THE GOLEM OF BROOKLYN

A 9 ½-foot, 400-pound golem, built out of stolen clay by a stoned Brooklyn art teacher, heads south to tear limbs from antisemitic limbs at a post-Charlottesville rally.

The Golem, we learn, is a reincarnation of sorts of the Golem of Prague, who, Jewish folklore has it, perished at Babyn Yar along with more than 33,000 Jews. He's a bit out of it at first blush, able to speak only in Yiddish and miffed that the teacher, Len Bronstein, a nonobservant Jew who somehow worked the magic that only rabbis had worked before, neglected to give him something. “ ‘Avu iz mayn shmok,’ he blurted.” Translation: “Where is my dick.” But after learning English from binge-watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Golem (as he insists on being called) is ready to rampage, part Frankenstein's monster and part insult comic. "Could crush your head like walnut," he says. Committed to his role as protector of Jews, he prepares to unleash major mayhem when told of the Save Our History's Future rally in Kentucky, where chants of "Jews will not replace us" will fill the air. Len hopes to convince The Golem that "Defending ourselves is different than killing every Jew-hater," but Larry David has the humanoid's ear in encouraging him during a video call to "maybe rip their heads off." In his squishy preaching of restraint, the author of Go the Fuck To Sleep (2011) loses some of his edge. And the narrative has a difficult time staying on track with all of its digressions, including minihistories of golems, the Jewish people, the Hasidic movement, and, for good measure, the Ku Klux Klan. There also is a long, uncommented-on excerpt from a Joseph Brodsky poem about race and a weird trip to Sweden by Len to confront an Airbnb scammer. Though there is much to enjoy, the book fails to make much of an impact.

A farcical spin on the Jewish plight.