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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
Rising young comedian Moshe Kasher is lucky to be alive. He started using drugs when he was just 12. At that point, he had already been in psychoanlysis for 8 years. By the time he was 15, he had been in and out of several mental institutions, drifting from therapy to rehab to arrest to...you get the picture. But KASHER IN THE RYE is not an "eye opener" to the horrors of addiction. It's a hilarious memoir about the absurdity of it all.
When he was a young boy, Kasher's mother took him on a vacation to the West Coast. Well it was more like an abduction. Only not officially. She stole them away from their father and they moved to Oakland , California. That's where the real fun begins, in the war zone of Oakland Public Schools. He was more than just out of control-his mother walked him around on a leash, which he chewed through and ran away.
Those early years read like part Augusten Burroughs, part David Sedaris, with a touch of Jim Carrol...but a lot more Jewish. In fact, Kasher later spends time in a Brooklyn Hasidic community. Then came addicition...
Brutally honest and laugh-out-loud funny, Kasher's first literary endeavor finds humor in even the most horrifying situations.
When he was a young boy, Kasher's mother took him on a vacation to the West Coast. Well it was more like an abduction. Only not officially. She stole them away from their father and they moved to Oakland , California. That's where the real fun begins, in the war zone of Oakland Public Schools. He was more than just out of control-his mother walked him around on a leash, which he chewed through and ran away.
Those early years read like part Augusten Burroughs, part David Sedaris, with a touch of Jim Carrol...but a lot more Jewish. In fact, Kasher later spends time in a Brooklyn Hasidic community. Then came addicition...
Brutally honest and laugh-out-loud funny, Kasher's first literary endeavor finds humor in even the most horrifying situations.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
2535 people are currently reading
28899 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 1,220 reviews
May 10, 2013
OK I guess....it started off well, but this book needed about 40% less bragging about banging and an equal amount more time devoted to his sobering-up to make it really good. No doubt it works better as a stand-up routine, like Fisher's Wishful Drinking. Read Dry by Augusten Burroughs instead.
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December 10, 2012Disclaimer: don't read this book without first watching/listening to Moshe Kasher's stand up comedy. This book's narrative undercuts Kasher's genuine intelligence, mostly because he fails to distinguish his juvenile 'then' voice from his learned, adult 'now' voice. Doing so would have improved the readability and overall value of the book for readers searching for some meaning in teenage strife. Furthermore, I would prefer that he write a book that is strictly about his experience growing up with deaf parents and working as an interpreter for the deaf. This would be much more engrossing than his life as a teenage brat. There's so much to be said about the divide between the hearing world and the deaf world. Kasher says it best when he points out that as a hearing person who grew up with deaf parents, he's forced to live in a purgatory where to other people he's never quite a deaf person, but never quite a hearing person, either. Please, Kasher, write another book and expand on this!
July 15, 2012
I only really know Moshe Kasher from the two times I've heard him as a guest on Stop Podcasting Yourself, an excellent podcast from Vancouver based comedians Graham Clark and Dave Schumka. His appearances were pretty funny, the guy has a quick wit and an interesting sense of humor.
On his most recent two appearances, he talked about writing a book that detailed his pretty sordid past involving drugs and mental health. Having gone through so much before his sixteenth birthday, there was no way this book could be anything but enthralling.
I certainly wasn't wrong.
It can be jarring listening (snagged a copy of the audiobook) to Moshe explain how one drug led to another and how serious his addictions became. The combination of drugs that he had been taking at one point was mind boggling, it's unbelievable just how much memory he retained. When you add a vicious and unforgiving attitude toward any authority figure as well as his mother, it's a wonder he came out the other end with such a positive attitude and achieved this level of success and comfort.
Oh, and this book is really funny. Kasher is now a stand-up comedian and part time actor so he knows how to entertain. While he's regaling you with stories of his troubled youth, he keeps certain topics light by infusing his unique sense of humor. It takes a special kind of person to make you laugh while trying to justify being too lazy to walk the ten feet to the bathroom, electing rather to piss in empty soft drink cups and cast iron heaters.
On his most recent two appearances, he talked about writing a book that detailed his pretty sordid past involving drugs and mental health. Having gone through so much before his sixteenth birthday, there was no way this book could be anything but enthralling.
I certainly wasn't wrong.
