Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander

´I´ll never understand the fascination we humans have with tradition (...)´.

Some books are meant to be controversial and I love controversy. But some controversies are more controversial than the other. And so are my thoughts.

I´ve read other books by Shalom Auslander - most of them, actually - and his humour is of a completely other level. And so is his writing, which I enjoy, no matter how far his insurection against norms and how far the limits of his writing reality are pushed. What I always appreciate is the way in which he translates a serious, normative discourse into a very ridiculous context.

Seventh Seltzer, the seventh son of a prestigious Cannibal-American - Can-Am - family, faced with the challenge of following an old tradition - or rejecting it: eating your close relatives upon death. As his mother, Mudd. dies from overdose with Whoppers, together with his brothers - from 1 onwards, minus Sixth deceased -  and sister - Zero, as she does not count - he may need to confront the ancient tradition. Or rather to follow it, despite his alienation and emancipation as a successful editor, with a wife and a daughter that do not have any idea about his secret Cannibal identity.

This book is a perfect grotesque satire about identity at any price, tradition and most political correct vagueness. It is a short novel, but the story is very consistent using every single bit to operate the deconstruction of almost any fancy concept. 

Auslander really enjoys writing it and there are so many subtle references of many Jewish law complex interpretations - Auslander grew up in the traditional environment of the conservative Jewish neighbourhood of Monsey in NYC, but broke up with religion. All those particularities are however switched to refer to any traditional mindset.

So far so good, but the downside of everything is the graphic description of cannibalistic feast on Mudd, consumed by her own children - condition to receive $100,000 short from $500,000, each. A mater of taste, after all. A serious incentive to maintain tradition from one generation to another.

I would love to read Auslander´s latest, a memoir published this year, which maybe will explain this temptation to extreme grotesque.

Rating: 2.5 stars