A delightful excursion through the Yiddish language, the culture it defines and serves, and the fine art of complaint
Throughout history, Jews around the world have had plenty of reasons to lament. And for a thousand years, they've had the perfect language for it. Rich in color, expressiveness, and complexity, Yiddish has proven incredibly useful and durable. Its wonderful phrases and idioms impeccably reflect the mind-set that has enabled the Jews of Europe to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution . . . and enables them to kvetch about it!
Michael Wex—professor, scholar, translator, novelist, and performer—takes a serious yet unceasingly fun and funny look at this remarkable kvetch-full tongue that has both shaped and has been shaped by those who speak it. Featuring chapters on curse words, food, sex, and even death, he allows his lively wit and scholarship to roam freely from Sholem Aleichem to Chaucer to Elvis.
Perhaps only a khokhem be-layle (a fool, literally a "sage at night," when there's no one around to see) would care to pass up this endearing and enriching treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history, and folklore—an intriguing appreciation of a unique and enduring language and an equally fascinating culture.
This little book contains a wealth of Masonisms. Jackie Mason used to have run-ins with censors and others. He reserves the right to be both self-deprecating and insulting. Jews, gentiles, politics, marriage, family, ethnicity, money, power, and God himself - all are up for grabs. There are a lot of funny stories. In addition, he has an understanding of the Yiddish language that he is happy to share. (Harry Truman was haimish - accessible, natural - FDR was not. Colorful explanation is provided.) He offers a theory of chicken soup that links it -successfully - to most of the world's cuisines. He is never dull. Mason: "It seems that in English that you have to prove that you're not emotional in order to have class." He posits his sociolinguistic theory (which you've heard if you've seen or heard his stage show) that the more emotional the speech - content and structure - the more "low class" the speaker. He defends emotionality. He loves Yiddish, and in fact the language (black English, specifically) of any people engaged in a battle of wits to survive.
Take a Tour of Jewtopia
Book Description
Book Description:From Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, the creators and stars of the national smash hit play, Jewtopia, comes the most hilarious, over-the-top guide to Judaism unlike anything you've ever seen. So comprehensive that owning a copy ensures that Elijah himself will show up at your Passover Seder!Take a Tour of Jewtopia
Customer Reviews:
An easy, fun read that made me LOL a few times.......2007-06-21
Sure, it's not a masterpiece of literature, but it was a quick, cute read that made me chuckle pretty frequently. I disagree with the person below who said the writers are ashamed of being Jewish. Nah, not true at all. They just have a sense of humor about certain aspects of their religion and spirituality. I received this book as a gift from a friend, and I would recommend it to other Jews who are proud of their faith, but also don't take it so seriously that they can't have a giggle at their own expense once in a while.
very funny.......2007-05-30
This is a very funny book about self-stereotypes of american jews. The conversations of the authors with their mothers were probably the funniest.
Oy, such drek!!!.......2007-05-08
I was thrilled to stumble across this book, because I'd loved the play. (I even bought the hat!) I'm glad my stumble happened in the library and not the bookstore, because this oversized doorstop turned out to be an incredible disappointment. "Stumble" is actually a good word for it.
The book is similar in style and tone to the "America" book from the Daily Show, but unlike that book, it's just not funny. Not. Funny. The humor is almost entirely random and juvenile, and never rises above a sort of "snicker, snicker, wasn't that a clever play on Jewish stereotypes?" level. Sure, the authors are clever guys, but clever has to be used in the service of funny to make me laugh. No such luck here, bubeleh.
I slogged through as much of the book as I could (I even made it past the half-dozen brutally tired Bush/ Cheney jokes around page 3, which was no small feat), hoping in vain that it would get better. I figured that the guys who put together such a hysterical piece of live theater would come up with something even a fraction as good in the book -- they just *had* to -- but I never managed more than a weak smile.
"Chosen Book for the Chosen People?" It's about as good a choice as choosing to take up smoking.
Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People.......2007-03-15
Great, fun book. I will buy more as gifts.
A book even a Swedish girl can love! .......2007-03-08
I bought this book for my Jewish boyfriend as a present -- what I didn't realize is that I would end up reading it cover to cover before I gave it to him! This book is incredibly funny -- the illustrations are amazing and it is a great read! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a great laugh!
Average customer rating:
- Non Fiction
- A hauntingly good work.
