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To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: A Novel
Author:
Ferris, Joshua
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Class:
Fiction
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: PS3606.E
Print Run: 75000
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ISBN-13: 9780316033978
LCCN: 2014931908
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
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Pub Date: 05/13/2014
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $26.00
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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337 pages ; 26 cm
H 9.75",
W 6.5",
D 1.25",
1.27 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Fiction Core Collection, 18th ed.
Fiction Core Collection, 19th ed.
Fiction Core Collection, 20th ed.
Los Angeles Times Bestsellers List
Texas Lariate Reading List
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Awards:
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BookPage Best Books
Kirkus Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Kirkus Reviews
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TIPS Subjects:
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Psychological Fiction
Humorous Fiction
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BISAC Subjects: |
FICTION / Psychological
FICTION / Humorous / General
FICTION / Religious
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LC Subjects:
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Dentists, Fiction
Humorous fiction
Identity (Psychology), Fiction
New York (N.Y.), Fiction
Online identity theft, Fiction
Psychological fiction
Self-doubt, Fiction
Social media, Fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Humorous fiction
Identity (Psychology), Fiction
Psychological fiction
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 01/01/2014 |
| Walking contradiction Paul O'Rourke seeks answers and finds unsettling truths when an online impersonator makes him wonder if the virtual 'Paul' is far better than the real one. Only by facing his dark past will Paul find the answers that could shed some light on this peculiar double life. 352pp., 75K, Auth res: NY, Tour |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Kirkus Reviews | 03/15/2014 |
| A bizarre case of identity theft forces a dentist to question his beliefs in this funny, thought-provoking return to form by Ferris (The Unnamed, 2010, etc.). In 2011, Paul O'Rourke has a thriving practice on Manhattan's Park Avenue and a throbbing sense that things could be a lot better. His nights are troubled by insomnia and a bed cooled by a recent breakup. His days feature patients who don't floss and three staffers--including his ex--who unsettle him in their own curious ways. As the novel opens, Paul's world quickly goes from bad to weird, and it's clear that Ferris is back in the riff-rich, seriocomic territory of his first novel, Then We Came to the End (2007). A confirmed atheist who sustains a ritualistic devotion to the Boston Red Sox, Paul's romances have exposed him to the tempting fervor and trappings of Catholicism and Judaism. Still, he resists fiercely when a website, a Facebook page and blogging comments mysteriously emerge in his name and he discovers that the man behind them fronts a quasi-Jewish sect founded on the value of doubt: "Behold, make thine heart hallowed by doubt; for God, if God, only God may know." With almost Pynchon-esque complexity, Ferris melds conspiracy and questions of faith in an entertaining way, although his irreverence and crudity in places may offend some readers. Full of life's rough edges, the book resists a neat conclusion, favoring instead a simple scene that is comic perfection--an ending far sweeter than the Red Sox had that year. Strangely astray in The Unnamed, Ferris is back on track here. Smart, sad, hilarious and eloquent, this shows a writer at the top of his game and surpassing the promise of his celebrated debut. 336pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 05/01/2014 |
| Joshua Ferris, who previously examined the culture of the contemporary workplace (Then We Came to the End) and family life (The Unnamed) turns his attention to social media in To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. At first, the novel seems to be a satiric look at the way Facebook and Twitter could be used to hijack a person's identity. But as the main character heads toward an existential crisis, it is clear that Ferris is also exploring how technology both connects us and reinforces our isolation. Paul O'Rourke is a dentist with a successful practice in Manhattan. His long workdays are punctuated by feelings of unrequited love for his ex-girlfriend (also his receptionist), religious disagreements with his long-term hygienist Mrs. Convoy and frequent cigarette breaks. His evenings are scheduled around Red Sox games. He has put off using the Internet for personal or professional use, so when a professional-looking website appears, purporting