Feh, roughly translated from Yiddish, means yuck. It’s what you might say to yourself upon opening a tupperware container of leftovers that has sat on your counter unattended for two weeks. It is also how the author, Shalom Auslander, sees the world. Political divisions, internet conspiracy theories, twitter, climate change, systemic racism, indifference toward the homeless and dispossessed, Covid, and a news cycle of doom that spins every faster are all Feh. Everything about Auslander’s life is Feh. On the upside, Auslander is laugh-aloud funny. Intermittently, he is also a brilliant philosopher, literary critic, and analyst of religious dogmas. He drops pearls of wisdom so delicately they land gently upon felt cushions and simply lie there glowing. Then he has you laughing. There’s a rimshot for a well-timed joke every few pages. If only the package was not such a mountain of unrelenting depression.
