For the Relief of Unbearable Urges Background

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is a 1999 collection of short stories written by American author Nathan Englander. Englander is a writer who has published four books and won several prizes, international and local, for his excellent work. His books were sold worldwide and loved by many.

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is a Jewish literature fiction book consisting of nine different short stories. The book basically talks about the sufferings Jewish people witness in different countries because of their religion. The places that the stories take place in are Nazi Germany, Stalin Russia, Brooklyn, and Jerusalem. The stories depict the life of different Jews in different countries and how their lives were affected by the racism they live in and their religion.

The story received many positive reviews from famous critics and book review sites. For instance, it received a 4 out of a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Many magazines made book reviews on the story like the New York Times and the Guardian. Susan Miron from The Philadelphia Inquirer said: “One of the classiest, most assured, impressive literary debuts I’ve come across in ten years of reviewing books….The many voices...[Englander] has give life to in this collection earn this gifted writer a distinct and distinguished niche of his own.” The New York Times says in its book review: “Taut, edgy, sharply observed….A revelation of the human condition.” Finally, Kirkus Review says: "A debut collection of nine stories that explore the condition of being Jewish with an often hallucinatory, epigrammatic eloquence that is, as advertised, reminiscent of the fiction of Isaac Singer, Saul Bellow, and especially Bernard Malamud. "

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges tells the stories of Jewish people during their hardest times of criticism and racism. Englander is able to make his work unique by injecting humor and a wide range of emotions in his stories, making the reader laugh and feel pity in the same time.