Shalom Auslander, "Giving Up The Ghosts"

Shalom Auslander, whose debut story collection Beware of God I'm eagerly anticipating reading, tells the wonderful story "Giving Up the Ghosts" at This American Life, about his former job as a nineteen-year-old shiva sitter. (Story starts at 42:00.)

"Lately I had been feeling less and less Jerusalem, and more and more Gomorrah."

Eighty five bucks a night for listening to your Walkman, smoking joints and taking a nap. Nice gig.