- Astonishing -- a must read
- An Incredible Historical Perspective (Part 2)
- Spectacular account of the Holocaust
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Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began
Art Spiegelman
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Similar Items:
-
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
-
Survival In Auschwitz
-
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
-
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
-
In the Shadow of No Towers
ASIN: 0394556550
Release Date: 1991-11-05 |
Book Description
Acclaimed as a "quiet triumph"* and a "brutally moving work of art,"** the first volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. As the New York Times Book Review commented," [it is] a remarkable feat of documentary detail and novelistic vividness...an unfolding literary event."
This long-awaited sequel, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.
Vladek's troubled remarriage, minor arguments between father and son, and life's everyday disappointments are all set against a backdrop of history too large to pacify. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale -- and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.
Customer Reviews:
Non Fiction.......2007-09-03
Spiegelman continues the story of his father's life, through Auschwitz and afterwards, and his feelings about what has happened to him.
The story is told using animal forms for the people within, different classes of people are represented as different animals. Mice, obviously are used to represent the prisoners.
A hauntingly good work........2007-01-11
Haunting, you'll find certain parts that keep coming back to you. Don't let the artwork fool you, this is no children's book. This work is honest, and perhaps because of it, is very emotionally affecting. I've had to read it more than once to really appreciate it.
Astonishing -- a must read.......2006-10-23
I was compelled to read this after finishing Art Spiegelman's astonishingly brilliant "Maus," a graphic novel retelling his father, Vladek's, experiences as a Jew in Poland during WWII. This sequel picks up right where the first left off, with Vladek's separation from wife, Anja, after arriving at Auschwitz. There Vladek must struggle to survive starvation and disease as well as the guards and the ovens, all while trying to get news of his wife from over in Auschwitz's second camp, Birkenau. His horrific time there is expertly rendered as Spiegelman manages to get across a complex range of emotions through his illustrations and words. Even after Auschwitz is abandoned and the Nazi soldiers go on the run, Vladek must still struggle to survive and make his way to safety. His journey home to his wife (from Auschwitz to an abandoned German landscape, through ruined cities and, finally, back to the now unrecognizable city he once called home) is utterly compelling, unforgettable stuff.
Equally compelling is the story of Vladek in later years that is mixed in with his history in both volumes of "Maus", after he has come to America with Anja, had another son (the first, Richieu, did not survive the war), lost Anja to suicide in 1968, remarried, developed a heart condition and a strained relationship with his surviving son, and begins telling his story to 'Artie', who is interested in adapting his father's tale into a comic book). In the WWII segments Spiegelman captures the horrors that took place during that tragic time, and in these father-son moments he explores how surviving an event like that leaves a mark on you forever, and can even pass on the burden of survivor's guilt to a new generation that wasn't even alive when the atrocities took place. Surprisingly, it is during these deeply personal moments that the "Maus" books really hit home the hardest. Spiegelman does a masterful job getting across the complex personalities of his characters and how the past has left a wide, seemingly impassable gulf between him and his father. Really, it is just a beautiful portrait of their relationship and I cannot recommend it enough. Spiegelman's delicate, earnest elegy to his father -- and to all survivors and victims of the Holocaust alike -- is a true triumph of literature and a heartbreaking look at one of history's greatest tragedies.
An Incredible Historical Perspective (Part 2).......2006-10-11
This conclusion of Maus 1 is the conclusion of Holocaust survivor Vladek Spiegelman's story and of the father-son relationship explored throughout the work.
This book tells the story of Vladek's time in Aushwitz, the liberation of the camps and the rebuilding of a new life. There is a lot more in Maus 2 about the relationships and mental trauma of a Holocaust survivor. It's really very moving.
Maus 2 is the second testament to Speigelman's brilliance as a story-teller and artist, Maus 1 being the first. His understanding of the depth of history and how it effects our lives is impressive.
Spectacular account of the Holocaust.......2005-07-09
I first read Maus II when I was in fourth or fifth grade, but, of course, I didn't really grasp the true horror of it all at the time. I decided to buy a copy a couple of months ago and see if it lived up to my memory, and I was not disappointed. Now that I'm nine or ten years older and more attuned to the world and its history, it's that much more poignant. The insanity of the time period is hard to comprehend, but even in a cartoon, Spiegelman is able to give us some small idea of the reality.
