Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander

There really is neither hope nor tragedy contained within the pages of this book, but what is there is unusual.  It seems like the kind of story that you would love or hate, but in fact I found myself puzzled and not exactly sure how I felt about it.

The story is this--a couple, Solomon and Bree, stretch their resources to buy a house they really cannot afford with the intention of renting out two of the rooms in order to make the mortgage.  That seems like an inherently bad idea to me--they have a young child, and I know from experience that having people in the house complicates even the best of situations.  Then they add on the complication that Solomon's mother is supposedly dying of dementia comes to live with them for her 'final days'.   Firstly, predicting death is a notoriously poor science, and dementia is not one of those illnesses which is a swift killer, so the doctor who sends her to live with them under the pretense that her days are numbered should be taken to task.  The mother has a Holocaust obsession that is unwarranted, in that neither she nor her close family were in Europe during WWII, and is very annoying (for those who live with her).  Then add the element of the unbelievable.  Anne Frank is not dead, but is rather living in their attic.  She came with the house.

It is hard for me to decide if this is black humor or magical realism.  I can't decide if the comedy is off putting or allows for difficult choices to be presented in humorous ways.  I can't even decide what I think about the book beyond saying that I have not read much that gives me as much trouble with decision making as this book.  What I do know is that the part I liked best is when Solomon starts to contemplate two things--could he survive living in someone's attic, and if he could, who does he know that would risk hiding he and his family in their attic should that become necessary in the future.  When he asks friends and neighbors about it they treat him as if he needs medication, but it is the sort of idea that is hard to figure out.  Who are the righteous amongst us?  Very thought provoking, fairly humorous, and the sort of book that you will be thinking about long after you finish it.