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Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes
A riotous, whirlwind tour through deep American subcultures ranging from Burning Man to Alcoholics Anonymous, by the writer and comedian Moshe Kasher
After bottoming out, being institutionalized, and getting sober all by the tender age of fifteen, Moshe Kasher found himself “What’s next?” Over the ensuing decades, he discovered the a lot.
There was his time as a boy-king of Alcoholics Anonymous, a kind of pubescent proselytizer for other teens getting and staying sober. He was a rave promoter turned DJ turned sober ecstasy dealer in San Francisco’s techno warehouse party scene of the 1990s. For fifteen years he worked as a psychedelic security guard at Burning Man, fishing hippies out of hidden chambers they’d constructed to try to sneak into the event. As a child of deaf parents, Kasher became deeply immersed in deaf culture and sign language interpretation, translating everything from end-of-life care to horny deaf clients’ attempts to hire sex workers. He reconnects and tries to make peace with his ultra-Hasidic Jewish upbringing after the death of his father before finally settling into the comedy scene where he now makes his living.
Each of these scenes gets a gonzo historiographical rundown before Kasher enters the narrative and tells the story of the lives he has spent careening from one to the next. A razor-sharp, gut-wrenchingly funny, and surprisingly moving tour of some of the most wildly distinct subcultures a person can experience, Subculture Vulture deftly weaves together memoir and propulsive cultural history. It’s a story of finding your people, over and over again, in different settings, and of knowing without a doubt that wherever you are is where you’re supposed to be.
After bottoming out, being institutionalized, and getting sober all by the tender age of fifteen, Moshe Kasher found himself “What’s next?” Over the ensuing decades, he discovered the a lot.
There was his time as a boy-king of Alcoholics Anonymous, a kind of pubescent proselytizer for other teens getting and staying sober. He was a rave promoter turned DJ turned sober ecstasy dealer in San Francisco’s techno warehouse party scene of the 1990s. For fifteen years he worked as a psychedelic security guard at Burning Man, fishing hippies out of hidden chambers they’d constructed to try to sneak into the event. As a child of deaf parents, Kasher became deeply immersed in deaf culture and sign language interpretation, translating everything from end-of-life care to horny deaf clients’ attempts to hire sex workers. He reconnects and tries to make peace with his ultra-Hasidic Jewish upbringing after the death of his father before finally settling into the comedy scene where he now makes his living.
Each of these scenes gets a gonzo historiographical rundown before Kasher enters the narrative and tells the story of the lives he has spent careening from one to the next. A razor-sharp, gut-wrenchingly funny, and surprisingly moving tour of some of the most wildly distinct subcultures a person can experience, Subculture Vulture deftly weaves together memoir and propulsive cultural history. It’s a story of finding your people, over and over again, in different settings, and of knowing without a doubt that wherever you are is where you’re supposed to be.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 30, 2024
299 people are currently reading
6156 people want to read
About the author
Moshe Kasher
8 books119 followersMoshe Kasher (born July 6, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in the Los Angeles area. He is the author of the 2012 memoir 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.
In 2009 iTunes named Kasher "Best New Comic" and his comedy album Everyone You Know Is Going to Die, and Then You Are! was ranked one of the top 20 comedy albums on iTunes that same year. He was also named "Comic to Watch in 2010" by Punchline Magazine.
Source: Wikipedia
In 2009 iTunes named Kasher "Best New Comic" and his comedy album Everyone You Know Is Going to Die, and Then You Are! was ranked one of the top 20 comedy albums on iTunes that same year. He was also named "Comic to Watch in 2010" by Punchline Magazine.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 282 reviews
April 18, 2024
First chapter about alcoholism and addiction was the best chapter by far. Sometimes funny, sometimes cringe, white cishet male comic shit
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October 5, 2023A memoir in which professional comedian Moshe Kasher explores his life through the prism of six subcultures that have had aparticularly momentous impact on him: AA, rave culture, Hasidic Judaism, Burning Man, Deaf culture, & stand-up comedy.
