Feh

A Memoir

De: Shalom Auslander

Narrado por: Shalom Auslander

From the acclaimed author of Foreskin’s Lament, a memoir of the author’s attempt to escape the biblical story he’d been raised on and his struggle to construct a new story for himself and his family

Shalom Auslander was raised like a veal in a dysfunctional family in the Orthodox community of Monsey, New York: the son of an alcoholic father; a guilt-wielding mother; and a violent, overbearing God. Now, as he reaches middle age, Auslander begins to suspect that what plagues him is something worse, something he can't so easily escape: a story. The story. One indelibly implanted in him at an early age, a story that told him he is fallen, broken, shameful, disgusting, a story we have all been told for thousands of years, and continue to be told by the religious and secular alike, a story called "Feh."

Yiddish for "Yuck."

Feh follows Auslander's midlife journey to rewrite that story, a journey that involves Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a Pulitzer-winning poet, Job, Arthur Schopenhauer, GHB, Wolf Blitzer, Yuval Noah Harari and a pastor named Steve in a now-defunct church in Los Angeles.

Can he move from Feh to merely meh? Can he even dream of moving beyond that?

Auslander's recounting of his attempt to exorcize the story he was raised with—before he implants it onto his children and/or possibly poisons the relationship of the one woman who loves him—isn’t sacred. It is more-than-occasionally profane. And like all his work, it is also relentlessly funny, subversively heartfelt and fearlessly provocative.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Praise for FEH

“Shalom Auslander is a truth teller whose punim you want to pinch...Feh is a dark, daffy chronicle of failure and disappointment...Feh inverts the old tagline ‘never let them see you sweat’; it is all sweat on display, salty and messy, the exposed shirt stains of someone determined to be a bronze medalist even at the insecurity Olympics.” —The New York Times

“Hurrah for one of our most merciless humorists. Auslander’s prose isn’t just laudable, it’s frightening.” —David Sedaris

“Auslander’s literary career has been built on equal parts comedy, heterodoxy and self-loathing. His oeuvre is deliberately unsettling and funny. . .the persistent blackness of the book’s black comedy makes the tiny shafts of light in the latter chapters shine that much brighter.”—The Washington Post

“I howled with laughter.” –The Sunday Times

“A poignant, profane, and scabrously funny exploration. . .As Auslander attempts to exorcise his demons and rewrite his origin story in a more positive light, the book takes on a ‘meta’ flavor in line with the narrative we humans have been telling ourselves lately about the way we use storytelling to make sense of our lives.” —Associated Press

“Auslander is one of America’s sharpest comic provocateurs.” –Jewish Chronicle

"Auslander blends both a sense of despair and a self-deprecating whimsy in his latest ...Part personal history, part self-examination, and part social commentary, his book addresses everything from Kafka to capitalism…A page-turning memoir that shouldn’t be missed... It could motivate readers to keep trudging onward, even when life seems overwhelming.” —Library Journal

"Outrageously funny…With humor and heart-wrenching detail, Auslander confronts his deep-seated self-loathing and warns of how received stories can do psychological damage…The memoir is as iconoclastically funny as Auslander's fiction, but it's also reassuring.”—Shelf Awareness

"A poignant…study of the religious guilt….The result is an often-brutal, sometimes-rewarding journey out of the darkness.” —LitHub

Feh Recognize Feh

This story gives every Feh hope despite the pessimistic overtone. The author challenges the story he was taught, which in turn, causes the reader to question the stories they were taught. Rewriting one’s story is an act of courage but it's far from easy as illustrated in Feh. Still, humankind yearns for something more authentic and questioning what we were told, especially that which no longer serves us, is the beginning of healing and living life more intentionally.

Cynical but fun

I heard him doing an interview just before the book came out, liked his take on religion.

Depressing at times, other times light hearted, but always interesting and entertaining. There were a few moments where I laughed out loud, which is rare for me. Definitely walked away from this one with some things to think about.

Honest and moving memoir

Auslander both includes and transcends the fascinating “theological abuse” of his ultra-orthodox Jewish upbringing, with an honest look at both his own life, and the life of the culture we live in, and how the stories we tell, from the religious to the pecuniary, influence how we see ourselves and each other. Auslander brings the reader through his own suffering to a realization of the personal and social importance of compassion, all the while keeping it hilariously funny.

Feh’s unite!

I’m late the party for the brilliant Shalom Auslander - but this book is funny and sad and hard and funny and relatable and dark and depressing and funny and also funny. Even late, I’m so glad I made it to the party.

So good I don’t know where to start

Shalom deserves more accolades than I have space to write. Extremely thoughtful and wildly funny with a happyish ending. His honesty and humor is worth 5 noble prizes and if you disagree, you might be a piece of shitty fuckass or a stupid fucking chicken.

Extraordinary! Brave!

Extraordinary juxtaposition of blatant truth overlapped in story upon story from the biblical to the mundane. Raw sharing that inspires. We can all relate. Love! Thank you Shalom. For the laughter. And the humor and absurdity of FEH. Everywhere. In your life trajectory.

Deep. Wonderful writing.

He will be a celebrated author and philosopher after being dead for a few years. And, if there is a God, die penniless and miserable. I can't do this book any justice here with my writing skillset but I'm going to listen to this book again to savor his. Buy it.

Auslander does it again

Outstanding performance of an outstanding work from an outstanding author. Auslander brilliantly details his thoughts on, and personal experiences with, some of my favorite authors (Kafka, Schopenhauer, Camus), one of my favorite performers (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and some of my least favorite characters (the man upstairs and many of his misguided acolytes). The author adduces his evidence, our evidence, against ourselves as a species, but proffers the individual a small glimpse at personal redemption.
While my Yiddish has grown a little, I found it very helpful, and humorous at times, when he included translations to english in the same line.

Real dark, real relatable

The stories we internalize ultimately shape our reality. What happens when we've been told from birth that we collectively suck?

Glad that I stayed with it to the end.

Enjoyed hearing the authors’s voice. it can be a tough listen at the beginning and then gets better and better and better all the way to the end.