to visit a prostitute, "for the relief of unbearable urges."
These are all engaging situations, but as the stories progress, the author
seems intent on torturing the characters. He writes with great humor and
wit about the collision between traditional religiosity and the modern
world, but in the end, each tale is pretty depressing. Now,
from what the profiles
say, and what Englander says himself in interviews,
I take it that he was raised an Orthodox Jew, but has abandoned his beliefs.
That's all well and good, but it seems a mistake to me to draw the conclusion
from his own experience that piety and reality are incompatible.
I was left admiring Englander's talent, but not much liking his stories.
(Reviewed:18-Dec-00)
Grade: (C)
