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A review by okevamae
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak
3.0
This book could really benefit from the stories being in a different order. I did not like most of the first dozen or so stories, and the ones I did like were just barely enough to keep me interested. But then I liked one, and then another - overall, I would say I probably liked more of them than I disliked. It's just that the ones I didn't like were mostly at the front, and that very nearly made me stop reading.
It's also pretty obvious that B.J. Novak is a TV comedy writer - and I don't necessarily mean that in the best way. Many of the stories are funny, and he does some really clever things (characters described in one story appear in a later one, an unexpected angle on a familiar trope, or a metafictional twist, some that worked well and others less so). But a lot of the stories have too pat an ending, in that awkward sketch comedy way that often feels forced. Like, "I've said what I need to say, now how do I end this? Just slap something on the end." I totally acknowledge that endings are hard to get right - but you don't always have to wrap it all up neatly. In short stories, just as in comedy acts, sometimes the bit just ends - and that's OK. In some stories, BJ Novak gets that (mostly in the flash-fiction stories of a page or less.) In others, he doesn't, and it's jarring.
I liked it overall, but it could have used more polish.
It's also pretty obvious that B.J. Novak is a TV comedy writer - and I don't necessarily mean that in the best way. Many of the stories are funny, and he does some really clever things (characters described in one story appear in a later one, an unexpected angle on a familiar trope, or a metafictional twist, some that worked well and others less so). But a lot of the stories have too pat an ending, in that awkward sketch comedy way that often feels forced. Like, "I've said what I need to say, now how do I end this? Just slap something on the end." I totally acknowledge that endings are hard to get right - but you don't always have to wrap it all up neatly. In short stories, just as in comedy acts, sometimes the bit just ends - and that's OK. In some stories, BJ Novak gets that (mostly in the flash-fiction stories of a page or less.) In others, he doesn't, and it's jarring.
I liked it overall, but it could have used more polish.