[In Enemies: A Love Story Singer created a masterpiece of Jewish amatory surrealism that] painted the madness of the flesh against a backdrop of imminent world destruction…. [Shosha is] a quintessential tale of the Jewish soul in perpetual exile. [Like Enemies, it] portrays lust roaming through a decaying world, specifically, prewar Warsaw—only this time with such intense attention to realistic detail that we are transported into the realm of caricature.

The characters here—as in the author's previous works, are haunted by dybbuks of their own choosing, avatars of their own worst selves. And their tragedy is that their fate never seems grand or heroic enough for their passions. The result is Chekhovian irony: Everything is seen through the prism of absurdist opera glasses….

[Aaron's] strength and his weakness is his deep and abiding love for one person—the half-mad, haunted Shosha. In trying to give her...