It can be jarring listening (snagged a copy of the audiobook) to Moshe explain how one drug led to another and how serious his addictions became. The combination of drugs that he had been taking at one point was mind boggling, it's unbelievable just how much memory he retained. When you add a vicious and unforgiving attitude toward any authority figure as well as his mother, it's a wonder he came out the other end with such a positive attitude and achieved this level of success and comfort.
Oh, and this book is really funny. Kasher is now a stand-up comedian and part time actor so he knows how to entertain. While he's regaling you with stories of his troubled youth, he keeps certain topics light by infusing his unique sense of humor. It takes a special kind of person to make you laugh while trying to justify being too lazy to walk the ten feet to the bathroom, electing rather to piss in empty soft drink cups and cast iron heaters.
January 8, 2026
In one of the first few chapters, he mentions that in gradeschool he would “make fun of kids poorer than him” to distract everyone from recognizing that he didn’t understand the class lessons. This book, and his “jokes”, felt like an extension of this class clown mindset- with a general sense of poor self-awareness and deflection.
September 13, 2015
I wish I could give this 4.5 stars. The writing was great, the story compelling, but I felt cheated. 95% of the book was the author's descent into addiction, and then suddenly it's three years later and he's fine. After all of the suffering, and then it's just over? Don't get me wrong, I loved what ending there was, but it felt like getting to watch half a movie and then having to skip to the last track of the DVD.
May 12, 2012
I had heard Moshe was a comedian, but I knew him from else elsewhere and had never looked into it. I used to live in Seattle and was back for a few nights for work. A mutual friend told me Moshe was passing through on his comedy/book tour and picked up a copy of the book there.
I had told my mother about all of this. She called me the other day and said she had read the book. Her brief comments carried a weight that conveyed there was more to say than words could be found for. Something unspoken had resonated with her.
I'm stuck in Oakland for a couple days, in between two business trips. It made fiscal sense to stick around and provided me some rare free time. My first trip to Oakland, it took me a couple chapters to realize I had traveled to the city where the book was based.
As I read I could hear Moshe, his written voice authentic to himself. He draws a narrative that would be frightening if not for his sense of humor along the way.
I grew up, under completely different circumstances, an outsider and I have often wondered about people who present their shiny lives as perfection. What goes on behind their closed doors, in the recesses of their minds? What keeps them acting as though everything will be fine, not optimistically, or even defiantly, but for no other course? Abashed fear, I think.
This is a really book for the fuck ups of the world who keep being told that they aren't right; a reminder that the whole world isn't as functional or as perfectly as it wants you believe that you should be.
I had told my mother about all of this. She called me the other day and said she had read the book. Her brief comments carried a weight that conveyed there was more to say than words could be found for. Something unspoken had resonated with her.
I'm stuck in Oakland for a couple days, in between two business trips. It made fiscal sense to stick around and provided me some rare free time. My first trip to Oakland, it took me a couple chapters to realize I had traveled to the city where the book was based.
As I read I could hear Moshe, his written voice authentic to himself. He draws a narrative that would be frightening if not for his sense of humor along the way.
I grew up, under completely different circumstances, an outsider and I have often wondered about people who present their shiny lives as perfection. What goes on behind their closed doors, in the recesses of their minds? What keeps them acting as though everything will be fine, not optimistically, or even defiantly, but for no other course? Abashed fear, I think.
This is a really book for the fuck ups of the world who keep being told that they aren't right; a reminder that the whole world isn't as functional or as perfectly as it wants you believe that you should be.
January 24, 2018
When I started this book, I thought I'd really enjoy it. Unfortunately, it really started to drag in the middle. I was looking for a redemption story, I guess, and this book places all of the focus on reminiscing about the worst parts of the author's youth. I was expecting to read about dark times, but I guess I was also expecting more about the recovery process, and this book just doesn't have that. The memoir of childhood shenanigans starts to get very redundant, and there's only so much I can take of reading about teenage "badasses". The writing style flows pretty well though, so at least it wasn't a chore to read. Disappointing, though.
June 27, 2014
What a little shit.
January 16, 2024
The subtitle of this book pretty well describes what it’s about, so there’s no need for me to repeat it here. The question I kept asking myself while listening to the audio of this book was, “Will this foster within me a sense of empathy for the young graffiti artists, vandals and wearers of low baggy pants who roam my neighborhood? The answer is, “Not much.” But it does remind me that it’s always possible that those sorts of young people can grow up to be something other than a criminal. Perhaps a small possibility, but anything is possible.