The first thing to know is that chronologically, Alcoholics Anonymous comes first. That's a curveball, huh? Bet you expected pretty much anything else to be first. But this is a guy who started recovery as a teenager & THEN got into both raver culture & Burning Man completely drug- & alcohol-free. & stayed that way. The entire book, I was screaming inside my head, "How? WHY?" The only way I've ever made sense of raves or Burning Man is by accepting the fact that drugs make people do weird things, & Kasher has gotta be the hardest working man in publishing today by trying to explain how he, as a sober person, fell in love with both of these worlds independently without the swaddling of chemical dependencies making them bearable. He very nearly succeeds, & that alone makes the book worth the price of admission.
The second thing to know is that the book is funny, but it's also a serious memoir that addresses serious topics, like the importance of providing high-quality translation services for Deaf people. (Kasher is not Deaf, but his mom is, which how he became a professional translator for a while.) This dude is not a dabbler. He doesn't just join AA & hit up a meeting once a month; he becomes part of the youth outreach team & goes to international conferences & stuff. He doesn't just go to Burning Man & ride a child's bicycle around while lighting off fireworks. He joins the security team for twenty years. He commits to a degree that is completely foreign to me. Like I'm not sure I'm as into my kid as he is into stuff he just saw a flyer for one time. I kid, I kid, but it did make me feel like a useless dilettante.
Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC!
The first thing to know is that chronologically, Alcoholics Anonymous comes first. That's a curveball, huh? Bet you expected pretty much anything else to be first. But this is a guy who started recovery as a teenager & THEN got into both raver culture & Burning Man completely drug- & alcohol-free. & stayed that way. The entire book, I was screaming inside my head, "How? WHY?" The only way I've ever made sense of raves or Burning Man is by accepting the fact that drugs make people do weird things, & Kasher has gotta be the hardest working man in publishing today by trying to explain how he, as a sober person, fell in love with both of these worlds independently without the swaddling of chemical dependencies making them bearable. He very nearly succeeds, & that alone makes the book worth the price of admission.
The second thing to know is that the book is funny, but it's also a serious memoir that addresses serious topics, like the importance of providing high-quality translation services for Deaf people. (Kasher is not Deaf, but his mom is, which how he became a professional translator for a while.) This dude is not a dabbler. He doesn't just join AA & hit up a meeting once a month; he becomes part of the youth outreach team & goes to international conferences & stuff. He doesn't just go to Burning Man & ride a child's bicycle around while lighting off fireworks. He joins the security team for twenty years. He commits to a degree that is completely foreign to me. Like I'm not sure I'm as into my kid as he is into stuff he just saw a flyer for one time. I kid, I kid, but it did make me feel like a useless dilettante.
Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC!
March 4, 2024
An engaging, funny and informative memoir. I’d never heard of the author, but maybe now I’ll check out his stand-up comedy. This book traces his life through six subcultures: after a troubled adolescence he gets deeply involved in Alcoholics Anonymous, then finds an almost spiritual fulfillment in rave culture (despite being completely sober—which doesn’t stop him from selling drugs for awhile) and later Burning Man. Because his parents are deaf, he’s also involved in deaf culture and works as as ASL interpreter for many years, and his dad is a Hasidic Jew, which he rejects as a kid mostly due to having lousy relatives, before finding a place in more progressive Judaism as an adult. Then at the end he writes about his career in comedy.
For each of the scenes, Kasher gives us a brief history of the subculture as well as writing about his own life and experience of it. The history is quite interesting, especially for the non-party scenes (I don’t care at all about the history of rave music, though I enjoyed reading about how this subculture transformed the author’s life). Subcultures are fascinating things and it was fun peeking into these worlds I’ll never be involved with myself, with some critique from the author too, as he often winds up having complicated relationships with the subcultures, whether it’s AA for being too Christian-oriented and one-size-fits-all, or the party scenes for exploiting their semi-paid employees. It’s also quite funny throughout—for some reason, humor books work best for me when they are memoirs, and this may not just be my quirk, as Kasher also discusses the history of stand-up comedy in moving from canned jokes that anyone can tell, to comedians drawing on their own experiences. That said, his jokes about history are funny too!
Ironically, the comedy chapter was my least favorite—it felt a little less funny and engaging than the rest, a lot of Kasher emphasizing how much he persevered despite setbacks (this sounds like an exhausting career to try to break into). I also wished his male default hadn’t been quite so obvious: there’s a bunch of lines like (paraphrasing) “I always felt bad for the deaf kids isolated in rural school districts, unable to flirt with girls,” as if actual girls (and in this example queer boys) are totally outside his conception of “kids.” If you particularly empathize with (straight) boys because you were one, that’s fine, but have the grace to realize that’s what you’re doing!
