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Grand Central Publishing

Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16

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Description

A hopeful and inspiring "act of comedic magic" from comedian—and now memoirist!—Moshe Kasher (Artie Lange, 1 New York Times bestselling author of Too Fat to Fish). Rising young comedian Moshe Kasher is lucky to be alive. He started using drugs when he was just 12. At that point, he had already been in psychoanlysis for 8 years. By the time he was 15, he had been in and out of several mental institutions, drifting from therapy to rehab to arrest to...you get the picture. But Kasher in the Rye is not an "eye opener" to the horrors of addiction. It's a hilarious memoir about the absurdity of it all. When he was a young boy, Kasher's mother took him on a vacation to the West Coast. Well it was more like an abduction. Only not officially. She stole them away from their father and they moved to Oakland , California. That's where the real fun begins, in the war zone of Oakland Public Schools. He was more than just out of control-his mother walked him around on a leash, which he chewed through and ran away. Those early years read like part Augusten Burroughs, part David Sedaris, with a touch of Jim Carrol...but a lot more Jewish. In fact, Kasher later spends time in a Brooklyn Hasidic community. Then came addicition... Brutally honest and laugh-out-loud funny, Kasher's first literary endeavor finds humor in even the most horrifying situations. Read more


Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; Illustrated edition (March 28, 2012)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0446584266


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 65


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.81 x 8.25 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Humor Essays (Books) #11 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies #24 in Memoirs (Books)


#3 in Humor Essays (Books):


#11 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Crasher in the Rye
There were some brilliant moments in this book, to be sure, especially since it's set in Oakland, a fascinating setting that pretty much writes itself -- all one has to do is take it in and live to tell about it. Some decent writing throughout, making this a somewhat pleasurable read, but not worth the price tag, in the end. Much of the most interesting dynamics (such as Moshe and his deaf mother and father) are left under-explored, given less real estate to instead chronicle in detail his drunken and drug-addled excursions with his degenerate friends that really aren't that shocking or interesting at all. He should have just met with the guys from his past who are still alive to bat around "Member When" stories instead of willing this book into existence. I'm sure that he got more out of writing this book than many will get from reading it. Kasher tries to make drinking, pot smoking, and a little LSD use sound like he's murdering babies in Cambodia -- his hook (see title) isn't enough to make a compelling enough memoir for the 350 pages it lives in. This is a fairly dressed-up, but altogether standard collection of stories you'd hear at a rehab center from people who haven't figured out how to tell their story yet. None of the characters are drawn super in-depth or duplicitous enough to make anyone endearing. Nobody to root for, nobody to care about, even Moshe himself. Moshe's cool, aloof persona isn't enough to carry the otherwise meandering narrative, either. He may very well be entertaining enough in person to ramble on about such things and be compelling, but it doesn't translate to the memoir form. Even when he is revealing the most about himself, he does it in such a way that it's more like he's getting it all off his chest than creating a well-crafted narrative that reveals deeper meaning through the meditation and execution of its telling. The ending feels like a frantic tailspin, too. Tries to cover and gloss over a huge amount of ground as well as the catalyst that causes his change in the end in the last 30 pages. Felt a tiny bit cheated. Probably wouldn't read anything else he writes, but I'd still listen to his podcasts, which are entertaining in small doses. SB ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2017 by Salvator Mundi
    • Often obnoxious, always relatable, and thankfully heart-touching
I wonder if I would have liked this book as much if I hadn't already been familiar with Moshe Kasher as a stand-up. I wonder if I would have liked this book as much if I hadn't related so strongly to the boy it described, who couldn't stop himself from screwing up no matter how much he wanted to. But those questions are moot. I was already familiar with Kasher, and enjoy his stand-up quite a bit. I find him incredibly intelligent, and very good at subverting what seems like fairly standard, offensive/un-PC humor. And man do I relate to that boy that Moshe Kasher was. I may not have been raised by deaf parents, nor am I Jewish with an ultra-religious father, and I didn't slide as far as Kasher, but I very easily could have, very nearly almost did. Additionally, Kasher is only a couple years older than I am, so a lot of the cultural touchstones mentioned here are the same I experienced. I felt like I was Kasher, or could have been. I knew him. He was just like some of the kids I was hanging with, sharing forties and smoking weed and taking pills. Screwin' up. It's probably because I related so strongly that I was able to overlook most of the problems of the book, some of which are fairly glaring. The biggest issue is that Kasher doesn't go out of his way to separate his voice from the voice of his 13 through 17 year old selves, so a lot of times he comes across as, well, a dumb kid who is acting out. He says offensive things, and we don't really get much of that intellect that Kasher injects on stage to defuse or flip the obnoxiousness. Still, that's not to say that the book is without insight, and the further you get in to the book, the better it gets. By the end, it's actually quite touching, and I'm not afraid to admit that I teared up quite a bit once Kasher finally found himself and started to heal rather than just numb the pain. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2013 by Amazon Customer
    • INSERT APPLAUSE
I first came upon this book while looking into information on Moshe Kasher, after seeing some of his standup work... I found him, as a person, to be quite intriguing and that his humor could rub you in all the right and wrong ways... As a woman who grew up in a childhood filled with addicts and recovery, myself, it's quite incredible to read this story in the perspective of a child involved in the throes of so many struggles... And finally coming to terms with the person he is. Perhaps I'm just a mush, but this book brought me to tears on multiple occasions as well as cause me to laugh hysterically, aloud, in awkward situations. I would honestly recommend this book to anyone with the patience and understanding to fully take in the pain and trials that this young boy goes through during his adolescence. Beautifully written, heart-wrenching, hilarious and brutally honest, I swear you will not be able to put this book down easily. Thank you Moshe, for letting the lost know that they can find themselves, and perhaps later laugh at the absurdity how lost they may have been. <3 ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2014 by Lana
    • Wow, a funny, clever, deep, authentic, well-written true story
Not sure how I came upon this book -- maybe Amazon flagged it for me and it sounded like it might be worth the risk of buying since there's no bookstore in this area and I had nothing left to read. I'm here to tell you the book is everything it's advertised to be, and more. It's a wonderfully well-written page-turner, and I finished it in two or three days. It's at once funny, clever, profound, self-effacing, and informative. Moshe Kasher has been through all this nonsense so you don't have to ... but you can read about it and experience it vicariously. It ends on a lovely sentimental note (brief), so in the end it's a feel-good ride even though it gets pretty down and dirty, but fortunately in a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek way. Kasher lets humor transform the insanity he lived into jewel-like adventures of the kind you don't want your own kids or relatives to experience. It's all good, and it's all hilarious. This is a funny, clever, deep, authentic, well-written true story. Take a chance on it -- pick it up. You'll be glad you did. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2012 by Aanel Victoria

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