Sunday Short: 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank' by Nathan Englander

It’s a lot for one day, that kind of news. And it feels to me a lot like betrayal. Like my wife’s old secret and my son’s new secret are bound up together, and I’ve somehow been wronged. Also, I’m not one to recover quickly from any kind of slight from Deb—not when there are people around. I really need to talk stuff out. Some time alone, even five minutes, would fix it. But it’s super apparent that Deb doesn’t need any time alone with me. She doesn’t seem troubled at all. What she seems is focussed. She’s busy at the counter, using a paper tampon wrapper to roll a joint.

I feel like this year I've been opened up a lot more to holocaust survivor narratives, or second-generation guilt narratives. Between Lola Bensky, season 5 of Mad Men (which I'm currently watching), living in a house built by a holocaust survivor, and this stirring short story, it's taking up a lot of space in my head. It's beautifully represented in this story in particular, this uncurling of cultural and religious mores, but it's more than that too. It's a story of renewed friendships and faith in more than religion, about national tragedy and who's going to have your back at the end of the line. It's pretty much a perfect short story.

You can read 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank' by Nathan Englander over at The New Yorker website.