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How This Night Is Different: Stories
Elisa Albert's debut story collection marks the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in fiction. In "How This Night Is Different," Albert boldly illuminates the struggles of young, disaffected Jews to find spiritual fulfillment. With wit and wisdom, she confronts themes -- self-deprecation, stressful family relationships, sex, mortality -- that have been hallmarks of her literary predecessors. But Albert brings a decidedly fresh, iconoclastic, twenty-first-century attitude to the table.Holidays, gatherings, and rites of passage provide the backdrop for these ten provocative stories. The characters who populate "How This Night Is Different" are ambivalent, jaded, and in serious want of connection. As they go through the motions of familial duty and religious observance, they find themselves continually longing for more. In prose that is by turns hilarious and harrowing, Albert details the quest for acceptance, a happier view of the past, and above all the possibility of a future.
From the hormonally charged concentration camp teen tour in "The Living" to the sexually frustrated young mother who regresses to bat mitzvah-aged antics in "Everything But," and culminating with the powerful and uproariously apropos finale of "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose," "How This Night Is Different" is sure to titillate, charm, and profoundly resonate with anyone who's ever felt conflicted about his or her faith, culture, or place in the world.
The mother is always upset --
When you say you're a Jew --
So long --
Everything but --
Spooked --
How this night is different --
The living --
Hotline --
We have trespassed --
Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose
From the hormonally charged concentration camp teen tour in "The Living" to the sexually frustrated young mother who regresses to bat mitzvah-aged antics in "Everything But," and culminating with the powerful and uproariously apropos finale of "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose," "How This Night Is Different" is sure to titillate, charm, and profoundly resonate with anyone who's ever felt conflicted about his or her faith, culture, or place in the world.
The mother is always upset --
When you say you're a Jew --
So long --
Everything but --
Spooked --
How this night is different --
The living --
Hotline --
We have trespassed --
Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose
198 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
11 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
Elisa Albert
13 books186 followersELISA ALBERT, author of The Book of Dahlia and a collection of short stories, has written for NPR, Tin House, Commentary, Salon, and the Rumpus. She grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in upstate New York with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 20, 2014
This collection of short stories may even be better than The Book of Dahlia, which is incredible because I loved The Book of Dahlia. Both emotionally satisfied and filled with envy, I want to write Elisa Albert a creepy love letter -- not unlike the one to Philip Roth that concludes this book.
May 9, 2023
I have been meaning to read this book for years; finally, during what is both #ShortStoryMonth and #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth, I have. Bold, edgy--all those adjectives apply. My favorite piece has to be the one that closes the collection, which you can find over on Longreads: https://longreads.com/2018/05/24/etta....
October 26, 2008
Elisa Albert's short stories were bitingly sarcastic, funny, and filled to the brim with this postmodern Jewishness of Judaism as experienced by Jews who feel largely out of sync with their heritage and/or life.
Most of the stories revolved around sardonic, pill-popping slightly self-absorbed female characters. Sometimes, their behavior leaned a little too much towards sensationalism for the sake of sensationalism, especially in "Everything But," which struck me as patently unrealistic. Other stories, however, made up for it with more even-tempered awkwardness and hooligan behavior.
Elisa's writing was filled with quirky turns-of-phrase and ironic situations, like a girl with a yeast infection going home for the Passover seder, or an observant family trying to make their anorexic daughter eat during Yom Kippur. That story, "We Have Tresspassed," struck a particular chord with me both for the writing and the relationships.
I remain ambivalent about the similarities in Elisa's plotlines and protagonists. On the one hand, it validates my *own* fiction, which largely seems to stem from recurrance (which, to a certain degree, is reflective of all writers). On the other, it all started to annoy me, especially en masse with one after the other. Maybe this is made more difficult by the fact that she's writing "slice-of-life" short stories, which don't really get the chance to expand most characters beyond their sexual issues or drug habits. I suppose I should reaffirm my interest in reading Elisa's first novel, "The Book of Dahlia," to test my theory.
Most of the stories revolved around sardonic, pill-popping slightly self-absorbed female characters. Sometimes, their behavior leaned a little too much towards sensationalism for the sake of sensationalism, especially in "Everything But," which struck me as patently unrealistic. Other stories, however, made up for it with more even-tempered awkwardness and hooligan behavior.