to represent his dental practice, O'Rourke is both puzzled and angered by this inroad into his privacy. His outrage only increases when an active Facebook page and Twitter account appear, also under his name. But when the nature of the content turns personal, he can't resist emailing back to the virtual Paul O'Rourke. Once Paul engages with this fictional doppelganger, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour quickly becomes a farce aimed at identity theft, the lure and limitations of religion and the importance of shared belief. Paul is a lifelong loner, from a troubled family, so his yearning to be part of a community is counter-weighted by huge emotional risks. As in his earlier novels, Ferris is both laugh-out-loud funny and even profound, often on the same page. Paul's self-absorption can be wearying at times, but his journey to self-awareness is designed to be both amusing and thought provoking, allowing readers to take their own existential ride. Lauren Bufferd. 352pg. BOOKPAGE, c2014. |
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| Booklist | 04/01/2014 |
| Ferris returns with his third novel, another dark comedy in the vein of his well-received debut, Then We Came to the End (2007). Paul O'Rourke is a Manhattan dentist so disillusioned with the world that he doesn't even like it when his favorite baseball team wins the World Series. More than anything else, he dislikes religion, other people, and the modern technology that forces him to interact with other people. He calls cell phones "me-machines" and nicknames one of his patients "Contacts" for texting during a procedure. That's why he and his staff are shocked when a website for their practice suddenly appears online. Soon after, a Facebook page pops up, followed by a Twitter profile, all impersonating Paul. Infuriated, he tracks down his imposter and uncovers a fringe religious sect that worships Amalek, the father of a biblical tribe destroyed by King David in a holy war. As he tries to recover his stolen identity, Paul begins to question who he really is. The protagonist's sharp inner dialogues are laugh-out-loud hilarious, combining Woody Allen's New York nihilism with an Ivy League vocabulary. The narrative occasionally stumbles and spins out in the novel's latter third, but Ferris' unique voice shines. Morgan, Adam. 336p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 11/18/2013 |
| Ferris launched his debut with an unsetting parable of office life, Then We Came to the End, which hit it big as a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. His second novel, The Unnamed, dared big and ended up as a No. 1 IndieNext Pick. And you're wondering why I'm making his next novel a pick? Featuring Paul O'Rourke, a bundle of nervous contradictions-he's a heavy-smoking dentist who decries technology but loves his iPhone, gets upset when his beloved Red Sox win, and can't quite let go of believing in God-this novel has an absurdist premise attuned to the tensions of our times. When someone starts impersonating Paul online, he's at first furious by the invasion of privacy, then forced into painful soul-searching when the online Paul looks to be better than the real thing. With a ten-city tour to New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Ann Arbor, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, and Portland. 336p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 02/17/2014 |
| Paul O'Rourke, the main character of Ferris's (Then We Came to the End)new book, is a dentist. And he's a good one, informed and informative--even if the mouths that once seemed so erotic have devolved into caves of bacteria, pain, and lurking death. Ferris depicts Paul's difficulties: in the workplace, he struggles to say good morning, has problems with the office manager (who's also his ex-girlfriend), and likewise has problems with the devout Catholic hygienist, who can't see why he doesn't believe. A constant ruminator and obsessive Red Sox fan, Paul would like to believe and belong, but he can't. And then the Ulms, who claim to be followers of Amalek (a figure from the Old Testament), hijack his Internet presence and claims him as their own. As an angry and incredulous Paul reads "his" tweets, learns about the unlikely history of the Ulms, and tries to figure out what it all means, readers may find themselves questioning whether the drama of the Ulms amounts to much. Paul is an appealing--albeit self-involved--everyman, but Ferris's effort to take on big topics (existential doubt, grief, identity, the Internet, the lure and limits of religion, and the struggle to floss in the face of life's meaninglessness) feels more like a set of thought experiments than an organic or character-driven story. Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary. (May). 336p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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9780316033978,dl.it[0].title
| Review Citations |
| New York Times Book Review | 05/18/2014 |
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