The Ministry of Special Cases

Editorial Review:

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.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

It can happen here:

In retrospect, I am reminded of Sinclair Lewis's novel It Can't Happen Here, a broadly told story of the takeover of America and the suppression of its once-free press by a brutal police regime.
Well, it can happen here (witness the subtle and not-so-subtle progress during the George W. Bush regime), and it did happen in Argentina and other Latin American countries, i.e., the disappearance of our children who speak out, however covertly, against the violent tactics of a dictatorship.
The... more info

A heartbreaking book of loss:

Kaddish Poznan is a desecrator of Jewish graves. However, he defaces the headstones of the long dead on request of their still living relatives. In a world where being Jewish or descended from a Jewish family is a hinderance Kaddish's work prospers. Kaddish (named after the Jewish prayer for the dead) is viewed with contempt not only by the people who hire him to do thier dirty work but also by his son.
It is 1976, the outset of Argentina's "Dirty War," in which nearly 30,000 students, union members... more info

Funny and heartbreaking:

I really admire what Nathan Englander accomplishes in this book. He manages to hold together an almost slapstick comic tone while delivering a heartbreaking story. Even though the character's are presented at arm's length and are to a degree types, and even though his use of symbolism strays from the realistic (Kaddish literally erasing people's identities from gravestones and the nose reduction surgery as a metaphor for the Argentine dictatorship's erasure of people and the erasure of Jewish identity), I... more info

Engaging Unlike the Norm:

Englander's first novel (2nd book) is a novel written by a writer of promising talent. His first book earned him a PEN/Malamund Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 'Ministry', the character development of Kaddish, Lillian and their son, Pato, is strong, likable and enduring. Although the story is tragic in theme, it is still engaging and hard to put down. After a while you wonder constantly about the outcome and it keeps the pages... more info

Similar Products:

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.) by Michael Chabon (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

On Chesil Beach by Ian Mcewan (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

Divisadero (Vintage International) by Michael Ondaatje (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.) by Dalia Sofer (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

The Savage Detectives: A Novel by Roberto Bolano (Paperback) - Usually ships in 6 to 10 days

Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

Falling Man: A Novel by Don DeLillo (Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

Site © 2005-2008 Atarim, LLC