Ratings3
Average rating4.7
"The author of the sensational national best seller For the Relief of Unbearable Urges returns with a commanding new collection of short stories: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank establishes Nathan Englander beyond all doubt as the heir to Roth, Malamud, and Babel. A tour de force. The title story, inspired by Carver's masterpiece, is a comic classic, a provocative portrait of two marriages in which the holocaust is played out as a devastating parlor game. "Camp Sundown" is an outlandishly dark story of vigilante justice undertaken by a troop of geriatric campers in a bucolic summer enclave who recognize a fellow vacationer as a former Nazi guard. "Free Fruit for Young Widows" is a small, sharp study in evil. "Sister Hills" chronicles the history of the Israeli settlements from the eve of the Yom Kippur war through the present, a political story constructed around the tale of two mothers who strike a terrible bargain to save a child. A great leap forward from one of our most audacious and important writers, and a sensational literary event"--
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This book grew on me like Jew's ear on dying Elder. (Is that offensive?)
Camp Sundown. Everything I Know About My Family On my Mother's Side, The Reader, each one better than the last, more intimate.
This was my first exposure to Englander's work. I can see why he's a critically acclaimed writer – his talent is clear. Some of his stories are great, particularly the final two stories “The Reader” and “Free Fruit for Young Widows.” That said, some of the stories don't work as well for me, though in those instances it's due to things like theme, rather than failings in his writing.
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