The Pious Atheist

[rug]

Novelist Wayne Hoffman explores dogma’s dilemmas in “Sweet Like Sugar”

BY JAY BLOTCHER
Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 10:37 AM

In Wayne Hoffman’s new book “Sweet Like Sugar,” a 20-something graphic artist named Benji Steiner crosses paths with a 70-something Orthodox rabbi named Jacob Zuckerman. Their worlds could not be further apart, yet they are drawn together, first by a health emergency and, later, by intellectual curiosity.

The story of their growing friendship in suburban Maryland –– and the religious dogma that drives them apart –– is the narrative arc of this book, which manages to evenhandedly speak volumes about the mixed blessings of modern Judaism.

Hoffman, a 40-year-old New Yorker who has a second home in upstate Liberty, echoes in his narrative several predecessors from modern Jewish American literature. Like the work of Philip Roth, his tale offers rueful humor about the excesses of family. Like the best of Cynthia Ozick and Chaim Potok, the book ponders a Talmudic-like array of arguments regarding a man standing in opposition to his faith. Like Jonathan Safran Foer and Jonathan Franzen, Hoffman brings a newer generation’s critical eye to analyzing the pros and cons of his millennia-long heritage.

What may startle the reader most, however, upon finishing this satisfying tale, is the author’s pedigree. Hoffman, who has crafted a thorny but endearing story about modern Judaism, is a gay atheist.

http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2011/10/18/gay_city_news/arts/doc4e9d9d0365c41043268670.txt

[Ian David]

1. I might buy this book. Thanks! n/t

[rug]

3. Me too.

[darkstar3]

2. I find it difficult to see how he is pious.

He has not adhered to the religion, he has made what parts of his family tradition are compatible with his world view and position his own.

[rug]

4. Read the book. A good title makes sense when the story's been told.

Myself, I'm intrigued by what he becomes pious towards.

[darkstar3]

6. In case you missed it, the title is of the article and not the book. I read the article.

The story is told, and it was a sloppy title.

[rug]

8. I'm sure the reviewer read it before he titled the article.

[NMMNG]

5. Apparently there are more pious atheists than we ever realized

If you exchange gifts near the end of the year that makes you somehow pious. According to some you're doing "god's work" if you engage in charitable works, so that must therefore make you pious. Attending a wedding or funeral service in a church makes you pious. I've been pious all these years without even knowing it.

[darkstar3]

7. You're right. It makes perfect sense,

if you have no grasp of the use of adjectives.

[laconicsax]

10. That's a typically weak area. n/t

[laconicsax]

11. And the only reason you don't just throw yourself to the ground in prostration...

is because you simply hate God.

[ZombieHorde]

12. Well, God is kind of a dick. nt

[applegrove]

9. Sounds great!