Absolutely draws you in from the first chapter with it's tense and illustrative writing style. This book is very good at setting a scene and creates vivid stakes for a reader to latch on to.

The premise of this book was too intriguing for me not to request it and give it a go! At first, it was a bit difficult to wrap my head around as you are thrown straight into the story and Seventh's relationship with his mother, Mudd, but the family dynamic does reveal itself after a while. A lot of aspects of Mother for Dinner reminded me of The Umbrella Academy, such as the numbering of the children instead of names, and the estranged family coming together after a long period of time due to the death of the head of the family. I did enjoy the concept, with its interesting family dynamic and Mudd's specific desire to have 12 boys, as well as the interspersing of old childhood memories and the Cannibals' 'origin story' into America. I do think that the pacing of the story towards the end sped up too much, and ended up not having as much of an impact towards the end as I feel it could have. Considering the controversial subject matter, I would have liked to be more engrossed.

This is the second novel I have read by Auslander and like the first (Hope: A Tragedy) this is dark, shocking and filled with black humour. I didn't enjoy it as much as Hope, perhaps the premise was less enjoyable, but Auslander's writing is always worth reading.

It's a great satire that made me laugh and think at the same.
I think you must be a genius to write a novel about Cannibal-Americans and their way of living.
Even if it's definitely entertaining it also makes you think and this is the sort of humor that can appeal to fans of Borat or Monty Phyton.
Loved it and want to read other books by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The description of mother for dinner really drew me in - the satire, the ‘shocking’ subject matter... but on reading it just felt incredibly tired. Perhaps I’m just getting too old for this sort of thing, but it felt like a newspaper column drawn out to irritating length.
I’m sure others will enjoy it - there are positives, primarily the interactions between the siblings, but it’s too laboured to recommend

A brilliant, satirical and funny book about a small group of Cannibal's living in America. When a dysfunctional family is bought back together for the passing 9f their mother, they are all for once present to hear her dying words, "Eat Me". They are the last of their people, so will Seventh and his 11 siblings do what is required?

A darkly comic book with (not surprisingly) descriptions of cannibalism. But this is so much more. A novel about identity, history, culture, family, religion and the general state of the world. Shalom Auslander has a rare talent for tackling many issues with outstandingly dry wit and this one doesnt disappoint.

Auslander provides a satyrical take on the religious ceremonies in a novel that is fast-paced and reads in one sitting; sarcastic, weird, original yet not that memorable.

The first book I read by Auslander made me laugh a lot, the second not so much and this one even less. Unfortunately, although the novel is intended as satire and a metaphor etc.etc., I am a superficial reader and in the end I found it repetitive.

Il primo libro che lessi di Auslander mi fece ridere tantissimo, il secondo non cosí tanto e questo ancora meno. Purtroppo, per quanto il romanzo sia da intendere come satira e metafora etc.etc. io sono una lettrice superficiale e alla fine l'ho trovato ripetitivo.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Hi hadn’t heard of Shalom but after this I am definitely a fan.I feel really happy to have discovered a new cultural outlet.

Mother For Dinner is an excoriating satire on the contemporary obsession with identity. It has a good deal of Shalom Auslander’s customary brilliance and wit, but has its flaws, too.

As in the brilliant Hope: A Tragedy, Auslander uses an outrageous premise to illustrate what he sees as the dangers of relying for one’s identity on a sense of both current and historic oppression and injustice. Here, he creates a Cannibal-American community living covertly in the USA having come from the Old Country (no-one remembers precisely where) several generations ago. A myth about their establishment in the USA is created, embellished and nurtured – by no-one more so than Mudd, monstrous matriarch of a Can-Am family and a parody of every over-zealous orthodoxy, who “loved her people, so much so that, as a matter of pride, she despised all others.” Seventh is one of her sons who has broken free but is drawn back as the family gathers for Mudd’s death – after which, by tradition, they are expected to eat her.

It’s a clever, grotesque device which enables Auslander to throw Orthodoxy dependent on ancient stories and tradition (of all kinds) into sharp and unforgiving focus. This passage is a good example: “...nobody remembers exactly what Remembrance Day was established to remember. Something happened— of that there can be no question— and whatever it was, it was bad. It was tragic. It was the most tragic thing that ever happened, otherwise why would they remember it, even if they didn’t? All that is known for certain is that somewhere (no one can remember where), on some particular day (no one can remember which), something terrible happened to their blessed ancestors (no one can remember what), and it is important that they never forget it, whatever it was and whenever it happened, and that they curse the names of those who perpetrated whatever it was that was perpetrated, whoever they were, and whatever they did.”

He also takes well-aimed swipes at some publishing trends exploiting ideas of identity and other targets. The message, that identity is important but becomes damaging if it is insular and wholly inward- and backward-looking, is very important and he can be very, very funny about it. However, toward the end the grotesquerie got just a bit much for me and rather obscured what Auslander was trying to say.

Mother For Dinner is often brilliant and hilarious and makes good, important points. You do need to be prepared for some pretty gross scenes, but I’d say it’s well worth it. Perhaps not the absolute gem that Hope: A Tragedy is, but still very recommendable.

When I saw that Shalom Auslander had a new book coming out, I rushed to put it on my wishlist. I absolutely adored his outrageous book 'Hope: A Tragedy', a taboo-smashing offence-giving rollicking tale of a middle-aged American Jewish man who buys a house with a problem; Anne Frank is living in his attic and she's not very nice.

Seeing that 'Mother for Dinner' was about a family of Can-Ams (Cannibal Americans) who is faced with having to eat their 500lb, aggressive, offensive and unloveable mother, I could tell this was the kind of book that only Auslander could have written.

It starts well. We get to know the family - 11 sons, 1 daughter - and the history of the Can-Am culture. There are funny touches - they HATE Jack Nicholson for denying his Can-Am culture, also Ronald Reagan - and I'm sure the descendants of Henry Ford wouldn't be too impressed either. The family members have each evolved their own ways of dealing with their culture, but almost all have disappointed their mother, a racist, sexist, homophobic loudmouth.

The second half drags a bit. Once I'd finished, I'd actually forgotten that I had finished because the ending was not very memorable.

The book raises very interesting questions about when immigrants should and shouldn't / can and can't preserve their culture, about the tendency of 'leaders' to move the goalposts and change the rules, and about how far a controlling parent will go to try to get their offspring to toe the line.

I was a bit disappointed. I expected more. This would be a 3.5 star for me, rounded up on this occasion but with a warning that it's not in the same leagues as 'Hope:A Tragedy' but it's still very enjoyable.

How far would you go for your culture, your people, your heritage? This is the question posed to Seventh Seltzer, one of twelve siblings at the end of a long line of 'Cannibal-Americans', who is asked to promise his dying mother that he will eat her after her death. The ancient ritual of Consumption is the only way to grant her eternal life, she claims. The only way to respect the age-old traditions of their ancestors.

Obviously, Seventh is aghast.

The tale that ensues is one of hilarity, political incorrectness and identity politics, as Seventh considers the historical ethnicity his mother based her life on and contrasts it with his own existence in modern America.

I loved the distinct personalities of each of the twelve siblings and the ways in which their culture-centric upbringing influenced their life choices. The witty manner of the book made me laugh out loud, but its contents also made me think about topics like identity, assimilation, family ties and history.

If you're looking for a satirical view of the Great American Novel and the current state of humanity, look no further.