Elisa's writing was filled with quirky turns-of-phrase and ironic situations, like a girl with a yeast infection going home for the Passover seder, or an observant family trying to make their anorexic daughter eat during Yom Kippur. That story, "We Have Tresspassed," struck a particular chord with me both for the writing and the relationships.
I remain ambivalent about the similarities in Elisa's plotlines and protagonists. On the one hand, it validates my *own* fiction, which largely seems to stem from recurrance (which, to a certain degree, is reflective of all writers). On the other, it all started to annoy me, especially en masse with one after the other. Maybe this is made more difficult by the fact that she's writing "slice-of-life" short stories, which don't really get the chance to expand most characters beyond their sexual issues or drug habits. I suppose I should reaffirm my interest in reading Elisa's first novel, "The Book of Dahlia," to test my theory.
November 20, 2024
Without the love letter/story she wrote to Philip Roth at the end of this collection, I might have walked away feeling some measure of self-loathing or disgust. I know the author is trying to push our buttons with these short stories. Albert is laser-focused on the flaws of Jewish community, holidays, and values (?) in a way that is particularly uncomfortable. The Living really resonated with me, especially after watching the new film "A Real Pain" at the Boulder Jewish Film Festival last week. The author and I are the same age, so her reflections feel familiar, even though I never went on the March of the Living. I referred to her story, Everything But, in a synagogue meeting this week when we were discussing how to honor donors with naming opportunities (in the "Donald and Leslie Milstein Sanctuary on the Fred and Henrietta Beamer bima sitting in the Arnie and Mildred Pearl Pew"). There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments throughout, but she obviously has a strong Jewish background and knows a lot about Jewish history, belief, and practice.
June 21, 2020
These stories are all quite outlandish and very funny at times: at 31 visiting her parents for Passover with a urinary tract infection and her non-Jewish boyfriend; a young mother locking herself and her infant son in the bedroom to avoid the baby's bris; the mother at her son's Bar Mitzvah, unable to remember her own Torah portion and flirting with a 14 year old boy. I enjoyed some of these stories but felt others were forced, especially the last one in which the protagonist writes a letter to Philip Roth offering to have his baby. After Birth, published nearly a decade later, is a more mature and, I think, successful book.
October 6, 2024
When Albert was cancelled from a NY book week writer's panel for thinking Israel should exist, I impulsively ordered all of her books and began with this one. Unfortunately I didn’t really like it.
The jacket describes this as themes that “are hallmarks of her literary predecessors” with “twenty-first century attitude.” That’s reasonably accurate and part of why I didn't like it. We get the dysfunctional family gathered for a passover seder, a March of the Living-type trip to Auschwitz, a tacky suburban Bat Mitzvah, etc. We already have a fair amount of literature exploring these settings. (E.g., Marjorie Morningstar nailed the comic seder 70 years ago, and Allegra Goodman did a terrifically funny update in the 90s.) Albert doesn’t improve upon her forbears by having her characters add a running stream of snark and/or sexual fantasy, which I suppose constitutes the "Twenty-First Century Attitude" circa 2005.
I also found some of the stories to be a slog to get through. One misstep may be the author's tendency to cram ensembles of characters into the short story genre.
Taking a step back, I guess I’m not a big fan of much of what’s come out of the Columbia MFA writing program the past few decades. I’ll try the novels and hope they’ll be more rewarding.
The jacket describes this as themes that “are hallmarks of her literary predecessors” with “twenty-first century attitude.” That’s reasonably accurate and part of why I didn't like it. We get the dysfunctional family gathered for a passover seder, a March of the Living-type trip to Auschwitz, a tacky suburban Bat Mitzvah, etc. We already have a fair amount of literature exploring these settings. (E.g., Marjorie Morningstar nailed the comic seder 70 years ago, and Allegra Goodman did a terrifically funny update in the 90s.) Albert doesn’t improve upon her forbears by having her characters add a running stream of snark and/or sexual fantasy, which I suppose constitutes the "Twenty-First Century Attitude" circa 2005.
I also found some of the stories to be a slog to get through. One misstep may be the author's tendency to cram ensembles of characters into the short story genre.
Taking a step back, I guess I’m not a big fan of much of what’s come out of the Columbia MFA writing program the past few decades. I’ll try the novels and hope they’ll be more rewarding.
