Englander, Nathan
Average customer rating:
- Englander's Great First Novel
- Incredible Human story
- Gripping and beautifully written
- Englander has skillfully interwoven vibrant elements of family and political drama
- Full of Grace and Wisdom
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The Ministry of Special Cases
Nathan Englander
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0375404937
Release Date: 2007-04-24 |
Book Description
The long-awaited novel from Nathan Englander, author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Englander’s wondrous and much-heralded collection of stories won the 2000 Pen/Malamud Award and was translated into more than a dozen languages.
From its unforgettable opening scene in the darkness of a forgotten cemetery in Buenos Aires, The Ministry of Special Cases casts a powerful spell. In the heart of Argentina’s Dirty War, Kaddish Poznan struggles with a son who won’t accept him; strives for a wife who forever saves him; and spends his nights protecting the good name of a community that denies his existence--and denies a checkered history that only Kaddish holds dear. When the nightmare of the disappeared children brings the Poznan family to its knees, they are thrust into the unyielding corridors of the Ministry of Special Cases, the refuge of last resort.
Nathan Englander’s first novel is a timeless story of fathers and sons. In a world turned upside down, where the past and the future, the nature of truth itself, all take shape according to a corrupt government’s whims, one man--one spectacularly hopeless man--fights to overcome his history and his name, and, if for only once in his life, to put things right. Here again are all the marvelous qualities for which Englander’s first book was immediately beloved: his exuberant wit and invention, his cosmic sense of the absurd, his genius for balancing joyfulness and despair. Through the devastation of a single family, Englander captures, indelibly, the grief of a nation. The Ministry of Special Cases, like Englander’s stories before it, is a celebration of our humanity, in all its weakness, and--despite that--hope.</p>
Customer Reviews:
Englander's Great First Novel.......2007-06-15
Oh man, is this a great book. You can read elsewhere to hear a synopsis of the plot, so I will simply state that the book concerns a family of Argentine Jews--the Poznans; Kaddish, Lillian and their son Pato--who also happen to be outsiders during the years of terrible political upheaval in the 1970s when thousands of innocents were disappeared.
In my estimation, the issue at the core of this novel is the nature of truth. Treading through territory previously explored by Julio Cortazar in his excellent story 'Blow-Up', Englander raises the problem of the necessity for information to be shared and agreement be reached in order for knowledge to exist. It is through this particular epistemological quandary that Englander is able to illuminate the insidious genius of the Argentine military junta's program of disappearances. By altering the historical record and using fear tactics to ensure the denial of witnesses the government was able to absolve themselves from their numberless crimes. How can you charge the abduction of an individual who cannot be shown to have ever existed? These notions of altering the present by erasing the past are elaborated further through the character of Kaddish and the 'respectable' Jews who hire him to chip away their parents' names from their headstones in the cemetary of the now defunct Benevolent Self--the congregation of gangsters, prostitutes and other low-lifes. And I almost forgot about the nose jobs! Kaddish arranges nose jobs for the whole family in payment for his services. Not only does this serve to 'erase' the family's link with their Jewish forebears, but it also removes their missing son's image from his mother's face.
The Ministry of Special Cases is also a story about families. The truth that Englander has created through this mother, father and son is astounding. The mythic struggle between a father and his son and the no less mythic love of a Jewish mother are all there and all ring wholly true. It is ultimately the family's refusal to accept the government's revised version of events that will keep their son alive, if only in their own minds.
This is one of the most beautiful, lyrical and heart-breaking books I have read this year. Englander's language is transcendent and his ear for a specific South American Jewish manner of speech is pitch perfect. You will not be disappointed.
Incredible Human story.......2007-06-10
Very unique story with unforgettable characters. Excellent writing and very enjoyable book.
Gripping and beautifully written.......2007-06-06
This book blew me away: It was intense, historical, funny and deep. Once you start reading, just try putting it down. I know I couldn't. I just wish Mr. Englander had more novels in bookstores. I'm eagerly awaiting the next one.
Englander has skillfully interwoven vibrant elements of family and political drama .......2007-05-30
When a young author produces a short story collection as lavishly praised as FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, it's understandable that expectations for his first novel will be high. But when the author takes eight years to produce that novel, the weight of those expectations can be crushing. Happily, readers of Nathan Englander's THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES won't be disappointed with this rich and vividly imagined work.
Englander's novel is set in Buenos Aires in 1976, the first year of Argentina's "Dirty War," which began after a military coup ousted Juan Peron's widow, Isabel. Kaddish Poznan and his wife Lillian view the militarization of their city with increasing unease. Their 19-year-old son, Pato, is a college student who expresses his resentment of the political crackdown by refusing to carry his identity card, but exhibits more in the way of typical teenage rebelliousness than political radicalism.
