Meshugah

Isaac Bashevis Singer's Meshugah—published three years after his death—portrays Holocaust survivors in New York in the early 1950s. Narrated by Aaron Greidinger, who finds himself inextricably involved with a group of refugees on the Upper West Side, it is the story of Max Aberdam, a "ghost" whom Greidinger had long thought dead, and Miriam, an attractive woman of twenty-seven who has survived the Nazi camps. Greidinger encounters different types of people—including Miriam's rich lesbian employer, a stream of disturbed advice-seekers who come to his office, old flames like Stefa and Irka, and Misha, an anarchist taxi driver—but not until Max-Miriam-Aaron reunite in Tel Aviv does he learn the full truth about Miriam's past. While Meshugah seems to develop like a comedy, it is a serious and extraordinary novel. The bizarre twists and turns of the story, as well as the unusual characters, confirm once more the author's reputation as a master storyteller.

Praise:

“One would have to be meshugah (that is, cuckoo, crazy) not to celebrate the publication of this brief tragicomic novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer.” ―The New York Times

“Extraordinary ... The novel's title (Yiddish for crazy) evokes Singer's pessimistic vision of the world as an insane asylum, but also conveys something of the manic energy he brings to a deceptively comic tale that distills his marvelous storytelling gifts.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Ever the consummate storyteller, Singer understands that there is a bit of God and the devil in everyone and that passion cannot be explained.” ―Library Journal