The Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life as a Reluctant Messiah

By Marc Maron

Book Overview

By the author of Attempting Normal and host of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, The Jerusalem Syndrome is The Gospel according to Maron- a spiritual memoir of your average hyperintelligent, ultraneurotic, superhip Jewish standup comedian and seeker. The Jerusalem Syndrome is a genuine psychological phenomenon that often strikes visitors to the Holy Land_the delusion that they are suddenly direct vessels for the voice of God. Marc Maron seems to have a distinctly American version of the Jerusalem Syndrome, which has led him on a lifelong quest for religious significance and revelation in the most unlikely of places. Maron riffs on Beat phenomena with its sacred texts, established rituals, and prescribed pilgrimages. He spends some time exploring the dark side of things, as his obsessions with cocaine (known to Maron as "magic powder"), conspiracy theories, and famous self-destructive comedians convince him that the gates of hell open beneath Los Angeles. As his quest matures, he reveals the religious aspects of Corporate America, pontificating on the timeless beauty of the Coca-Cola logo and even taking a trip to the Philip Morris cigarette factory, where the workers puff their own products with a zealot-like fervor. The culmination of Maron's Jerusalem Syndrome comes during his own tour of the Holy Land, where, with Sony camcorder glued to his eye socket, he comes face-to-face with his own ambiguous relationship to Judaism and reaches the brink of spiritual revelation_or is it nervous breakdown? Marc Maron has considerably adapted and expanded his praised one-man show to craft a genuine literary memoir. Whether he's a genuine prophet or a neurotic mess, he'll make you laugh as you question the meaning of life. "Marc Maron is blazingly smart, rapid-fire, and very funny . . . A brilliant and relentless screed." -David Rakoff, author of Fraud "Marc Maron is the first crazy person I've ever envied. In his brainiac-memoir-meets-hilarious-travelogue, he demonstrates the ability to tell a story with an extraordinary provocative intelligence that is regrettably shared by few." _ Janeane Garofolo, comedian

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767908104
• ISBN13: 9780767908108
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.4" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Buy this Book!

I can't stop thinking about this book. I could not put it down. I had tears rolling down my face as I read it. Marc=Good=Sony=Love.

Insightful, frank, intelligent, worthwhile

Read this book. I read it in a day. I went back and underlined the good parts. I told a number of friends about it. You don't have to know anything about Judaism or Israel to appreciate Maron's spiritual journey. It's the funniest thing I've ever purchased online.

Great book

Having been a fan, I had a great time reading this. Strongly recommended.

Funny and sweet

In this fluid memoir Marc Maron manages to be self-aggrandizing and self-effacing at once, to good effect. He's got an eye and an ear for detail, and can comment wryly on marriage (for example) without ever being misogynistic. He writes that he was his Grandma Goldy's first and favorite grandchild - and that this designation and honor is sticking for life. You will laugh a lot, and admire Maron's ability to sometimes make lemonade out of lemons. In addition, Maron is more than willing to tell us about the silly, sad, and ridiculous jams he has gotten into - and how he found his way out. Maron is not only smart; he is kind and compassionate without ever being maudlin. This memoir, by an American comic with a deservedly bright future, is funny and sweet and well worth reading.

marc maron in print form!

if you're not sure who marc maron is--- imagine if hunter s. thompson and janeane garofalo had a test-tube-jewish-new-yorker-baby-boy... and that baby boy was full grown... and a little weird.okay, so i'm a little biased- i'm a huge fan of his work and i saw marc maron's jerusalem syndrome at the westbeth theater last summer--- it was spectacular. i'm glad i saw the show, because it made the book a lot more animated for me. but i do believe that if anyone enjoys the wrenching and honest comedy of marc maron, they will love this book. a streamlined mentality that any decent human being with a sense of humor will soak up. are you a decent human being with a sense of humor??? huh? are ya? just visualize the coca-cola dripping down the front of his shirt in the company's atlanta headquarters and you'll understand.