Overall though, I did enjoy this as well as learning a bit from it. Each subculture gets its own chapter, so you could pick it up just for one, but they also flow together well; it’s a cohesive memoir rather than an essay collection. Worth checking out for those interested in subcultures and humorous memoirs.
For each of the scenes, Kasher gives us a brief history of the subculture as well as writing about his own life and experience of it. The history is quite interesting, especially for the non-party scenes (I don’t care at all about the history of rave music, though I enjoyed reading about how this subculture transformed the author’s life). Subcultures are fascinating things and it was fun peeking into these worlds I’ll never be involved with myself, with some critique from the author too, as he often winds up having complicated relationships with the subcultures, whether it’s AA for being too Christian-oriented and one-size-fits-all, or the party scenes for exploiting their semi-paid employees. It’s also quite funny throughout—for some reason, humor books work best for me when they are memoirs, and this may not just be my quirk, as Kasher also discusses the history of stand-up comedy in moving from canned jokes that anyone can tell, to comedians drawing on their own experiences. That said, his jokes about history are funny too!
Ironically, the comedy chapter was my least favorite—it felt a little less funny and engaging than the rest, a lot of Kasher emphasizing how much he persevered despite setbacks (this sounds like an exhausting career to try to break into). I also wished his male default hadn’t been quite so obvious: there’s a bunch of lines like (paraphrasing) “I always felt bad for the deaf kids isolated in rural school districts, unable to flirt with girls,” as if actual girls (and in this example queer boys) are totally outside his conception of “kids.” If you particularly empathize with (straight) boys because you were one, that’s fine, but have the grace to realize that’s what you’re doing!
Overall though, I did enjoy this as well as learning a bit from it. Each subculture gets its own chapter, so you could pick it up just for one, but they also flow together well; it’s a cohesive memoir rather than an essay collection. Worth checking out for those interested in subcultures and humorous memoirs.
May 18, 2024
A chaotic but highly readable timeline of Kasher’s various attempts at figuring out his career and finding his community before he became a celebrated comedian.
I especially related to the journey of trying on new + far fetched identities (“subcultures”) before finding one that truly fits. Aren’t we all just trying to figure out where we belong?
I especially related to the journey of trying on new + far fetched identities (“subcultures”) before finding one that truly fits. Aren’t we all just trying to figure out where we belong?
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July 3, 2024DNF... Once he said "baseball is a boring sport" I closed the audio. To each their own right? Lol. 😁
March 28, 2024
Loved the idea and was super excited to read but ended up being kind of a drag. Feel like it would’ve been better as a podcast or something?
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March 9, 2024I think I first heard Moshe on his 2nd You Made it Weird episode which I remember thinking was the funniest podcast episode I'd ever heard, and listened to it multiple times in 2014, then later the Hound Tall podcast, and then the Endless Honeymoon podcast which was one of my favorites from the pandemic, not just for great dating advice, but just great general life advice that often came directly from AA, making it a dating and relationship podcast AND a backdoor AA podcast. So naturally I picked this up mainly for the AA section, a little scared by how critical he would be and was so impressed and moved by how well he talks about how he came in and how he left it, told with such honestly and warmth, without judgment, and real clear-eyed introspection. And honestly explains the program and the steps better than a lot of literature I've read! It really chocked me the hell up! I would absolutely recommend this section to anyone in the program, as long as they're mature (emotionally sober, dare I say) enough to handle it, as it gives a really important perspective.
Honestly, all the parts chocked me up. Moshe is hilarious, and sometimes the book is as well, but more often then not its deeply emotional. At least thats what resonated with me the most. Even the Burning Man section made me understand it a little better and made me far less likely to mock it. And I think there's something really optimistic and poignant about his ability to take real meaning out of all these subcultures and experiences, many of which he "leaves" purely because of positive personal growth, instead of resentments or ego or shame. His thoughts on contemporary comedy are so smart and refreshing, especially given how deeply annoying most famous comedians are today. And the epilogue perfectly sums up the importance of subcultures and how easily they get lost or made meaningless nowadays. Really loved this one!!