April 19, 2025
Some I enjoyed! A lot felt unfinished, and many of the main characters I couldn’t relate to, I found them dislikable in a way that was even hard to pity them. Was nice to read a collection of Jewish short stories by someone other than IBS for a change and I appreciated it.
September 30, 2023
Finally read 95% of this-I wish there were more authors with this style, tone, caliber. I hope she produces more fiction.
September 16, 2024
THE QUEEN.
September 29, 2024
five stars. laughed out loud lots. im her exact audience and i loved every single story.
January 4, 2015
In the title story of Elisa Albert's comic and irreverent debut collection, "How This Night is Different" (Free Press; 208 pages; $18), a young woman brings her boyfriend home to meet the family during Passover and to introduce him to his first seder.
She describes him to her mother as "Kind of like a Jew for Jesus, but minus the Jew part." And to him, she summarizes the meal as "You get constipated, you get sick on bad wine, you talk biblical mythology until everyone nods off in their bone-dry matzo cake."
The holiday doesn't hold much meaning for her. Her parents treat her like a little kid. Worse yet, and this is a brilliant touch, during the holiday in which leavened bread is forbidden so Jews can remember the hardships of the Exodus, she is suffering from a yeast infection, "with yeast multiplying exponentially in her crotch, maybe enough by now to bake a loaf or two of forbidden bread."
Feeling unkosher and uncertain about her boyfriend, she responds to his, "I want to show you that I'm amenable to Judaism," by retorting: "I believe that's the official motto of post-World War II Europe, honey."
With that quip, Albert shows a biting knowingness about contemporary Jewish life that reflects the very real American unease with an ongoing cultural conflict between assimilation and tradition. Albert's point isn't to offer solutions, but to open up readers' eyes to the peculiarities and absurdities of contemporary Judaism through lively characters and generous descriptions.
For example, a young woman in "So Long" watches her best friend become more religiously Jewish as her wedding approaches, and expresses her bewilderment at the change with snarky asides, as in: "Her intended's name is Dov. He's ba'al tshuva like her. It means 'returned.' (Don't kid yourself: born again). There's, like, a whole world of these people."
In "The Mother is Always Upset," a young father is about to watch his son's ritual circumcision, or bris, but is accosted by his wife's feminist friend who calls the ceremony "some barbaric, public act where we're all supposed to stand around and cheer or whatever." And though he wants to dismiss her harangue, it forces him to think about his own circumcised penis and his sexual history, and that maybe he wasn't such a good guy. He comes to the conclusion that he "used its powers for evil rather than good."
Other stories find complex humor and pathos in situations with intimate ties to Judaism: a youth group's trip to Auschwitz in "The Living"; a woman at a bar mitzvah realizing her youth had passed her by in "Everything But"; and a sister dealing with her younger sister's anorexia during Yom Kippur, a day of atonement that includes fasting, in "We Have Trespassed."
The story that closes the collection, "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose," is a postmodern turn that shows off Albert's smarts with a love letter from one "Elisa Albert" to another writer who has examined similarly complex territory of Jews in America, Philip Roth.
In the letter, Albert (or "Albert") not only offers an exegesis on Roth's life and work that includes an invitation to have his first (and perhaps only) baby, but also probes her uncertainty and complexity of her role as a young writer in America, her very identity.
"The potential was endless and unbelievably exciting," she (or "she") writes of an idea she has for a novel about the female Jewish immigrants who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. "I was out for some Safran Foer blood, man. I would get a grant, I would go to an artists' colony, I would sell first serial to the Paris Review, I would have a stunning black-and-white portrait taken by Marion Ettlinger, I would sell the collection in a massive two-book deal which would warrant a clipping in Shtetl Fabulous magazine, that glossy, much-hyped bimonthly effort to turn cultural Jewish identity into the coolest shtick on the block, the new black. I could not have been more excited, more -- if you'll excuse the expression in this context -- fired up."
Reading that paragraph, I flipped to the book jacket: Albert's author photo was indeed taken by Marion Ettlinger. Obviously, Albert isn't the only one fired up by her writing.
So watch out, Philip Roth. You, too, Jonathan Safran Foer. Make way for Elisa Albert.