This book is a memoir of a man named Moshe Kasher who as a kid did many disgusting things including stealing from this mother and grandmother, marking graffiti on wall of his family’s house, being too lazy to walk down the hallway to pee, repeatedly flunking out of schools, etc. I kept imagining how bad I would feel if I had a son who was this screwed up. One has to wonder how much of this sort of behavior is caused by genes and how much environment? The author had an older brother who was a model student and earned an academic scholarship to college, so the environment couldn’t have been too bad.
As miserable as this may sound, the audio version of this book was surprisingly entertaining to listen to. The author is a standup comedian, and he is also the reader for the audio version of the book. He includes all the comic timing, pauses and voice impersonations that one can expect from a successful comic. So while I kept shaking my head in disbelief at the awful lows he sank to as a juvenile dope addict, I also was laughing at the way it was being described.
But as one can expect from most popular comedians, the language gets a bit raunchy. There’s no bleeping of the unmentionable words so I don’t recommend this book for readers with sensitive feelings. But if you can go with the flow the book is very entertaining.
Of course, one of the reasons that the book is tolerable is the fact that the reader knows that the author lived to adulthood because he wrote the book (and recorded the audio of it). But in the epilogue he reviews what happened to many of his friends from this era of his life, and it’s not a happy end in many cases. It’s clear that if he had not managed to “make a right turn in his life,” he was headed for a life of crime and/or early death.
For a father's perspective dealing with a son addicted to drugs, I recommend Beautiful Boy A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction.
Here's a short review of this book from the PageADay Book Lover's Calendar for July 14, 2014:
This book is a memoir of a man named Moshe Kasher who as a kid did many disgusting things including stealing from this mother and grandmother, marking graffiti on wall of his family’s house, being too lazy to walk down the hallway to pee, repeatedly flunking out of schools, etc. I kept imagining how bad I would feel if I had a son who was this screwed up. One has to wonder how much of this sort of behavior is caused by genes and how much environment? The author had an older brother who was a model student and earned an academic scholarship to college, so the environment couldn’t have been too bad.
As miserable as this may sound, the audio version of this book was surprisingly entertaining to listen to. The author is a standup comedian, and he is also the reader for the audio version of the book. He includes all the comic timing, pauses and voice impersonations that one can expect from a successful comic. So while I kept shaking my head in disbelief at the awful lows he sank to as a juvenile dope addict, I also was laughing at the way it was being described.
But as one can expect from most popular comedians, the language gets a bit raunchy. There’s no bleeping of the unmentionable words so I don’t recommend this book for readers with sensitive feelings. But if you can go with the flow the book is very entertaining.
Of course, one of the reasons that the book is tolerable is the fact that the reader knows that the author lived to adulthood because he wrote the book (and recorded the audio of it). But in the epilogue he reviews what happened to many of his friends from this era of his life, and it’s not a happy end in many cases. It’s clear that if he had not managed to “make a right turn in his life,” he was headed for a life of crime and/or early death.
For a father's perspective dealing with a son addicted to drugs, I recommend Beautiful Boy A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction.
Here's a short review of this book from the PageADay Book Lover's Calendar for July 14, 2014:
If you are tempted to read this memoir after making your way through its lengthy subtitle, then you're pretty well guaranteed to love it. If, however, you're easily upset when it comes to borderline-tragic, train-wreck childhoods, pass this one by. for those in the former category, Kasher leavens the disastrous aspects of his life story with a gift for bizarrely funny observation. Happily, he somehow managed to sidestep what should have been his inevitable demise, and that should give all of us reason for optimism.
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, by Moshe Kasher (Grand Central, 2012)
July 14, 2012
I know Moshe, but I know him as a sober comedian who has done well and is a great, well-adjusted (for the most part :) dude. I didn't really know too much of his story because when I see him, he jokes and good things are discussed that are of the current persuasion. He did not tell me about his book coming out, I saw it on the book shelf at Barnes and Noble. I am glad I bought it.
This book made me laugh out loud... like, literally, not this LOL bull. Moshe has one hell-of-a story to tell and it's amazing to me that his life played out in the way it did. Some of the ironies are too good. Anyhow, the book is funny, well-written, and contains the feelings that being a teenage alcoholic undoubtedly possess, no matter where you grow up.