Honestly, all the parts chocked me up. Moshe is hilarious, and sometimes the book is as well, but more often then not its deeply emotional. At least thats what resonated with me the most. Even the Burning Man section made me understand it a little better and made me far less likely to mock it. And I think there's something really optimistic and poignant about his ability to take real meaning out of all these subcultures and experiences, many of which he "leaves" purely because of positive personal growth, instead of resentments or ego or shame. His thoughts on contemporary comedy are so smart and refreshing, especially given how deeply annoying most famous comedians are today. And the epilogue perfectly sums up the importance of subcultures and how easily they get lost or made meaningless nowadays. Really loved this one!!
February 11, 2024
25% history, 75% autobiography, 100% enjoyable
January 9, 2025
First book of the year !!
Explores his experiences in six distinct subcultures: Alcoholics Anonymous (as a teenager), Raves, burning man, the deaf community, Orthodox Judaism, & stand up comedy. I cared more about some sections than others, but it was overall interesting & a good listen
Explores his experiences in six distinct subcultures: Alcoholics Anonymous (as a teenager), Raves, burning man, the deaf community, Orthodox Judaism, & stand up comedy. I cared more about some sections than others, but it was overall interesting & a good listen
March 9, 2024
Moshe is a good storyteller and he has got many great stories to tell. The idea behind this book is- separate sections for the major subcultures that he has been involved in/have influenced him - interesting and new. I read it in numerical order, but I don’t believe you need to. Some sections (raves) kept my attention less then others (ASL and comedy were my favorites) but overall it was a good mix of memoir, research, the topic at hand and also funny/touching moments as well.
April 29, 2024
I’m calling it: this may be my “book of the 2024” and its only April. This book made me laugh, cry, and feel deeply connected to Moshe, a comic and writer I have admired and followed for years and years.
June 26, 2024
I breezed through the audiobook on a roadtrip and really enjoyed Moshe’s descriptions of the 6 subcultures that have been part of his life: the AA recovery community, ravers, Burners (Burning Man diehards), the deaf community, comedians, and Judaism. I resonated strongly with the Judaism chapter and his descriptions of Shabbat and Kaddish brought tears to my eyes. The chapter on being a coda made me want to learn ASL. I appreciated all of the research Moshe did to present the history of each community and how he weaved it in with his own experiences.
May 3, 2024
I think this was more like 3.5 stars for me, purely because I went into this book thinking it was a traditional memoir, as opposed to part cultural encyclopedia and part memoir. Though I still enjoyed it for the most part, and appreciated the knowledge I gained throughout. The chapters on burning man and deaf culture were by far my favorites.
August 11, 2024
I first heard Moshe’s comedy when he opened for Aziz Ansari circa 2014ish and have been a fan since. Was not expecting to appreciate the AA chapter as much as I did. Truly love how Moshe weaves the history of the scenes with his own experience.
Wanted to read this and then a book club I am (very bad at participating) in read it like 3 months ago so I am LATE at reading this but I’m so glad I did!
Wanted to read this and then a book club I am (very bad at participating) in read it like 3 months ago so I am LATE at reading this but I’m so glad I did!
March 27, 2024
It was funny. It made me laugh a bunch of times. I think it was a bit long though. Nice epilogue as well.
January 11, 2024
The concept of this book was very intriguing to me. Kasher has lived many lives and I was interested to see what he had to say. Unfortunately for me the execution fell a little flat. Each subculture that Kasher discussed had sections that dragged where he presented research to make sure you, the reader, knew he knew what he was talking about. This would have been fine had he not randomly gotten in his own way by inserting a random jokey “fact” followed quickly by a “teehee no that’s just how I imagined it.” I wanted to see more of Kasher in these subcultures. I felt that the section on his time as an ASL interpreter as a CODA and his experience with Judaism and the comfort he found following the death of his father were the strongest. I saw bit of Kasher that I really enjoyed and wanted more of. Other sections (stand up comedy) felt like he needed more time to reflect on.
If you’re a fan of Kasher’s comedy, this book is for you. If you’re like me a reader who stumbled upon this book, proceed with caution.
If you’re a fan of Kasher’s comedy, this book is for you. If you’re like me a reader who stumbled upon this book, proceed with caution.
