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A review by geoffdgeorge
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
It's my own fault for going into this book expecting the highs I experienced with Then We Came to the End. Not that I hated The Unnamed, but I missed the humor and bite of Ferris's debut.
Gotta judge the book on its own merits, though. I liked its conceit (Tim, a lawyer, struggles with a mystery condition that sends him on bouts of uncontrolled walking), and the meditations on what it's like mentally to be wrestling with something bodily that your trapped mind can't do anything about were really hitting home, given all my struggles with knee issues the past few years. I also found myself deeply invested in Tim's physical deterioration as the long walks took their toll. I was not expecting Joshua Ferris to dip a toe into body horror.
Other characters that were not Tim were way less fleshed out, though, and as they were written seemed mostly like padding around what might've worked better as a short story or novella.
Gotta judge the book on its own merits, though. I liked its conceit (Tim, a lawyer, struggles with a mystery condition that sends him on bouts of uncontrolled walking), and the meditations on what it's like mentally to be wrestling with something bodily that your trapped mind can't do anything about were really hitting home, given all my struggles with knee issues the past few years. I also found myself deeply invested in Tim's physical deterioration as the long walks took their toll. I was not expecting Joshua Ferris to dip a toe into body horror.
Other characters that were not Tim were way less fleshed out, though, and as they were written seemed mostly like padding around what might've worked better as a short story or novella.