Sheldon Neuringer

The Confessions of a Nobody Sheldon Neuringer

Coming of age during the Great Depression and World War Two in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Ira Gelber sees himself as the ultimate loser, a nobody. He starts out with many strikes against him, including an over-protective mother and an abusive father. Ira admires his high-achieving older brother but cannot hope to emulate him in any way. A weak student, Ira is barely able to graduate from high school and winds up mired in a series of low-paying, dead-end jobs. He sees himself as timid, socially inept, and unsuccessful in his relationships with women. Along the way, he confesses to various misdeeds such as stealing from his boss, vandalizing property and causing a co-worker to lose his job. By the time he reaches age forty, Ira views himself as a man in desperate straits. He has no friends and is trapped in a crime-ridden neighborhood from which he sees no escape. On a fateful day in the summer of 1968, the "Nobody," through a series of unlikely circumstances, commits a terrible crime. This leads him to a place where, ironically, he undergoes what he calls a "liberating experience." Ira Gelber's story is a tale full of sadness, misfortune and disappointment. But there is a bright side. The "Nobody" often shows loyalty and compassion to others and is able to inspire devotion from several people, who care about his well-being and help cushion the blows that life have dealt him. In the end, Ira's life takes a turn that sets him on the path to a happy transformation and a brighter future in a place which he calls his "new promised land."