The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

I read and adored Joshua Ferris' debut novel Then We Came To An End last year. Upon finishing it, I couldn't wait to pick up his latest The Unnamed. The two books are very different, which is great. There is nothing worse than an author who writes a different version of the same book. However, I'm sorry to report that in the end, The Unnamed was a disappointment. I enjoyed the first hundred or so pages of the novel, but then it became so dragged out. The same thing kept happening again and again, without much purpose, and the novel as a whole began to feel underdeveloped.

The protagonist of the novel, Tim, is a successful lawyer living in a suburb of New York City. His family, like most, is not without their problems. But, one day Tim walks out of his office and is unable to stop. Doctors can not discern why Tim can't stop walking; his condition is unnamed. What unfolds is the story of a man whose life falls apart one day at a time. I should say the book wasn't all bad. There were certain passages and notions conveyed that were notable, though somewhat clichéd; the importance of appreciating the little things in life and the idea that one shouldn't take their family and loved ones for granted. But these moments were too far and few between to make this a worthwhile read.

Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books, 2010

Top Ten Sexiest Male Authors

I decided to mix it up for this week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. There are many reasons I love being a book blogger - mostly because I have "met" so many great people who share my love for books. But rather than get sentimental about that, I thought it would be fun to give you all a little eye-candy and highlight the best looking authors.

Enjoy!

Ernest Hemingway/ William Faulkner

Jack Kerouac/ Joshua Ferris

Galway Kinnell/ Paul Auster

Sebastian Junger/ Langston Hughes

Frederic Beigbeder/ John Irving

"The Dinner Party" by Joshua Ferris

I loved Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to and End and after I tweeted about his sexiness (seriously), Beth from Bookworm Meets Bookworm told me to read his short story, "The Dinner Party," via The New Yorker. I did and it's official - Joshua Ferris is awesome.

"The Dinner Party" explores the repetitiveness of domesticity and the restlessness that is often associated with it. It also questions to what point is a friendship, or relationship, worth keeping after one has grown out of it or changed. Are the superficial routines of the dinner party worth it? At what point do we stop pretending?

“They come in,” he said, “we take their coats. Everyone talks in a big hurry as if we didn't have four long hours ahead of us. We self-medicate with alcohol. A lot of things are discussed, different issues. Everyone laughs a lot, but later no one can say what exactly was so witty."

The dialogue is hilarious. Ferris is spot-on with his portrayal of the everyday-bickering of a domestic couple. I almost wished this short story was longer. All-in-all, Ferris has yet to disappoint me, which is why I can't wait to pick up his latest, The Unnamed.


Image via The New Yorker.

Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris

Then We Came To The End satires the modern day American workplace; that of the office. It details the ridiculousness, the monotony, the humor and the tedium that is all associated with spending eight hours a day in a cubicle, surrounded by the same people day in and day out. Ferris brings us inside the walls of a Chicago ad agency just as the market is taking a turn for the worst and layoffs are inevitable.

It was a shrill, carping, frenzied time, and as poisonous an atmosphere as anyone had ever known - and we wanted nothing more than to stay in it forever.

I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. It took me awhile to warm up to it. I liked certain parts a lot, and others I felt dragged on. But overall, I liked it more than I didn't like it - if that makes sense. It is very funny, but not in an obvious or obnoxious kind of way. Ferris does a fantastic job relating the comedy in the trivial compulsions, exaggerated emotions and complicated politics that result from the abnormal dynamic of today's corporate culture. In this way the novel almost functions as a farce, except by the end I found myself caring about these characters, without having really gotten to know them at all (except one - whose story is the only section of the book that isn't narrated in the first person plural, and is a very touching and honest account that made me believe that Ferris understands women). It took awhile to get going but once it did, I couldn't stop reading.

Ferris' novel brought up interesting questions: do we ascribe more importance to our everyday life than we should? Do we continually search for meaning in meaningless situations? In a particularly funny part of the novel, an employee, Benny, decides that for an entire day, he will answer everyone's questions with quotes from The Godfather, to see if people noticed or even cared to hear what he was really saying. No one does:

I mean if you can get by with quotes from The Godfather, and nothing you say matters, that's pretty bleak, don't you think? Don't you want what we say to matter?

Then We Came To The End was named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year in 2007 by The New York Times Book Review and was also shortlisted for the National Book Award - I think it is well deserved.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2007