April 8, 2024
I never heard of this guy before, I stumbled upon the book somehow and it looked really interesting to me. I heard of his wife, who I didn’t know he was married to until the last chapter.
Either way. This book was hysterical and insightful and honestly just really interesting and well written. I loved every second of it.
Love the way it’s broken up, it flows really well. He’s funny and poignant and smart. There’s a lot here, and every bit of it is gold.
Either way. This book was hysterical and insightful and honestly just really interesting and well written. I loved every second of it.
Love the way it’s broken up, it flows really well. He’s funny and poignant and smart. There’s a lot here, and every bit of it is gold.
February 4, 2024
Somehow both very self-aware and totally lacking in self-awareness. Most of the six sections were totally embarrassing, especially the Burning Man one. I did find the part about being a child of deaf parents interesting. It was the only place where any real emotion or insight could be found.
October 8, 2023
I actually didn’t know Moshe before reading his book. What a storyteller! It was laugh out loud at times and heartbreaking at others. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.
February 22, 2024
A good and funny book written by the only sober person to ever go to burning man...
May 7, 2024
“Save the culture that has been set on fire.”
This is a fantastic book to come into with 0 expectations. (Sorry for ruining that for you now knowing I set the expectations high with a 5 star review. You can cut your losses and leave now if you want but I don’t think my review will taint your experience too much.) TBH I only sort of knew Moshe as a comedian who was married to another comedian who I think is very funny and they seem mutually obsessed which each other. But WOW, you cannot say Moshe has lived a boring life.
Moshe’s storytelling is electric, and completely captivating. Every subculture Moshe finds himself a part of you can tell is handled with so much love and care in his story telling. He takes the time to underscore his experiences by telling you, the assumed outsider, the customs and the history behind them all while keeping his story at the center. Additionally he is willing to acknowledge all the complexities and contradictions. As someone as part of one of them (#chosen), even I learned something about this great wide community. Throughout all of these subcultures there are consistent themes that seem to unintentionally seem to connect them. Personally my favorite was the one of redemption and reinvention, I thought this was told in the ways that make you feel the weight of feeling like your world is ending but then come in with the reminder that life isn’t over at 16, 18, 21, 30, etc. and each example reminds us all that each community has a different view of what’s life shattering (like when Moshe goes to a Sex addicts meeting and he’s like oh this isn’t for me or when his brother talks about his difficult experience with a Hasidic childhood and then Moshe tells us he’s a rabbi now- which is a classic jewish story of literally every rabbi I’ve met since college).
I will say, of all the stories the burning man one didn’t connect in the same way the others did. But I did think it was entertaining. I genuinely loved how he talked about taking his wife there and she was over it. He made it clear that it wasn’t for everyone, and I don’t think it’s for me, but I’m glad it’s for him!
I thought this book was 5/5 until he started talking about his wife and then his daughter. Oh man, I’m fully ready to campaign Goodreads to let me give a higher rating. This man is in love with them both, and the way he writes about them is SO moving. The end of the book outlining what he hopes his daughter can learn and take from these six subcultures was so beautiful.
Highly, highly recommend this book. I could not put this book down.
This is a fantastic book to come into with 0 expectations. (Sorry for ruining that for you now knowing I set the expectations high with a 5 star review. You can cut your losses and leave now if you want but I don’t think my review will taint your experience too much.) TBH I only sort of knew Moshe as a comedian who was married to another comedian who I think is very funny and they seem mutually obsessed which each other. But WOW, you cannot say Moshe has lived a boring life.
Moshe’s storytelling is electric, and completely captivating. Every subculture Moshe finds himself a part of you can tell is handled with so much love and care in his story telling. He takes the time to underscore his experiences by telling you, the assumed outsider, the customs and the history behind them all while keeping his story at the center. Additionally he is willing to acknowledge all the complexities and contradictions. As someone as part of one of them (#chosen), even I learned something about this great wide community. Throughout all of these subcultures there are consistent themes that seem to unintentionally seem to connect them. Personally my favorite was the one of redemption and reinvention, I thought this was told in the ways that make you feel the weight of feeling like your world is ending but then come in with the reminder that life isn’t over at 16, 18, 21, 30, etc. and each example reminds us all that each community has a different view of what’s life shattering (like when Moshe goes to a Sex addicts meeting and he’s like oh this isn’t for me or when his brother talks about his difficult experience with a Hasidic childhood and then Moshe tells us he’s a rabbi now- which is a classic jewish story of literally every rabbi I’ve met since college).
