I found myself laughing out loud throughout the entire book. Yes, he's completely irreverent. But being raised a strict Catholic, I could relate to his love/hate relationship with both God and his religion. Very funny and naughty.
I loved this book, the author says, "I believe in God, it's been a real problem for me." That sums up my relationship with the transcendent. I laughed at this book all the while understanding that I had a kindred spirit in my quest for understanding the cosmos. Some would not appreciate the author's humor, but he was real. This is not a book for a fundamental person to read, unless they are ready to jettison their current believe system. I read this book in a week, it was a good read.
I work with many Hasidic Jews and live in the neighborhood the author grew up in, so for the first 1/4 of the book I found it amusing. As the book droned on, it became more obscene and offensive and reinforced what I have always believed, that cult -like religious adherence, no matter what religion, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.. warps people. When you stop thinking and blindly follow "the rules" you give up your free will. Mr. Auslander and his many neurosis is one extreme and the many unhappy people I serve in the hospital are the other. Don't waste your time on this book!
I bailed on page 109. Life is just too short to read terrible books like this. I would never have chosen to read this memoir except it was the featured book of the month for my book discussion group. Of the 10 people in the group that read it only one of those people enjoyed it. It is written by a guy that was raised as an Orthodox Jew. The entire book is him whining about how traumatized he is by his jewishness. Oh, and his father was abusive. Really, don't waste your time with this trash.
