Shalom Auslander's stories have the mysterious punch of a dream: a pious man having a near-death experience discovers that God is actually a chicken, and is forced to reconsider his life – and his diet. Leo Schwartzman searches Home Depot for supplies for an ark. And a young boy mistakes Holocaust Remembrance Day as emergency-preparedness training for the future.

Auslander draws upon his Orthodox Jewish upbringing to craft stories that are filled with shame, sex, God and death.