At first, the military's encroachment on civil liberties has little effect on the Poznans' daily lives. Kaddish continues to pursue his bizarre vocation, removing the names from gravestones in the cemetery of the Society of the Benevolent Self --- the Jewish burial ground that houses the remains of the lower classes of Argentine Jewish society, the social strata from which Kaddish, himself the son of a prostitute, comes. One of Kaddish's clients, a prominent but cash-strapped plastic surgeon, persuades him to accept two free nose jobs in exchange for such an assignment, with transforming consequences for Kaddish and disastrous ones for Lillian.
Both Lillian and Kaddish fear for Pato's safety, but they exhibit their concern in oddly different ways. Lillian spends a relative fortune on the installation of a steel door in their working class apartment, while Kaddish takes it upon himself to burn what he considers to be some of Pato's more questionable books. In the end, neither measure succeeds, as the secret police raid the Poznans' apartment and haul Pato away, converting him into one of the thousands of "disappeared" whose absence haunts this story.
When Pato is seized, Lillian becomes obsessed with finding him. In the process she's enmeshed in the military junta's bizarre and almost comical bureaucracy. She spends long days in a world that owes an obvious debt to Kafka and Orwell, shuttling between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Special Cases, a strange agency that seems to have as much to do with helping citizens make arrangements to flee the country as it does with efforts to find the "disappeared." Eventually, Lillian's search becomes a fulltime occupation, her emotions cycling from despair to hope and back again.
From the beginning, Lillian's determination to find her son is counterbalanced by Kaddish's rising pessimism about the prospect he will ever return. Kaddish, feeling himself inadequate to the task when he compares his activity to Lillian's, combs the underbelly of Buenos Aires society, searching for clues. Eventually, he encounters a character known as "the navigator," who describes in harrowing detail one method for disposing of the prisoners and convinces Kaddish that all hope is lost.
Lillian and Kaddish turn finally to the Jewish community for help. At first, Lillian is optimistic that the leader of the United Jewish Congregations of Argentina, the organization representing respectable Jewish society, will assist her, but in a scene of profound disillusionment, it becomes clear that her pleas for aid are fruitless. Kaddish consults an elderly rabbi, hoping he will sanction the father's belief that Pato is dead and thereby permit the family to observe the Jewish mourning rituals. Kaddish's ultimate act to raise the money that may purchase Pato's freedom is stunning in its audacity and heartbreaking in its execution.
In THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES Englander has skillfully interwoven vibrant elements of family and political drama that is at times surreal but is no less poignant for being so. He dwells on the theme of what it means to be Jewish in a non-Jewish world: Kaddish's dubious ancestry, his work erasing Jewish names from memory, even the plastic surgeries he and Lillian undergo all echo this theme. Thankfully, he offers no glib answers to the weighty questions he poses and his admirable willingness to wrestle with them is consistent with much that is valued in the Jewish tradition.
One can only hope it won't be another eight years decade before Englander produces his next work. His voice is too singular, passionate and compelling to remain silent that long.
--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg
Full of Grace and Wisdom.......2007-05-10
Englander, Nathan. "The Ministry of Special Cases", Knopf, 2007.
Full of Grace and Knowledge
Amos Lassen ad Literary Pride
Set in 1976, Nathan Englander's "The Ministry of Special Cases" is a look at the "dirty war" in Argentina. Kaddish Pozan, the son of a "whore" makes a meager living by marring tombstones of Jewish prostitutes and pimps. Their children, who are doing just fine socially and financially, do not want to be reminded that their parents were immigrants or of their shameful occupations. Kaddish works at night in the cemetery while Lillian, his wife, labors at an insurance agency during the day and their son, Pato, goes to college, concerts and smokes marijuana with his amigos. Pato is suddenly taken away ad Kaddish learns what it is to have identity erased. It seems that Pato has been arrested and no one will admit that is the case. In fact, as far as anyone in authority is concerned, there is no proof that Pato even exists. Lillian and Kaddish make preparations to get into the Ministry of Special Cases and it is here that we, the readers, begin a journey into the depths of hell.
Rich in imagery and symbolism, "Ministry" is a sheer delight to read. It is a haunting look at the very worst scenarios in an attempt to erase knowledge of the existence of people on earth.
Englander's powerful prose exploring the nature of absence is a revelation.
When Kaddish discovers that his son is missing we learn a great deal about the nature of loss and gain an insight into the nature of the government of Argentina when it attempted to purge the country of what it called "desaparecidos". There are times when the novel takes an absurdist turn and the author's sense of humor and powerful writing tells of subjects that are almost unbearable with a comic punch. Yet, when we reach the end, we are dealt quite a blow.
