Enemies

Though it is set just after the war, the characters in this novel cannot escape from their memories of the Holocaust or guilt at having survived. Yet they are also stuck in a comic scenario—through a complex series of events, the Jewish protagonist Herman has wound up with three “wives,” his first wife from before the war who he mistakenly assumed dead, the Polish Catholic peasant who hid him from the Nazis and he married out of gratitude, and his mistress and fellow survivor he met upon relocating to New York. The novel is both hilarious and heart-breaking—a potent reminder… show more.

I still remember the thrill of hearing this Nobel Prize Laureate in Fiction speak at NYU many decades ago. He simply cast a spell over the audience. It's hard to pick just one of his works to put on the list but Enemies, A Love Story is one of my favorites so I’ll go with this.