Shalom Auslander was at Hampden's Breathe Books last night for a reading and discussion of Foreskin's Lament, his memoir of teenage rebellion amid family dysfunction and Jewish Orthodoxy. Sounds grim, and from his angry-looking portraits and website illustration of a padded cell, you might expect a madman. But he looks like any nice Jewish guy, and his book is a running joke about his relationship with his parents and God. My book club read it and liked it, even though members lean toward more serious stuff, like bios of Maimonides.

For Auslander, family troubles are easier to confront. But God works in mysterious ways. Devious ways, says Auslander the character, who is always looking over his shoulder, waiting for a car crash, disease, lightning bolt or other disaster. He's a walking, worrying ad for religion-induced guilt, with the slogan: Man plans, God laughs.  

Last night, Auslander said he has been criticized by some for his harsh depiction of Orthodox Judaism, and noted that he hasn't talked to siblings in years. But readings often are "mass meetings of the fallen," with Jews, Catholics and others nodding in agreement about struggles against orthodoxy. Sometimes, as audience members try to point him to a new faith, the readings turn into "a sort of theological restaurant. Have you tried the Reform?..."

Still, he worries that God still has it out for him. Why else would one of his Washington, D.C., readings have been scheduled on the night of a presidential debate?