{"product_id":"hope-a-tragedy-a-novel-9781594486463","title":"Hope: A Tragedy","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling debut novel from Shalom Auslander, the darkly comic author of \u003ci\u003eForeskin's Lament \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBeware of God\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eHope: A Tragedy\u003c\/i\u003e is a hilarious and haunting examination of the burdens and abuse of history, propelled with unstoppable rhythm and filled with existential musings and mordant wit. It is a comic and compelling story of the hopeless longing to be free of those pasts that haunt our every present. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: no one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has ever happened there, which is why Solomon Kugel, like other urbanites fleeing their pasts and histories, decided to move his wife and young son there. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e To begin again. To start anew. But it isn't quite working out that way for Kugel... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e His ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life, and won't stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further, some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one Kugel bought, and when, one night, he discovers history--a living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of history--hiding upstairs in his attic, bad quickly becomes worse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eShalom Auslander\u003c\/b\u003e was raised in Monsey, New York. Nominated for the Koret Award for writers under thirty-five, he has published articles in \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTablet\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, and has had stories aired on NPR's \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e. Auslander is the author of the short story collection \u003ci\u003eBeware of God\u003c\/i\u003e and the memoir \u003ci\u003eForeskin's Lament\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the creator of Showtime's \"Happyish.\" He lives in New York City. To learn more about Shalom Auslander, please visit www.shalomauslander.com.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50421109326098,"sku":"9781594486463","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8b6cc20a-0172-41e5-93a3-badf5877244b.jpg?v=1729502168","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/hope-a-tragedy-a-novel-9781594486463","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}