This book made me laugh out loud... like, literally, not this LOL bull. Moshe has one hell-of-a story to tell and it's amazing to me that his life played out in the way it did. Some of the ironies are too good. Anyhow, the book is funny, well-written, and contains the feelings that being a teenage alcoholic undoubtedly possess, no matter where you grow up.
September 26, 2023
I always find it so difficult to try and rate a memoir.. This one was absolutely wonderful. He opens up to these deep, dark spaces and memories with sprinklings of humor that help to soften the blow. I would definitely want to go see his Stand Up. Highly recommend!
August 18, 2018
I don’t even know what to say... I have tears in my eyes—I just finished the book. I’ve never read a book that made me laugh so hard and feel such empathy and sorrow for the characters (real people, it turns out—it’s a memoir, Kye...) Moshe is a talented writer. I never thought I would cheer for a 14 year-old asshole, addict, but I did. I cheered and I cried. I delayed finishing the book because I wanted it to go on forever. It’s ugly and raw but it’s beautiful.
*the baby sjw in me wants to take a star off for his ableist and homophobic language, but I was even okay with that somehow because the book was simply THAT good.
*the baby sjw in me wants to take a star off for his ableist and homophobic language, but I was even okay with that somehow because the book was simply THAT good.
September 28, 2023
So bad. So so bad. Dnf 50%. Wish I never started this. That’s what I get for listening to a rec from Blossom.
Read
September 5, 2023I wish he'd focused more on his recovery
October 1, 2023
The audiobook is read by the author and he does a great job
April 6, 2012
This book was incredible. An amazing memoir by Moshe Kasher.
February 7, 2015
This book should be required reading and I don't even believe in required reading.
February 29, 2024
So good that I’m keeping my reflection in my notes app!! Would recommend to people who handle sadness with a lot of humor
September 20, 2023
Was not familiar with this author who is also a comedian! Moves quickly and keeps you pulled for sure.
April 5, 2012
I liked this book a lot, even if I felt like a lot of the narrative surrounding the drug use, criminal behavior and mental disorders sort of tried to romanticize it in a way. It definitely made the story more interesting to kind of see Kasher go through his entire childhood all over again with commentary that put you right there in the moment, but some of it read as if he was proud of it all - even though clearly he's not. I don't know if I'm explaining this in a way that makes sense, but it's just the impression I got. That aside, I really did enjoy the book. I laughed out loud many many times while also feeling completely gutted, especially when he talks of what he was knowingly doing to his mother and grandmother while obliterating himself to the point where he didn't have to think about it. The use of humor to express childhood pain is nothing new, and neither are stories about young inner-city kids getting into hardcore drugs...but the pairing of the two is unique, which makes for a great book.
September 11, 2023
Quick read (audio book). Wish the author would have given a disclaimer about the teenage angsty POV as there is a LOT of derogatory and outright offensive terms used. Would have preferred the storyline without it, but also understanding this is a memoir.
February 1, 2024
This book came so recommended. I was so disappointed. Another white dude blaming the world for problems of his doing. Also, this 2012 book has not aged well at all. Do not recommend.
September 29, 2023
I really like Moshe Kasher’s comedy and enjoy his podcast. This book just didn’t age well! I found him unlikable not because he was an addict and did terrible things, but because of the way he talked about it as an adult. If you’re sensitive at all to slurs, skip this book.
I also find the whole gang rape accusation thing to be… tough to digest. An unreliable narrator who lacks any conscience swears he didn’t rape this girl with his friends who are similarly unreliable and conscienceless? Okaaaaaay. His mom and grandmother who are die hard feminists instantly believe that he would not be capable of such an act? I’ve heard this story a million times. I’m not suggesting he did it, I’m just saying it makes him look really really bad and perpetuates a false rape accusation trope that is deeply harmful.
Glad he got his shit together. Wish he’d found more synonyms for “fuck-up.”
I also find the whole gang rape accusation thing to be… tough to digest. An unreliable narrator who lacks any conscience swears he didn’t rape this girl with his friends who are similarly unreliable and conscienceless? Okaaaaaay. His mom and grandmother who are die hard feminists instantly believe that he would not be capable of such an act? I’ve heard this story a million times. I’m not suggesting he did it, I’m just saying it makes him look really really bad and perpetuates a false rape accusation trope that is deeply harmful.