I will say, of all the stories the burning man one didn’t connect in the same way the others did. But I did think it was entertaining. I genuinely loved how he talked about taking his wife there and she was over it. He made it clear that it wasn’t for everyone, and I don’t think it’s for me, but I’m glad it’s for him!
I thought this book was 5/5 until he started talking about his wife and then his daughter. Oh man, I’m fully ready to campaign Goodreads to let me give a higher rating. This man is in love with them both, and the way he writes about them is SO moving. The end of the book outlining what he hopes his daughter can learn and take from these six subcultures was so beautiful.
Highly, highly recommend this book. I could not put this book down.
January 28, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
4.25 stars.
I thoroughly enjoyed Moshe Kasher’s memoir! I wasn’t familiar with his comedy, I just thought the premise was interesting and the cover was fantastic. I learned so much as we journeyed alongside him through AA at 15 and falling out of love with it in adulthood to rave culture to burning man and beyond. I almost wished the dead culture chapter was longer, that one was fascinating. Each chapter closes with lines that are surprisingly deep and beautiful—especially the Burning Man one!
I started to lose interest a little during the Judaism chapter (and it felt a bit uncomfy to be reading it with everything going on in Israel/Palestine), and it went on longer than it needed to. The comedy chapter wasn’t my favorite either—I was starting to wonder if Moshe was more annoying than I initially realized 😅
All in all, a very entertaining book that’s also educational with all these unique subcultures. Definitely worth your time!
4.25 stars.
I thoroughly enjoyed Moshe Kasher’s memoir! I wasn’t familiar with his comedy, I just thought the premise was interesting and the cover was fantastic. I learned so much as we journeyed alongside him through AA at 15 and falling out of love with it in adulthood to rave culture to burning man and beyond. I almost wished the dead culture chapter was longer, that one was fascinating. Each chapter closes with lines that are surprisingly deep and beautiful—especially the Burning Man one!
I started to lose interest a little during the Judaism chapter (and it felt a bit uncomfy to be reading it with everything going on in Israel/Palestine), and it went on longer than it needed to. The comedy chapter wasn’t my favorite either—I was starting to wonder if Moshe was more annoying than I initially realized 😅
All in all, a very entertaining book that’s also educational with all these unique subcultures. Definitely worth your time!
December 30, 2023
This was a really fun memoir! I had no idea who Moshe Kasher was before this, but the structure of the memoir stood out to me so I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did!
Kasher lived a very interesting life that he has split up into six different "parts" - he got sober at fifteen through the help of AA, he was a raver starting in the mid-nineties, he was a deaf interpreter, he's Jewish, he worked at Burning Man, and he's a stand up comic. These aspects of his life overlap, so it's not necessarily written chronologically, but more in how each aspect influenced him differently. The biggest difficulty in this book is that it is only six chapters - meaning each chapter takes an hour or so to read. The first half of each chapter is a pretty big deep dive into the history of whatever aspect he's discussing. This was done in an interesting, and often laugh out loud funny, way. I learned a lot about these subcultures in addition to Kasher's life.
This is not one of those memoirs that really sticks it to you emotionally (other than perhaps the Judiasm chapter, which discusses his father's death). Regardless, I feel like this was really eye opening to me, and I learned a lot. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good memoir.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Kasher lived a very interesting life that he has split up into six different "parts" - he got sober at fifteen through the help of AA, he was a raver starting in the mid-nineties, he was a deaf interpreter, he's Jewish, he worked at Burning Man, and he's a stand up comic. These aspects of his life overlap, so it's not necessarily written chronologically, but more in how each aspect influenced him differently. The biggest difficulty in this book is that it is only six chapters - meaning each chapter takes an hour or so to read. The first half of each chapter is a pretty big deep dive into the history of whatever aspect he's discussing. This was done in an interesting, and often laugh out loud funny, way. I learned a lot about these subcultures in addition to Kasher's life.
