Book Summary and Reviews of kaddish.com by Nathan Englander

Book Summary

The Pulitzer finalist delivers his best work yet - a brilliant, streamlined comic novel, reminiscent of early Philip Roth and of his own most masterful stories, about a son's failure to say Kaddish for his father.

Larry is an atheist in a family of orthodox Memphis Jews. When his father dies, it is his responsibility as the surviving son to recite the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, every day for eleven months. To the horror and dismay of his mother and sisters, Larry refuses - thus imperiling the fate of his father's soul. To appease them, and in penance for failing to mourn his father correctly, he hatches an ingenious if cynical plan, hiring a stranger through a website called kaddish.com to recite the daily prayer and shepherd his father's soul safely to rest.

This is Nathan Englander's freshest and funniest work to date - a satire that touches, lightly and with unforgettable humor, on the conflict between religious and secular worlds, and the hypocrisies that run through both. A novel about atonement; about spiritual redemption; and about the soul-sickening temptations of the internet, which, like God, is everywhere.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Discuss the theme of faith as it is portrayed in the novel. How does each character's faith manifest itself? Does faith always manifest itself in the same way? Do you feel that any one character's faith is more "legitimate" than others? Why or why not?
2. While Larry is staying at his sister's house for his father's shiva, he decides to watch pornography on his laptop and immediately feels guilty. He is haunted by the image of a particular actress in one of the videos for years to come. To what do you attribute this woman's staying power in Larry's conscience? What does she come to represent to him?
3. When Larry looks at the photo of Chemi, he thinks to himself, "See how this young man, alone in the beit midrash, struggles to ...