Glad he got his shit together. Wish he’d found more synonyms for “fuck-up.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2013
I really wanted to like this book because Moshe Kasher's story is so compelling, but I couldn't get past how much his style/voice annoy me.
not-going-to-finish
March 6, 2024I can't remember how this landed on my to-read list but I had a vague notion that despite my hesitations I should try it because someone said it was Funny and Self-Reflective and Everyone Should Read It.™
It really isn't my kind of humor. I'm about a quarter of the way through and feel like I want to shower from the number of f-bombs and crude sexual references littering the page as he reflects on his childhood. It was a terrible childhood. I can completely see how he has used humor to deflect from the real tragedy of it. If I thought it would get better, I would keep reading for the alleged self-reflective part. But other reviews of this book imply that it doesn't get better and if anything get worse.
So, while I'm open to being told it is worth another shot, I can't say I have any inclination to read any further.
It really isn't my kind of humor. I'm about a quarter of the way through and feel like I want to shower from the number of f-bombs and crude sexual references littering the page as he reflects on his childhood. It was a terrible childhood. I can completely see how he has used humor to deflect from the real tragedy of it. If I thought it would get better, I would keep reading for the alleged self-reflective part. But other reviews of this book imply that it doesn't get better and if anything get worse.
So, while I'm open to being told it is worth another shot, I can't say I have any inclination to read any further.
June 29, 2012
When I first started Kasher in the Rye, I was put off by the constant stream of witty banter. Moshe is funny, but like I've often felt watching the Gilmore Girls, I thought, "How much funny can I take? Does literally EVERY line need to be an intelligent joke?" I stuck with it and I am so glad I did. By the end of the book, I was grateful for the humor, which helped me survive the heartbreaking moments without sinking into a depression.
Moshe's story is the real-life struggle of adolescent alcoholism: scary shit. The relationship with his mother, Bea, is reminiscent of so many codependent enablers, and painful to experience. I remember the fights and anger with my own mother, and the desire to oust any part of my life that stopped me from drinking. Moshe's singleminded focus on friends and drugs is tangible; when we are twelve or thirteen years old, our friends are our world. His cycle through rehabs, alternative schools, and street life is discouraging and difficult. Thank God he's funny. Like I said, otherwise this might be too awful to read, like The Road of Lost Innocence or Girls Like Us (both books I highly recommend).
Full disclosure: I'm friendly with Moshe Kasher, and I read this book because I like him quite a bit. He really did turn out okay.
Favorite quotes:
"Later, when I became black, I would often call people nigga, but that was affectionate and a reclamation of the word. Actually, technically it was a re-reclamation of the word, as it had already been reclaimed by actual black people. My people, whites who wished they were black, then re-reclaimed it from them and used it among ourselves, proving that white people could use the word in a cool, friendly way" (27)
"Before I got high, i had no idea that's what had been wrong the whole time... That's the secret no one tells you when you're a kid. That it feels fucking great... They don't tell you that shit because then everybody will want to get high" (63)
"I realized in that little high sambo slam-dance circle, right before I melted into hemp butter, that I never wanted not to be high again. I would do whatever it took to get high forever, all the time, for the rest of my life. I was twelve years old and I'd found my calling. Stay high, stay drunk, at all costs" (65)
Moshe's story is the real-life struggle of adolescent alcoholism: scary shit. The relationship with his mother, Bea, is reminiscent of so many codependent enablers, and painful to experience. I remember the fights and anger with my own mother, and the desire to oust any part of my life that stopped me from drinking. Moshe's singleminded focus on friends and drugs is tangible; when we are twelve or thirteen years old, our friends are our world. His cycle through rehabs, alternative schools, and street life is discouraging and difficult. Thank God he's funny. Like I said, otherwise this might be too awful to read, like The Road of Lost Innocence or Girls Like Us (both books I highly recommend).
Full disclosure: I'm friendly with Moshe Kasher, and I read this book because I like him quite a bit. He really did turn out okay.