It is interesting to note that a novel that deals with human absence and government misrule can be as funny as this is. How is it possible for the government of Argentina can erase both the future and the past? At other times the book s horrifying as the obliteration of a culture and families is attempted by a government which seeks absolute power.
Englander successfully layers the tradition of the Jewish people with Argentinean obliteration.
The juxtaposition of comedy and heartbreak is fascinating and a book that first appears to be quite a simple story deceptively fools the reader--we are not really reading about a lost child but about the loss of an entire community and its faith. As the plot continues to unfold, we are not even sure what disappearance means. There is pathos and ethos in this wonderful book as well as a great deal of knowledge as the novel constantly contradicts itself. Disorientation and oppression are the major themes as a country at war with itself creates havoc among its citizenry.
Average customer rating:
- A Big Advance Book... and probably worth the six figures
- The Most Elegant of Books
- Unique story collection
- Good but somewhat uneven
- A superb work by a promising new Jewish voice.
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For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories
Nathan Englander
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0375704434
Release Date: 2000-03-21 |
Amazon.com
For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is an astonishment. Whether Nathan Englander is creating the last days of 27 condemned Soviet writers or the first in which a Park Avenue lawyer finds religion (in a taxi, no less), his gift is everywhere in evidence. Englander's specialty is the collision of Jewish law and tradition with secular realities, whether in Brooklyn, Tel Aviv, or Stalinist Russia. In one tale, a wigmaker from an ultra-orthodox Brooklyn enclave journeys into Manhattan for supplies and, more importantly, inspiration--frequenting a newsstand where she pays for the right to flip through forbidden fashion magazines. If all Ruchama wants to do is be beautiful again and momentarily free of communal constraints, others ask only to survive. In "The Tumblers," set in World War II Poland (with a metafictional twist), followers of the Mahmir Rebbe get into a train filled with circus performers rather than into a cattle car. Their only chance is to camouflage themselves as part of the troupe: <blockquote> Their acceptance as acrobats was a stretch, a first-glance guess, a benefit of the doubt granted by circumstance and only as valuable as their debut would prove. It was an absurd undertaking. But then again, Mendel thought, no more unbelievable than the reality from which they'd escaped, no more unfathomable than the magic of disappearing Jews. </blockquote> Another story, "Reb Kringle," is almost breezy by comparison. Each year, one Brooklynite dreads his holiday job from hell, playing Santa Claus in a Manhattan department store: "There were elves posted on each side of Itzik; one--a humorless, muscular midget--wore a pair of combat boots that gave him the look of elf-at-arms. His companion might have been a twin. He wore black high-tops but had the same vigilant paramilitary demeanor." Itzik can put up with the children's accidents and greed, with his sciatica, and even with a mischief maker's attempt to cut off his beard. But when one boy admits that what he really wants to do is celebrate Hanukkah, "the infamous Reb Santa" loses it. Though this is undoubtedly the collection's lightest piece--proof positive that you have to be a saint to be a Jewish Santa--it is no less piercing an examination of identity and obligation than Englander's more heavyweight entries. --Kerry Fried
Book Description
One of the most stunning literary debuts of our time, these energized, irreverent, and deliciously inventive stories introduce an astonishing new talent.
In the collection's hilarious title story, a Hasidic man gets a special dispensation from his rabbi to see a prostitute. "The Wig" takes an aging wigmaker and makes her, for a single moment, beautiful. In "The Tumblers," Englander envisions a group of Polish Jews herded toward a train bound for the death camps and, in a deft, imaginative twist, turns them into acrobats tumbling out of harm's way.
For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is a work of startling authority and imagination--a book that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. It hearalds the arrival of a remarkable new storyteller.
Customer Reviews:
A Big Advance Book... and probably worth the six figures.......2007-06-07
Much has been written about what works in this collection of short stories, so I will dwell on what does not. The final story in the collection, In This Way We Are Wise, seems like some unnecessary coda and hardly fits into the themes and tone of the rest of the collection. After so much Singer without the sexual psychosis, and so much Malmudian tenseness, it was as if Englander wanted to throw in a bit of old fashioned realism to show us he can do it. Unfortunately, the piece falls flat; it is mired in the obvious and trite, and is a poor ending to a powerful collection. But even some of the other pieces, which are far more successfully executed, appear to have a truncated sense of something missing, especially in their conclusion. Reunion starts with great promise, with a gradual unfolding of character and drama, only to end in speech making in front of a Brooklyn brownstone. Reb Krinkle, a story with a hilarious premise and laugh out loud dialogue, ends rather abruptly and unsatisfactorily with a thin paragraph which lacks wit or pathos. It is as if Englander, being prepped for sainthood and literary fame, is rushing through to the ending, to run as fast as he can, to get his piece between the slim covers of American Short Fiction, the Atlantic, The New Yorker, and Story. And to do that, you have to end a story, right, even if you don't want to? Even if it feels wrong
The Most Elegant of Books.......2007-04-21
It's hard to put into words how beautiful and compelling I find Mr. Englander's work, and this, his first effort, is my all-time favorite short story collection.
In the first story, a group of 26 condemned writers in Stalinist Russia converse about writing on their final day on Earth. A woman looking to recapture her fading good looks buys the beautiful hair of a young man and fashions it into a beautiful and expensive wig for one day of glorious attention. Turning to her electrolosyst for help, a desperate woman seeks a divorce from her abusive and hostile husband through any means necessary. A middle-aged man has an epiphany in the back of a taxi and converts to orthodox Juadaism, trying his long-suffering wife's patience. A young rabbi, hungry for physical affection receives a dispensation "for the relief of unbearable urges" and spends the night with a prostitute, with horrific consequences for him and his young wife.
This selection went through 13 hardcover printings--unheard of for American short stories. It will float in your hands, it is not to be missed. The stories are captivating and lyrical, Englander being wise beyond his years. I wish I could say more, but I cannot--it is just beautiful, and is worth your time whether you usually read short stories or not.
Unique story collection.......2006-06-04
Nathan Englander has an incredible way with words. The stories in this collection have an abundance of deft characterizations and shrewd observations, making "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges" a pleasurable read that immerses you in the culture of orthodox Judaism with grace and delicacy. Englander also displays a knack for changing tones without jarring the reader too much; going from the tragic "The Twenty-Seventh Man" to the metaphysical "Tumblers" and to the comical "Reb Kringle" (about a Jewish man who takes on seasonal work as a department store Santa for his family's sake) feels smooth and natural when the stories could have easily made the collection feel disjointed. Best of all is Englander's keen ability to put the reader into the heads of people who have lived in orthodox Jewish communities their whole lives. As someone who was raised Catholic it was very interesting to get such a detailed peek into another world and another way of life. My favorite thing about reading has always been that it allows you to experience new ideas and cultures, and "Urges" is a great example of a book that fits that criteria. So so what if the collection is a little uneven? Englander's errors are easily forgivable, and his stories are still good reads.
Good but somewhat uneven.......2005-03-21
I generally liked this book, for the reasons stated by the positive reviewers. I did, however, like some stories better than others. I think the first stories were the best, and the collection went downhill from there (and I can see why the title story, "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges", may have ticked off Orthodox readers- though even there I thought the characters were basically sympathetic if foolish). I also think Englander has trouble with endings; about half of them tended to be kind of opaque and hard to follow.
A superb work by a promising new Jewish voice........2005-01-25
In "The Trial", Franz Kafka places his protagonist Joseph K. in an authoratative world full of absurdities and secret courts that extend their rule from the sweltering heat of stuffy garrets. A single, independant man, K. feels reduced to the size of a number when he considers the power of the secret courts he is up against which have placed him under arrest. Kafka may have been depicting the isolation of conformity that modern life imposes, but when one considers that he was a Jewish writer living in Prague writing a few years before the outbrake of WWII, Kafka can be seen as a profit of the dehumanizing conditions that would insue from the Hollocaust, when Jews were alloted as much worth as numbers on a page. This especially seems likely when taking into account the ending of "The Trial" in which K. is ultimately executed by police of the secret court.
Many years later Nathan Englander comes along and depicts Jews not as numbers caught up in the gears of an inscrutable system, but as characters with unique and human qualities. The nine stories in Englander's first book, "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges" are written in poetry-like prose, where every sentence seems to be well thought out and painted in smooth brush strokes. These are stories that look back into the past (e.g. the Hollocaust) and that also explore the complexities of modern Jewish life today. In the nine stories Englander takes us from Communist Russia where subversive Jewish writers await execution to modern day Israel where a bomb rips through a busy commercial district while the witnesses are left to deal with the psychological aftermath. Many aspects of the Jewish experience are touched upon in "Urges" including stories which include Hasidic Jews. Inclined as they are to living their lives according to a strict set of rules and rituals, one would think Hasidic Judiasm to be a difficult subject matter to broach. However, Englander adroitly personifies the multifaceted layers of Hasidic life and the Hasidic individual. He breathes life into his Hasidic characters and they start to seem as real and internally conflicted as though they were made of flesh and blood instead of just words and sentences. Most memorable is Dov Binyamin, an Isrealite who, acting on the advice of his rabbi, sleeps with a prostitute in order to save his marriage. It is quirks like this that make "Urges" fun, as well as funny, to read. The characters may sometimes be dark, but they're not scary. In one story a woman attempts to have her husband killed so she can be formally divorced, but the story is so underscored with an undercurrent of humor that it ends up envoking more laughter than gasps. It is this clever balance of levity mixed with somber subject matter that makes Englander score as a story-teller. He knows how to tell a good story but is detached enough in telling it so as not to sound melodramatic. Nathan Englander's "Urges" deserves a space on every well read person's bookshelf. Personally, on mine, it sits between Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Diary of Anne Frank." A superb work by a promising new Jewish voice.
Average customer rating:
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For Relief of Unbearable Urges
Nathan englander
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
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| Books
General
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
- The Ministry of Special Cases
ASIN: 0571196918 |
![Story Magazine [Spring 1996]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/21XY7RH5PNL.jpg)
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Story Magazine [Spring 1996]
Chuck Palahniuk , Lan Samantha Chang , Nathan Englander , Elizabeth Gilbert , Colum McCann , Jan Meissner , Adrianne Harun , Andes Van Syckle , Wendy J. Henning , and Stewart David Ikeda
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000CEPNOW |
Product Description
Include the following short stories: For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (Nathan Englander), San (Lan Samantha Chang),
Project Mayhem (Chuck Palahniuk, first apparition of this chapter of the famous "Fight Club"), The Finest Wife (Elizabeth Gilbert), Cathal's Lake (Colum McCann), Salvation (Jan Meissner) The Unseen Ear of God (Adrianne Harun)
Inherit (Andes Van Syckle), Vestiges - (Wendy J. Henning), The Testimony of Molly Flynn (Stewart David Ikeda)
Songbird (Lynn Freed), Blood Sounds (Sylvia Foley), Desire Lines (Starling Lawrence), Death by Mochi (Marian Pierce), Marvane Street (Walter Mosley)
![Story Magazine [Winter 1997]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/219QHRH73GL.jpg)
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Story Magazine [Winter 1997]
Nathan Englander , Chris Adrian , Joseph Monninger , Alan Lightman , Keith Taylor , Bray Udall , Bo Caldwell , Marion de Booy Wentzien , Daniel Stern , and Joyce Carol Oates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F1XUWO |
Product Description
Reb Kringle (Nathan Englander); High Speeds (Chris Adrian); Lunch (Joseph Monninger); Always ask for Cash (Alan Lightman); And the Waters Prevailed (Keith Taylor); Snake (Bray Udall); His Moods (Bo Caldwell); Twinkle (Marion de Booy Wentzien); Roads (Daniel Stern); Everest (Emily Cerf); Disguises (Jean Fong Kwok); Death Watch (Joyce Carol Oates);
Product Description
An edgy story of the human condition. The stories include a Hasidic man who gets a special dispensation from his rabbi to see a prostitute. For a single moment, she is beautiful
![Story Magazine [Autumn 1999] (Story Magazine)](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/21KZJE9PH5L.jpg)
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Story Magazine [Autumn 1999] (Story Magazine)
Aryeh Lev Stollman , Lan Samantha Chang , Joyce Carol Oates , Carol Shields , Pinckney Benedict , Nathan Englander , Elizabeth Graver , Abraham Rodriguez , Barry Lopez , and R.O. Blechman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F1ZYU0 |
Product Description
My Story (Aryeh Lev Stollman); A genealogy of Longing (Lan Samantha Chang); The Harp (Carol Shields); The Gleaners (Pinckney Benedict); Clearing God's name (Nathan Englander); Touch and Go (Elizabeth Graver); Reyes (Abraham Rodriguez); Swans (Rick Bass); Nothing (R.O. Blechman); A Hero of Chickamauga (Chris Adrian); God is a Short Word (Max Steele); Bones of the Inner Ear (Kiana Davenport); The Mystery (Carolyn Ferell); The Deaf Girl (Barry Lopez); The Barter (Joyce Carol Oates); As if There Were Trees (Colum McCann); Otis is Resurrected (Brady Udall); The Door (Andrea Barrett); Flaca (Junot Diaz); The Story (Amy Bloom); Index of all contributors to Story Magazine
Authors:
- Epictetus
- Epicurus
- Equiano, Olaudah
- Erdrich, Louise
- Erickson, Steve
- Ernaux, Annie
- Espriu, Salvador
- Esquivel, Laura
- Etherege, George
- Ettinger, Nancy
Authors
Authors