This is not one of those memoirs that really sticks it to you emotionally (other than perhaps the Judiasm chapter, which discusses his father's death). Regardless, I feel like this was really eye opening to me, and I learned a lot. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good memoir.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
July 21, 2024
Really fun and honest journey told in vignettes that aren’t very chronological, but in hitting 6 important pillars of his life—addiction, raving, deafness, burning man, Jewishness, and stand up—that really works. At least when the author can make everything from Jewish history to going to Alcoholics Anonymous as a 15 year old funny and interesting.
Some great moments throughout especially the deaf chapter about the struggle of the deaf community to emerge out of oralism and regain their language and culture, and the Jewish chapter where he spends so much time not really caring about his Jewishness until his father dies and, through the rituals of mourning, finds something valuable despite remaining fairly skeptical and humored by much of it. And the AA chapter was crazy just for the story of a kid, him, trying to get out of addiction before most people have even found their way into it.
Really all the chapters had some really fascinating/poignant moments, and the voice and writing is so honest and funny throughout.
Some great moments throughout especially the deaf chapter about the struggle of the deaf community to emerge out of oralism and regain their language and culture, and the Jewish chapter where he spends so much time not really caring about his Jewishness until his father dies and, through the rituals of mourning, finds something valuable despite remaining fairly skeptical and humored by much of it. And the AA chapter was crazy just for the story of a kid, him, trying to get out of addiction before most people have even found their way into it.
Really all the chapters had some really fascinating/poignant moments, and the voice and writing is so honest and funny throughout.
February 19, 2025
This book was an enlightening twist on the typical memoir. Moshe Kasher does tell his life story (so far), but his framing is the innovation. He tells the story in a series of “scenes,” each one a deep dive into the subcultures that he has inhabited. He delves into the (pretty exhaustive) histories of AA, Judaism, Rave Culture, American Sign Language, Burning Man, and Stand Up Comedy, while relating his experiences within each. I walked away having learned a ton — both about these topics and about the man himself. And both were a delight.
February 16, 2024
I grabbed this audiobook because I thought the title sounded interesting. Subcultures? I am interested! I didn't know who Moshe Kasher was before listening to this. While he is a comedian, and I did find some of his stories humorous, I think the book could have been a bit shorter. Moshe takes us through his 6 different subcultures, spending about 1.5 hours on each.
I also get the impression that he likes himself a lot, and he had somewhat of a cocky vibe that I did not find endearing.
I also get the impression that he likes himself a lot, and he had somewhat of a cocky vibe that I did not find endearing.
April 9, 2024
3.5 stars: Moshe Kasher has lived a very interesting life and he's a fantastic storyteller. I like the premise, that he's telling his own story in sections based on the major cultural factors of his life. He's also incredibly funny and humble, despite all that he went through.
The one sticking point for me is that this book is super long and draaaaaags.
Thank you to NetGalley, Moshe Kasher, & Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The one sticking point for me is that this book is super long and draaaaaags.
Thank you to NetGalley, Moshe Kasher, & Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 22, 2024
This is a big improvement from Kasher's last book (which I couldn't even finish). The maturity and self-reflection missing last time are present now. The topic is also richer than your typical celebrity memoir - this guy's lived a weird life, and the various perspectives really lend depth. The weakest chapter is actually the comedy one, I think because it's been covered by a million (similar) people already. But it's not like you can leave that bit out.
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June 3, 2024so i didn’t like this lol
i think this is a really interesting format for a memoir, but the “subcultures” explored here don’t hold the same weight (like, not even close lol). the chapters on rave culture and burning man were such a slog to get through, and i was desperate to find any kernel of wisdom or insight only to be left empty-handed.
this review nails it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
oh yeah and it wasn’t funny oops
i think this is a really interesting format for a memoir, but the “subcultures” explored here don’t hold the same weight (like, not even close lol). the chapters on rave culture and burning man were such a slog to get through, and i was desperate to find any kernel of wisdom or insight only to be left empty-handed.
this review nails it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
oh yeah and it wasn’t funny oops
August 31, 2024
I don’t usually expect a comedian’s memoir to be a 5 star book, but I also thought someone could never make me cry while talking about Burning Man. Such an interesting mix of subculture history and personal essays, and he does a good job showing the emotional significance of each community. I recommend listening to the audiobook because it was really cool to hear it read in his own voice.
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