Favorite quotes:
"Later, when I became black, I would often call people nigga, but that was affectionate and a reclamation of the word. Actually, technically it was a re-reclamation of the word, as it had already been reclaimed by actual black people. My people, whites who wished they were black, then re-reclaimed it from them and used it among ourselves, proving that white people could use the word in a cool, friendly way" (27)
"Before I got high, i had no idea that's what had been wrong the whole time... That's the secret no one tells you when you're a kid. That it feels fucking great... They don't tell you that shit because then everybody will want to get high" (63)
"I realized in that little high sambo slam-dance circle, right before I melted into hemp butter, that I never wanted not to be high again. I would do whatever it took to get high forever, all the time, for the rest of my life. I was twelve years old and I'd found my calling. Stay high, stay drunk, at all costs" (65)
October 11, 2018
It was interesting to read this right after Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Beautiful Struggle. I actually heard about both of these books on Kasher's podcast The Champs (great podcast btw). As the mother of a small boy, I am now appropriately freaked out for my son to become a teenager (!), but I am also doubly determined to be a good mom who is available to her kids not so much to pummel them with advice or discipline like an army sergeant but to listen and keep an ongoing dialogue so they feel safe, loved, respected, and (most importantly) heard. Curiously while Kasher and Coates both seem to share and be weighed down by the burden of history -- Kasher's is mostly personal (the stigma of deaf parents, divorce) whereas Coates' is personal AND societal -- that said, the way they respond diverges wildly. Whereas Coates's frustration mostly manifests itself as rebellious and defiant behaviour, Kasher takes that rebellion and defiant behaviour and raises us a raging drug problem, alcoholism, drug dealing, and violent criminal activity.
Just when I thought Kasher couldn't engage in any thing worse (fleeing rape allegations? random beatings? stealing from his mother to buy alcohol) and was going to finally clean up his act, he just continued to rage and rage until he finally hit his hard rock bottom. It was a harrowing and chilling ride, but the one thing that rose to the top was Moshe's mother's dogged persistence (something also evidenced by Coates' parents in The Beautiful Struggle). He was kicked out of school after school after school and he was emotionally and physically abusive to his mother but she never gave up on him. Frankly, I don't know if I'd be able to endure a quarter of what she did, but what she did seems to be the major reason Moshe is alive and kicking and a success today.
Finally, I sadly can't help but wonder where/what Moshe would be if he wasn't white. I spent my early school years in school in Oakland and white kids were few and far between; ignored at worst, protected/coddled at best. They were objects of curiosity more than anything else. None of this to say the system went easy on Moshe (spoiler alert: he went through it), but I feel like a black boy wouldhave received a LOT worst for doing a lot less. Oh racism!
Just when I thought Kasher couldn't engage in any thing worse (fleeing rape allegations? random beatings? stealing from his mother to buy alcohol) and was going to finally clean up his act, he just continued to rage and rage until he finally hit his hard rock bottom. It was a harrowing and chilling ride, but the one thing that rose to the top was Moshe's mother's dogged persistence (something also evidenced by Coates' parents in The Beautiful Struggle). He was kicked out of school after school after school and he was emotionally and physically abusive to his mother but she never gave up on him. Frankly, I don't know if I'd be able to endure a quarter of what she did, but what she did seems to be the major reason Moshe is alive and kicking and a success today.
Finally, I sadly can't help but wonder where/what Moshe would be if he wasn't white. I spent my early school years in school in Oakland and white kids were few and far between; ignored at worst, protected/coddled at best. They were objects of curiosity more than anything else. None of this to say the system went easy on Moshe (spoiler alert: he went through it), but I feel like a black boy wouldhave received a LOT worst for doing a lot less. Oh racism!
February 15, 2024
Another unbelievable memoir, I put it in the same class as Educated, and Angela's Ashes. These three books have one thing in common. If you were to believe the beginnings you couldn't possibly rationally arrive at the endings.
Kasher in the Rye: A boy is wildly unmanageable. He leaves home at will even if it means crawling out a window or waiting until everyone is asleep. The goal is always alcohol and drugs. As the title informs, before the age of 16 he was a drug addict, mental patient in a mental hospital, and a criminal. He was thrown out of every school he attended for being unruly. He physically abused his mother when she tried to stand in his way on multiple occasions. Arrive at the end of the book and he is now a college graduate, a successful stand up comic and if you read the back cover, someone who has appeared on several top rated TV shows.
Educated: A girl is kept from school because her father is paranoid. She passes elementary school age without knowing how to read or write and enters Brigham Young University without a high school diploma. At the end she's a college graduate who achieves a fellowship from Harvard and a doctorate at Cambridge in intellectual history.
Angela's Ashes: Frank's father is a raging alcoholic who steals the welfare money intended for the family to buy booze. The mother and five children get by on tea and stale bread for years. At one point there's a mention of some potatoes but not beyond that point.
