The Shtetl Book: Jewish Horror Stories

by Daniel Kluger

The heroes of the book “The Shtetl Book” are residents of the small Jewish town of Yavoritsy, who were faced with formidable otherworldly forces. Daniel Kluger defined the genre of his book as a “novel in stories”, its structure is close to the structure of the famous “Jungle Books” by Rudyard Kipling. At first glance, this definition seems there is no single hero and no single storyline. Only towards the end of the book does the reader begin to understand that such a hero is the entire Jewish community, which has been fighting evil from generation to generation.

Genres: Religion

146 pages, Paperback

Published July 13, 2024

About the author

Daniel Kluger was an Israeli writer in science fiction and detective genres. He wrote in Russian.

Reviews

[Lola Jansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a non-religious person that is very interested in religious studies (especially the Jewish faith and culture) and I really really enjoyed reading this book!

The horror stories in here are unique, haunting, and refreshing, the horror genre can easily start to blend together, but this book really stands out.

Really recommend this book!

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

I have never read a "Jewish" horror book before even though I am familiar with some of its folklore. I found the stories interesting but this is no Stephen King equivalent. Nevertheless if this is your bag, go for it!

[Joelendil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little folk horror collection set in a shtetl in Ukraine. It’s not necessarily keep-you-awake-at-night terrifying, but there are some decently creepy ghost and demon themed stories here (e.g. Lilith makes at least a couple appearances).

The only thing I have against it is that there are way too many typos for a published book; not the worst I’ve ever seen from a self-pub, but not great. That aside, if the author were to publish another collection of short horror stories, I’d probably read it.