I definitely recommend this book to everyone. Even if (like me) you're not a fan of graphic novels, this is still worth the read.
Book Description
The Music May Have Stopped, but the Party’s Never Over.
Bar Mitzvah Disco. Everyone's Invited
Pick up your table card and come be our guest on this journey back to a time when style, music, and lust went hand in hand with a Day-Glo necklace, a pair of Z Cavaricci jeans, and Vuarnet shades. In this parallel universe, tall girls slow-danced with short boys at arm’s length, suburban break-dance pioneers vied with Lionel Richie fanatics for dance-floor space, Aunt Edna came ready to mount an assault on the dessert buffet in her best lime-green polyester pantsuit, and the phrase “the higher the hair, the closer to God” took on a whole new meaning.
With special appearances from:
AJ Jacobs, 99 red balloons, Ben Lee, the California Raisins, a well-intentioned Burt Reynolds impersonator, Jessi Klein, Joel Stein, DJ Squeak E. Clean, members of Foreigner (circa the Agent Provocateur tour), Sarah Silverman, OJ Simpson, Noah Tepperberg, Wendy Spero, the cast of Breakin’, Mark Ronson, Steve Fortgang and southern Florida’s number one Bar Mitzvah band
Bar Mitzvah Disco is an irresistible journey, two parts Fantasy Island to one part Vegas, rife with gorgeous girls, piles of cash, and ungracious thank-you notes presented straight from the source.
Customer Reviews:
EVERYBODY WANG CHUNG TONIGHT.......2007-07-01
This book is so much fun. Beyond the great photos that are too campy to be believed, this book is jammed with the reflections of others on their mitzvah experiences. No poignancy here, just a lot of laughs.
fantastic.......2007-01-30
This book is awesome - it perfectly captures this bizarre subculture of over-the-top celebrations of puberty among Jews in the 1980s, primarily in the New York metro area. If you are one of the chosen people that celebrated Bar and Bat Mitzvahs during that time, you will laugh until it hurts reading this book.
Kitch at its best.......2007-01-10
Loved the Disco Bar Mitzvah. Great collection of antecdotes and fantastic photographs. Oh Vey, to be 13 again - NO WAY.
Highly recommend this book.
Oh my god, I know them!!!!.......2006-12-18
I just received this book for the holidays. I was going to bar/bat mitvahs in the early eighties and throughly enjoyed this book. Then came the photo. I graduated junior high with the entire table!!!
There are no words to describe how happy I am with this book, except to say that reading it was pure enjoyment.
Disco Review.......2006-02-24
Cool book. I took it to work to show all my gentile co-workers and they loved it.
Book Description
Two rival businessmen meet in the Warsaw train station. "Where are you going?" says the first man.
"To Minsk," says the second.
"To Minsk, eh? What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me?"
Four men are walking in the desert.
The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer."
The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine."
The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty.
I must have tequila."
The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."
Customer Reviews:
You don't have to be Jewish!.......2007-05-31
For anyone exposed to American TV and movies (which I have been since the 50's) this is entertainment mother's milk. We've all become a little Jewish (comedically speaking) and I, at least, am decidedly better for it.
Book of Humor.......2007-05-16
I liked the book; I loved the price. It was used but in very good condition.
Big Book Of Jewish Humor.......2007-01-18
Lots for the money. A few of the long stories I couldn't really relate to, being a thorough goy.
Examines Jewish Humor from every Angle.......2007-01-11
This is a very interesting and humorous book. Most of the greats that I am familiar with are represented here so you get a truly all encompassing across the board variety of wit. It takes sources of from the written word, plays, film, stand up comics, word of mouth jokes through various periods of history. It's all here or at least what can be held in one gigantic volume. A must have.
A big anthology which could have been a lot bigger.......2006-11-24
This is a rich anthology with many fine pieces in it. But it does not always contain the best selections , the funniest things of the writer's in question. I suspect part of this is that the writers- anthologizers could not for instance get permission to use a selection from Philip Roth's Portnoy, or Bellow's 'Herzog' or 'Henderson' or 'Seize the Day'. Interestingly they have two selections from Woody Allen but not a single one from Bellow. I also would have liked to have seen a selection from 'The Catcher in the Rye' ( though I understand that Salinger though Halachically Jewish does not self- identify as Jewish). There are so much else that could have been in the anthology including samples of the work of the long list of great American Jewish comedians.