When the mother is sick Frank and one of his brothers steal food from the backs of restaurants. At the end he steals money from a woman he worked for after her demise and uses it to sail to America. No one can live for years on tea and stale bread.
I know I deserve to be called small minded for my decision, but I've had it with memoirs.
Kasher in the Rye: A boy is wildly unmanageable. He leaves home at will even if it means crawling out a window or waiting until everyone is asleep. The goal is always alcohol and drugs. As the title informs, before the age of 16 he was a drug addict, mental patient in a mental hospital, and a criminal. He was thrown out of every school he attended for being unruly. He physically abused his mother when she tried to stand in his way on multiple occasions. Arrive at the end of the book and he is now a college graduate, a successful stand up comic and if you read the back cover, someone who has appeared on several top rated TV shows.
Educated: A girl is kept from school because her father is paranoid. She passes elementary school age without knowing how to read or write and enters Brigham Young University without a high school diploma. At the end she's a college graduate who achieves a fellowship from Harvard and a doctorate at Cambridge in intellectual history.
Angela's Ashes: Frank's father is a raging alcoholic who steals the welfare money intended for the family to buy booze. The mother and five children get by on tea and stale bread for years. At one point there's a mention of some potatoes but not beyond that point.
When the mother is sick Frank and one of his brothers steal food from the backs of restaurants. At the end he steals money from a woman he worked for after her demise and uses it to sail to America. No one can live for years on tea and stale bread.
I know I deserve to be called small minded for my decision, but I've had it with memoirs.
March 25, 2015
This is a memoir from someone who grew up very differently than I did, although we're around the same age. Moshe Kasher was just a bad kid. He grew up in Oakland, and his environment provided him with a lot of avenues for the chip on his shoulder to be expressed, mainly through drugs, which got him into a lot of trouble that spiraled out of control by the time he was 16 years old. This book is very, very good birth control. I can't imagine what his mom went through dealing with a kid who was in trouble so many times, had a huge drug problem, was kicked out of multiple schools and in legal trouble before he even learned to drive.
This was a quick read, very funny but also a great look at a unique coming of age experience. I think this would be a perfect addition to YA collections everywhere. Kasher is still a smart ass, even as an adult writing this memoir. He sometimes seems to wink at the reader saying yeah, I know, drugs and being a little asshole were FUN! while coming to terms with how messed up his life became because of his behavior. That balance is what makes this a great book and worth reading for people who enjoy memoirs. Leaps and bounds better than any other book I've read by a comedian. Also, for what it's worth, I'm not even a big fan of this guy's stand up. Just really enjoyed the book.
This was a quick read, very funny but also a great look at a unique coming of age experience. I think this would be a perfect addition to YA collections everywhere. Kasher is still a smart ass, even as an adult writing this memoir. He sometimes seems to wink at the reader saying yeah, I know, drugs and being a little asshole were FUN! while coming to terms with how messed up his life became because of his behavior. That balance is what makes this a great book and worth reading for people who enjoy memoirs. Leaps and bounds better than any other book I've read by a comedian. Also, for what it's worth, I'm not even a big fan of this guy's stand up. Just really enjoyed the book.
June 19, 2012
Picked up the book because the author grew up and hung out in the neighborhoods I have inhabited for the past twenty years. His story is a familiar but very well told narrative arc of the junkie redeemed.
Kahser's life is resonant in the ways in which he is able to identify and own the aspects of a difficult start in life (e.g. divorce, drugs, deaf parents, etc.) and tell his story relevantly at each stage in the decent into chaos.
Best of all, he spent very little time on the recovery. The lion's share of the book is his literally running wild in North Oakland, the lessons he slowly digests over the years and then the turn to sobriety. The recovery part of most junkie books is boring, it would have been anti-climactic in this text as well, which is why I think Kasher really did a great job editing down the text to the very best parts.
One of the better memoirs I have read of 2011-12!
Kahser's life is resonant in the ways in which he is able to identify and own the aspects of a difficult start in life (e.g. divorce, drugs, deaf parents, etc.) and tell his story relevantly at each stage in the decent into chaos.
Best of all, he spent very little time on the recovery. The lion's share of the book is his literally running wild in North Oakland, the lessons he slowly digests over the years and then the turn to sobriety. The recovery part of most junkie books is boring, it would have been anti-climactic in this text as well, which is why I think Kasher really did a great job editing down the text to the very best parts.
One of the better memoirs I have read of 2011-12!
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