foreskin's lament by shulam auslander

greenfire

Sun, Apr 13 2008, 10:54 am

so it's a bit of a controversial book - but nonetheless I find the pain and guilt of his rebellion quite heartwrenching and even humorous - if anybody knows of s/o in such a stitch you might get a better understanding of where they are coming from ...

Clarissa

Sun, Apr 13 2008, 10:56 am

I'd like to read it. I thought Beware of G-d was really funny, although I understand why people were offended.

Clarissa

Sun, Apr 13 2008, 10:59 am

Are we allowed to write "God" here? I used a dash because I thought it wasn't allowed. Anyway, it really is a clever book. I laughed a lot and read a bunch of it to my husband.

Maya

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 9:01 pm

I just picked up this book from the library today, and find it very funny. I totally understand what he is saying, but his experiences were all different than the average because of his drunken and abusive father.

Chani

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 10:14 pm

I started to read Beware of G-d and had to put it down after a dozen or so pages. I just felt like it crossed a boundary that I'm not willing to cross, even in my reading. I have no doubt that he's an excellent writer, but...don't we hold some things sacred? Isn't it an example of one who mocks? What if he could put that talent to use writing something to inspire rather than to scoff?

I think anybody who knows me IRL or from here will know that I'm probably the last person who would ban a book. (In fact, I have a perverse desire to read "the Making of a Gadol" davka because it was banned.) Nonetheless, this book made my stomach churn. When I thought of Hashem seeing me read it - well, that was the end of that book for me.

greenfire

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 10:24 pm

Maya wrote:

unfortunately there are more people out there with his experiences - despite what we would like to think ...

chani - although I hear you somewhat - being that this guy had a hard life connected to his frumkeit - I understand him from a different light ...

RedRuby

Tue, Jun 17 2008, 1:22 am

I've been reading Auslander's columns in The New Yorker magazine, and I find his writing to be brilliant, seering, painful, cringeworthy and hilarious...

So, yes, I will definitely read this book.

Beware of G-d/g-d just got added to my list...

Maya

Tue, Jun 17 2008, 9:11 am

Chani wrote:

I get what you mean. I don't like the parts where he curses G-d, but I take it with a grain of salt and read it for the entertainment. It's really funny.

Shimmysmom

Tue, Jun 17 2008, 10:57 am

I read this book. while I will say that it was very interesting, and that it reminded me of the importance of trying to raise my children with positive feelings towards yiddishkeit, on a whole I found the author to be just plain whiny and over the top.
he started to just annoy me!

Ruchel

Fri, Apr 06 2012, 1:19 pm

So I'm reviving this thread because foreskin was translated into French and it has traumatized my mom. I told her to sell it on my amazon bookstore and she refused to "spread" it as it is "anti Jewish religion", so it will go to trash.
Apparently she thought it would be against some practices or customs and an interesting POV but it is against the whole religion? or was it vulgar or zxual? She refuses to even tell me what traumatized her and it put her in a bad mood for days!

Quote:

(In fact, I have a perverse desire to read "the Making of a Gadol" davka because it was banned.)

This. But why is it banned?