Hope: A Tragedy

Solomon Kugel is a hopeless optimist (according to his therapist) who spends a lot of time thinking of the perfect thing to say right before dying. He just moved to a small town in upstate New York, along with his wife, son, and mother. His mother is on the verge of her death and (seems to be) mentally ill. She falsely claims that her immediate relatives were victims of the Holocaust, and she has many habits that are also practiced by survivors of the concentration camps, or so she has read. ("Ever since the war…," she often sighs.) She feeds on pity like others would feed on latkes.Kugel moved to Stockton hoping for a fresh start for himself, his wife, and his child. But nothing has been going right; everything in his life seems to be getting worse. Doctors promised that his mother only had a short time left to live, but she seems to be doing fine—getting better, even. Someone has started burning down houses just like the one he just moved into. His marriage is crumbling. And then he finds a stowaway in his attic; someone from the past who can't possibly actually still alive. Right?… Hope: A Tragedy is a fascinating book that is ripe for discussion and dissection. It manages to be laugh-out-loud funny while almost constantly discussing death. It's a story of death and of survival.