She describes him to her mother as "Kind of like a Jew for Jesus, but minus the Jew part." And to him, she summarizes the meal as "You get constipated, you get sick on bad wine, you talk biblical mythology until everyone nods off in their bone-dry matzo cake."
The holiday doesn't hold much meaning for her. Her parents treat her like a little kid. Worse yet, and this is a brilliant touch, during the holiday in which leavened bread is forbidden so Jews can remember the hardships of the Exodus, she is suffering from a yeast infection, "with yeast multiplying exponentially in her crotch, maybe enough by now to bake a loaf or two of forbidden bread."
Feeling unkosher and uncertain about her boyfriend, she responds to his, "I want to show you that I'm amenable to Judaism," by retorting: "I believe that's the official motto of post-World War II Europe, honey."
With that quip, Albert shows a biting knowingness about contemporary Jewish life that reflects the very real American unease with an ongoing cultural conflict between assimilation and tradition. Albert's point isn't to offer solutions, but to open up readers' eyes to the peculiarities and absurdities of contemporary Judaism through lively characters and generous descriptions.
For example, a young woman in "So Long" watches her best friend become more religiously Jewish as her wedding approaches, and expresses her bewilderment at the change with snarky asides, as in: "Her intended's name is Dov. He's ba'al tshuva like her. It means 'returned.' (Don't kid yourself: born again). There's, like, a whole world of these people."
In "The Mother is Always Upset," a young father is about to watch his son's ritual circumcision, or bris, but is accosted by his wife's feminist friend who calls the ceremony "some barbaric, public act where we're all supposed to stand around and cheer or whatever." And though he wants to dismiss her harangue, it forces him to think about his own circumcised penis and his sexual history, and that maybe he wasn't such a good guy. He comes to the conclusion that he "used its powers for evil rather than good."
Other stories find complex humor and pathos in situations with intimate ties to Judaism: a youth group's trip to Auschwitz in "The Living"; a woman at a bar mitzvah realizing her youth had passed her by in "Everything But"; and a sister dealing with her younger sister's anorexia during Yom Kippur, a day of atonement that includes fasting, in "We Have Trespassed."
The story that closes the collection, "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose," is a postmodern turn that shows off Albert's smarts with a love letter from one "Elisa Albert" to another writer who has examined similarly complex territory of Jews in America, Philip Roth.
In the letter, Albert (or "Albert") not only offers an exegesis on Roth's life and work that includes an invitation to have his first (and perhaps only) baby, but also probes her uncertainty and complexity of her role as a young writer in America, her very identity.
"The potential was endless and unbelievably exciting," she (or "she") writes of an idea she has for a novel about the female Jewish immigrants who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. "I was out for some Safran Foer blood, man. I would get a grant, I would go to an artists' colony, I would sell first serial to the Paris Review, I would have a stunning black-and-white portrait taken by Marion Ettlinger, I would sell the collection in a massive two-book deal which would warrant a clipping in Shtetl Fabulous magazine, that glossy, much-hyped bimonthly effort to turn cultural Jewish identity into the coolest shtick on the block, the new black. I could not have been more excited, more -- if you'll excuse the expression in this context -- fired up."
Reading that paragraph, I flipped to the book jacket: Albert's author photo was indeed taken by Marion Ettlinger. Obviously, Albert isn't the only one fired up by her writing.
So watch out, Philip Roth. You, too, Jonathan Safran Foer. Make way for Elisa Albert.
February 22, 2009
When I read book jacket quotes like the one from Variety on the edition I read, generally I run screaming. "A dark, witty, and incisive take on modern-day disaffected Jewish youth," screams the cover. Yeah? Go incise yourself, pretentious reviewer. This time around, I must eat my words. How This Night Is Different is WONDERFUL. I agree with some of the other reviews here that it suffers a little bit from same-old-narrator--I read through it four stories at a time and then felt the need for a little respite from the aforementioned "modern-day disaffected Jewish youth." However, I loved almost every one of the stories; I laughed, I identified, I even managed to dredge up some care and emotion from my disaffected, Jewish, and youthful soul. The last story, "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose", is what makes this book deserve 5 stars. According to the text, Elisa Albert is "out for some Safran Foer blood, man" (p. 181), and by God, that mastermind of contemporary fiction, that shining beacon of hope for identity-seeking fiction-loveing modern-day disaffected Jewish youth (see Everything Is Illuminated)--he'd better watch himself.
