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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
As with most short story collections, this was a bit of a mixed bag. I *loved* The Breeze, liked a lot of the others and disliked a couple. Ferris tows the line between humor and heartbreak really well. His characters are always unsettlingly on the verge of becoming entirely unhinged; sometimes they crack and sometimes they don't, and it's a little stressful to watch. 3.5 stars.
Thanks to Goodreads and Little, Brown and Company for the early review copy!
Thanks to Goodreads and Little, Brown and Company for the early review copy!
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When Ferris is on, he is riveting. Nobody writes stupid, self-centered, unselfaware male characters as well as he does.
But when's he's not on, he's...well, he's not.
I really, really liked about half these stories. The rest were somewhat forgettable.
But when's he's not on, he's...well, he's not.
I really, really liked about half these stories. The rest were somewhat forgettable.
I loved Ferris's first book, a beautifully detailed, very funny yet deeply felt novel about office workers. If he had sat down to write the novel I wanted to read, he could not have done better. He had a fan for life. So when his second novel, The Unnamed, was a sad and slow meditation on disease and love, I was there for it--I liked it, in a glum way. And when his third, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, returned to his signature wry humour but was also very nearly an essay on the difference between faith and religion, I was startled but enthralled--and I found some of my own views mirrored, which very rarely happens. Joshua Ferris, man, I thought we were in it for the long haul.
So his first collection of stories--my favourite form--I had to like these, right? Well, I'd read a lot of them before in the New Yorker and I did like them. But taken en masse...eh. They're...glib. I am aware that some people are dumb, or insensitive, or ungenerous, or don't try hard to help others. Do I really need to spend a whole book feeling better than those people?
There's some very good writing here, some very funny moments and some genuine characters that drew me in, but for the most part, the stories are constructed so there's a clear moral divide with the author and the reader over here on the high ground and...well, I liked the complexity of the novels better. I like questions that don't have answers, or at least not easy ones. Some people think short stories are for simple questions and novels are for complex ones, but those people are idiots. Still, I'll probably be there for book five.
So his first collection of stories--my favourite form--I had to like these, right? Well, I'd read a lot of them before in the New Yorker and I did like them. But taken en masse...eh. They're...glib. I am aware that some people are dumb, or insensitive, or ungenerous, or don't try hard to help others. Do I really need to spend a whole book feeling better than those people?
There's some very good writing here, some very funny moments and some genuine characters that drew me in, but for the most part, the stories are constructed so there's a clear moral divide with the author and the reader over here on the high ground and...well, I liked the complexity of the novels better. I like questions that don't have answers, or at least not easy ones. Some people think short stories are for simple questions and novels are for complex ones, but those people are idiots. Still, I'll probably be there for book five.
Some intriguing stories - almost uniformly loathsome protagonists. “More Abandon...” will stick with me. Hopefully “A Fair Price” will not.
I had to realize again that I am not a short story reader. But I am happy I've read The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris. To be honest, the last two stories made me decide on the 4 stars in the end. (It was a 3-star read up until that point.) The stories' quality fluctuates strongly, from "OMG this is cathartic!" through meh to downright boredom.
That Prague story (the last but one) was unbelievable, very very emotional for me, both on the personal and the social-political level. I also loved its characters (i.e. loved to hate them, at least the American ad guy). The last story (the quiet man who helped the main character to move his storage boxes in a truck) was the first where I laughed out loudly several places, just to hold my breath stunned and in shock for the last page or so. Fantastic.
That Prague story (the last but one) was unbelievable, very very emotional for me, both on the personal and the social-political level. I also loved its characters (i.e. loved to hate them, at least the American ad guy). The last story (the quiet man who helped the main character to move his storage boxes in a truck) was the first where I laughed out loudly several places, just to hold my breath stunned and in shock for the last page or so. Fantastic.
Hmm. I really enjoy Josh Ferris' selections on the New Yorker Fiction Podcast (where he reads and discusses with Deborah Treisman [who is weirdly missing from the Acknowledgments]). I was familiar with several of these stories from their original publication in The New Yorker. Ferris' characters are wildly fucked-up, neurotic and work very hard at being unhappy. He plays with chronology and linearity in some stories and almost pulls it off (i.e. I, despite careful reading, was at times hopelessly and unnecessarily confused). He's a fan and promoter of the metafictionalists and I hope he continues to pursue that in his own writing because we need more of that Barthelme, Saunders, Coover kind of unshackled imagination.
There were too many stories set in NYC. I believe one, if not two, were set around Boston. One in LA. There was one set in the south that hewed too closely to white-trash stereotype for my tastes. Every collection should have a "wild card" and I guess "Ghost Town Choir" was the one from this compendium. The male--and especially the female-characters are pretty fed up with love and infidelity, spiked with cruelty, abounds. The big take-away? Humans are pretty awful creatures.
The title story leads off the collection and sets the tone. "The Dinner Party" was itself the subject of a New Yorker Fiction Podcast in 2010. http://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/monica-ali-reads-joshua-ferris
Ferris loves to see his characters fail spectacularly. There are no happy endings here. I'm not a fan of happy endings--but at times the cynicism gets a little predictable. A noteworthy debut. Looking forward to his next collection.
There were too many stories set in NYC. I believe one, if not two, were set around Boston. One in LA. There was one set in the south that hewed too closely to white-trash stereotype for my tastes. Every collection should have a "wild card" and I guess "Ghost Town Choir" was the one from this compendium. The male--and especially the female-characters are pretty fed up with love and infidelity, spiked with cruelty, abounds. The big take-away? Humans are pretty awful creatures.
The title story leads off the collection and sets the tone. "The Dinner Party" was itself the subject of a New Yorker Fiction Podcast in 2010. http://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/monica-ali-reads-joshua-ferris
Ferris loves to see his characters fail spectacularly. There are no happy endings here. I'm not a fan of happy endings--but at times the cynicism gets a little predictable. A noteworthy debut. Looking forward to his next collection.