Nonetheless there are many very enjoyable pieces in this very fine anthology.
Book Description
A hilarious and provocative collection of original essays by some of today's top Jewish women writers—including Aimee Bender, Daphne Merkin, and Rebecca Walker—exploring all the things that their rabbis warned them never to discuss in public.
Have you ever heard a grandmother's biological clock tick? Are you certain that a piano is about to fall on your head, simply because too many good things have happened to you lately? Would your own mother out you as a lesbian at her Yiddish club? The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt is a laugh-out-loud funny pull-no-punches collection of original essays on topics that aren't usually talked about—much like the recent bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House.
o Molly Jong-Fast, author of Normal Girl and daughter of Erica Jong, writes about displeasing her therapist in “Tell Me About Your Mother.”
o Tova Mirvis, author of the bestselling novel The Ladies Auxiliary, writes about the pressure to be perfect in “What Will They Think?”
o Lori Gottlieb, author of the bestselling memoir Stick Figure, writes about trying to outwit her mother using caller ID in “Conversations with My Mother.”
Also includes pieces by: Jennifer Bleyer · Pearl Gluck · Rebecca Goldstein · Lauren Grodstein · Dara Horn · Rachel Kadish · Cynthia Kaplan · Binnie Kirschenbaum · Ellen Miller · Katie Rophie · Laurie Gwen Shapiro · Susan Shapiro · Ayelet Waldman, and many more.
Customer Reviews:
You need neither be a girl or guilty to enjoy this fun collection.......2007-06-26
Ruth Ellenson, the editor of this collection clearly worked overtime to gather a diverse group of women contributors to her "Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt." Much of the material here covered, dating, mothers, grandmothers, marriage, surely will come as no surprise and while well written will hardly rankle. Others, however, like Rabbi Sharon Brous's explanation of the tribulations of being a woman Rabbi will surely give much food for thought. Likewise the offering of novelist Aylete Waldman, as well written statement of Jewish anti-Zionism as one can find, will surely make more than a few readers uncomfortable. All the authors, or at least almost all of them, however, manage to mix a dollop of humor into their offering, keeping it entertaining even when topics turn weighty.
More than a few commentators have observed that we are living in an age of the renaissance of the essay as a form, whether on NPR's `This American Life' or the blogosphere. Ellenson here demonstrates how entertaining and provocative one can be when gathering contributions by a group of smart and thoughtful people. Generally funny, rarely preachy, and with enough schmaltz to make you giggle, this work will make a fine companion for summer travelers or even if you are just sitting around feeling guilty that you can't manage to get away.
At long last!.......2007-01-17
As a 30-something editor in the world of Jewish publishing, I have seen a LOT of Jewish books out there aimed at young women. Unfortunately, most of them in no way address the topics that my Jewish friends and I discuss. They often feel preachy, dry, or are so extreme in topic they are unrelatable. This is really one of the only books I've seen out there for my demographic that feels edgy and smart and relevant. It is also blessed with a great sense of wit and warmth. Perhaps best of all, it reestablished for me how diverse this small community really is, and how many unique stories we have to share. I was left wanting to go out to coffee with all the authors and talk for hours. What a gift!
great fun!.......2006-11-07
I liked the wide range of points of view- smart, considered, often very funny. It's a thoughtfully collected book- very engaging.
Great book! .......2006-10-06
This book has a story for everyone. Touching, inspiring, funny, insightful. I
highly recommend it to all my friends, jewish or not!
The Best.......2006-10-05
The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt is one of the best books I have read this year. Some of the essays had me crying with laughter and some had me crying because of the way some women Jewish women view their Jewish identity. Our book group felt stongly enough about the issues raised in this book, that we chose to hire Ruth Ellenson as a speaker for a Women's Event where 400 women came to hear her speak. Ruth got up and spoke about the essays in her book without any written material-speaking from the heart. This is a book I will certainly read again.
Books:
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- The Friars Club Encyclopaedia of Jokes: 2,000 One-Liners, Straight Lines, Stories, Gags, Roasts, Ribs and Put-Downs
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- The Great Divorce
- The Joy of Reflexology: Healing Techniques for the Hands and Feet to Reduce Stress and Reclaim Life
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How to Talk Jewish.......2006-03-03