Also? Philip Roth is now a significant presence on my to-read list.
Also? Philip Roth is now a significant presence on my to-read list.
June 30, 2009
Ugh.
I maybe would have liked this, had I read it in middle or high school. I'm pretty sure I WROTE some of these stories in middle or high school. But you know what? I grew up and realized they were stupid. Apparently I'm much more comfortable with my Judaism than Elisa Albert. The only story I sort of liked was "The Living", just for the fact that I relate to how Shayna feels on large group trips. But even that story felt unfinished, missing something.
Otherwise? I don't need long descriptions of some woman's painful yeast infection, and I don't think a yeast infection is a brilliant metaphor for anything Passover-related.
And the last story? Albert's rambling love letter to Philip Roth? Could totally do without that. For one thing--she writes that, in the process of her own writing, she is "out for Safran Foer blood", striving to attain something near his genius. Don't flatter yourself.
Oh..wow. I didn't think I had that much to say about this. Maybe this has something to do with my mood today, I don't know. I hate to bash a debut from a young writer, as I am an aspiring one myself, but man. Hated this.
I maybe would have liked this, had I read it in middle or high school. I'm pretty sure I WROTE some of these stories in middle or high school. But you know what? I grew up and realized they were stupid. Apparently I'm much more comfortable with my Judaism than Elisa Albert. The only story I sort of liked was "The Living", just for the fact that I relate to how Shayna feels on large group trips. But even that story felt unfinished, missing something.
Otherwise? I don't need long descriptions of some woman's painful yeast infection, and I don't think a yeast infection is a brilliant metaphor for anything Passover-related.
And the last story? Albert's rambling love letter to Philip Roth? Could totally do without that. For one thing--she writes that, in the process of her own writing, she is "out for Safran Foer blood", striving to attain something near his genius. Don't flatter yourself.
Oh..wow. I didn't think I had that much to say about this. Maybe this has something to do with my mood today, I don't know. I hate to bash a debut from a young writer, as I am an aspiring one myself, but man. Hated this.
September 24, 2007
Wait! This isn't the review it appears to be! How This Night Is Different IS an excellent collection of short stories, but the book I really want to talk about is Elisa's new novel, The Book of Dahlia, due out this spring. She's a friend of mine, so I'm obviously completely biased, but I thought the book -- about an underemployed, sardonic twentysomething dying of cancer -- was great: as funny as it was sad, and vice versa. So I'm building advance buzz, as they say (biased, biased buzz). March 2008, people.
August 16, 2007
LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Can tell it's her first book but love her. Jil, you were right, sorry it took me so long to finally read it!
February 15, 2008
Hot tapdancing Jebus, I loved this book. I think I want to marry Elisa Albert. This is one of the few books that really struck my Jewiness, however small that is.
November 3, 2008
one of my FAVORITE authors.
April 1, 2009
I liked this book, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I had read it before Book of Dahlia. It's hard to choose between giving it 3 or 4 stars. Why isn't there an option for 1/2 stars?
October 25, 2009
I kind of fell in love with her and her ability to make me laugh. Don't skip the letter at the end to Philip Roth.
July 4, 2010
short stories centering on Jewish holidays--very funny and irreverent
January 12, 2012
very enjoyable, smart and universal writing about the female experience. loved it.
September 21, 2014
I can't say I got much out of the stories. They never felt finished to me.
March 30, 2015
I wanted to love this book, but i didnt really. It was just ok.
January 14, 2017
Rounding up a little, because a couple of these stories didn't really stand out. But I love this author and will always read anything she writes for the rest of my life.
January 12, 2025
Short stories aren’t my thing right now. But I’ll read all the Elisa Albert.
April 15, 2007
this book f**king rocks. seriously. it makes me proud of my imprint, which is pretty hard to do.
May 13, 2016
Albert knows how to turn a phrase in the precise way that hits my humor buttons.
April 10, 2017
I read this as part of the Read Harder Challenger 2017 (read a collection of stories by a woman). I really enjoyed the stories but a male minion of mine read it too and seemed to have entirely missed the point of most of them, which leads me to believe that this might be best enjoyed by women readers. I'm also pretty sure that if you are Jewish you'll get even more from it than I did.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews