Alumnus Avner Landes '10 Publishes 'Meiselman: The Lean Years' with Tortoise Books

By
Nicole Saldarriaga
March 18, 2021

Meiselman: The Lean Years, a novel by alumnus Avner Landes '10, was released last week by Tortoise Books. The novel, which is set in 2004, follows the titular character as he wishes for greater recognition and excitement in his life, which up to this point was characterized entirely by his identity as dutiful husband, father, and congregant in his ultra-orthodox Jewish community. 

Meiselman gets his chance to play the community hero when his boss, head of the local library, asks him to moderate a discussion with a famous but controversial author and former classmate of Meiselman's—but nothing goes according to plan. 

According to Publishers Weekly, "Landes’s darkly funny debut chronicles a suburban schlemiel’s endless capacity for self-sabotage...Meiselman’s delusions of grandeur repeatedly collide with reality, to tragic and hilarious effect." Kirkus Reviews called the novel "...[a] rambunctious, Mitty-esque tale...many of its set pieces are great fun, the more cringeworthy the better; Meiselman’s struggles to be a good husband, employee, and Jew are serious, but there’s comedy in his falling short."

The novel has also received great praise from distinguished School of the Arts faculty. Professor Binnie Kirshenbaum said of the book, "Avner Landes's debut novel echoes the later work of Isaac Singer set in the modern Orthodox community in Chicago. Equally, it calls to mind the contemporary novels and stories of [Associate Professor] Sam Lipsyte...Seriously funny―painfully serious and hilariously funny―Meiselman: The Lean Years is the literary equivalent of Charlie Chaplin slipping on a banana peel. Do yourself a big favor and read this book." 

Lipsyte added to the praise, saying, "Meiselman: The Lean Years is a triumph of comic escalation, as well as a rich, witty exploration of the major elements of life, including family, community, love, work, ambition, faith, and ritual, not to mention the unforgettable power-hitting of the legendary Frank Thomas, AKA 'The Big Hurt.' Meiselman is a compelling figure, trapped between a craving for the validation of his world and a desire to somehow escape it, and Landes charts his unraveling with deadpan precision and a deep commitment to capturing both the horror and hilarity of living inside certain American and Jewish and Jewish-American paradoxes. While reminiscent of past astonishers like Stanley Elkin and Bruce Jay Friedman, Landes comes to the plate with a stance and a style all his own."

Avner Landes earned an MFA from Columbia University, and works as a ghostwriter. He grew up in Skokie, Illinois, in a family that came to Chicagoland in the early 1900s; he now lives near Tel Aviv with his wife and two children.