FREE OF CHARGE LIVESTREAM EVENT
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
5:00PM PST
Watch the conversation here:
Please support authors by purchasing Mother for Dinner from Chevalier’s Books. The author will sign a limited number of bookplates for this event.
When in need of biting satire about identity, especially of the Jewish variety, turn to Shalom Auslander. We can only imagine what the Orthodox community of his youth dealt with his memoir, Foreskin’s Lament. We know and love Auslander as a defiant rebel against the strictures of Orthodox Judaism, cranky about overbearing families (with a special nod to overbearing Jewish mothers), and one of the most memorable, poignant and hilarious chroniclers of what rebelliousness entails and its costs.
His new novel, Mother for Dinner, gives our hero a different identity, that of a member of the much-oppressed group, the Can-Ams, or Cannibal Americans. Mother has died. What to do? It’s a pretty hilarious parody of sometimes odd cultural tradition and observance, and guilt, all seasoned with a hefty and completely terrific dose of self-referential social satire. He is also the creator of the Showtime series Happyish. If you’re not acquainted with Auslander’s world view, check out his op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times before Yom Kippur.
In conversation with Dan Harmon, creator of the terrific NBC sitcom Community. Dan also created the Adult Swim show Rick and Morty, which has became a cult favorite.