Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: Imagine having a girlfriend, a decent job, a good friend, and losing it all in a matter of days. Many have experienced this very common case in life. Things seem to be going well, you can't complain, but all of the sudden, you get hit over the head with a hammer and all the happiness is gone. This usually happens for no reason. [...] Arthur Nersesian, the author, creates this regular anonymous man living in 1980's New York. He creates a believable world of subways, streets, and surroundings. I felt as thought I was walking the street with this anonymous "hero". Many people, who don't live in New York (such as myself), tend to see it as a beautiful place, besides the stereotypical rude New Yorker. This novel revealed the gritty and dirty underbelly of what New York was in the 1980's. I'm sure it seems like a nicer place when you aren't having as many problems as the narrator does. He had good things going for him, the narrator did. He had a good girlfriend, a job even though it was under horrible management, a place to live, etc. He cheated on his girlfriend with a woman he worked with and his girlfriend found out. He was then out of a home and a girlfriend. The following night he sees the girl he was cheating with and it turns out that she is in the arms of another man. He gets fired, thrown out of his friend Hemsley's house because of Hemsley's unlikely butch girlfriend, and then the narrator is forced to pretend he is gay in order to work at a gay theater. Anything for a job. This poor guy gets beaten up so badly, clothes torn and tattered and with little or no time to recover, he is beaten up again. He was handed so many things, given many different opportunities whether it was jobs, cars, love, or money, yet it all gets blown away. It is so different to see all this depression written in a comedic sense. Sure, the narrator was p*ssed off at the time about all the bad things, but this book is written while he is "reflecting" on what happened seven years later. He's adopted an attitude now of, "Oh well. Now's not as bad as then." I really got into this story and the climax kept building and building. I was so anxious to see how it all ended. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with how it ended. I felt it didn't justify the book at all although it did give a sense of, "you never know what you're going to get." That was the main underlying theme, and the ending proved it. I was expecting something different. I had forgotten what the narrator had said in the first few sentences of the book, as most readers would, thus I was surprised by the ending. Although the ending isn't something I necessarily loved, I still adored the book. It is incredibly harsh, not for the light-hearted or the easily offended by offensive words. There is sex, violence, and "adult" language. It's bad enough that you shouldn't let a child see the title of the book. (Roll eyes.) Nersesian's world is definitely a great trip and I enjoyed every minute of it, anxious to continue to read. Its detail is perfect enough to get the point across and just enough that it doesn't get boring. Anyone who has had things go seemingly decent and then all go to crap can identify with the character. It's definitely a good insight[...]
Rating: 
Summary: Bold Title...Good Book
Review: I picked this book up in a bookstore mainly because the title made me chuckle. "Who would call their book *that*?" In paging through, I found some interesting prose and went ahead and made the purchase. I'm not sorry. This is a well written book that details the life of someone who is not only submersed in poverty, but does not have the personal drive to do anything about it. A realistic glimpse into the lives of those we see out there everyday, but thankfully don't have to live ourselves.
Our protagonist is an intelligent man, but has no desire to do anything with his life. He works as an usher at a third rate local theater, and is content with meager wages and life in the slow lane. He has a girlfriend and a place to stay and a job, and that seems to be enough. Until he meets a co-worker at the theater, and decides that he should have an affair with her. She, unfortunately, does not reciprocate his feelings, but leads him on anyway. When his girlfriend finds out, she kicks him out of their apartment, forcing him to go and stay with an old friend of his. I found his friend to be one of the more interesting characters in the book, until......you should read it for yourself. Things go from bad to worse, with our narrator winding up working in a gay porno theater and pretending to be gay to keep the job, getting involved in some shady business, getting badly beaten up not once but a few times. He looses his place to stay, looses his new job, looses his friends, looses, well....everything. Rather a "rags to rags" story, with a surprise ending that brings him closer to the one person he hates above everyone else, and back into a lifestyle of mediocre contentment. This was an entertaining and enlightening read, well written, and taking us into paths we are curious about but just prefer not to tread in ourselves. Good book. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: be glad it's not you
Review: i have to agree with the other reviewers who said that once they picked up this book they found it nearly impossible to put down (unfortunate for me, being that i work with adolescents and the title itself caused a stir). this book has the ability to draw you into the main character, if only to compare and contrast your life with his, and realize that it can always get worse. i was pretty down when i read this book, and it definitely cheered me up. i think the ending is realistic and believable, though i was sorry to see it end. next on my list is dogrun and manhattan loverboy, both by nersesian.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes I feel like one myself
Review: The ultimate slacker. This is a guy with EVERYTHING at his fingertips...but he always manages to throw it all away. I woke up yesterday, rolled out of the sack around 2 pm and wasted away my day for awhile. I finally decided at least reading a book would be productive so I grabbed my newly loaned copy of this book. Originally bought for a friend by a friend with the emphasis on the title, this book has made its way through a few in my crowd to me, who in retrospect had been anxious to read it. I want to mention now that I finished the book yesterday evening. As the title suggests the book is about a young man and his trials and mishaps of rumbling through life in New York City. Anyone who has seen "Man about Town" on cable can attest. The style the book follows is one of hope and failure, showing that even if at times life seems to be going great, it can all crash down without warning into nothing. The funny thing is that none of the adventures seemed to be unreasonably outrageous, rather all plausible and things that could happen to myself; the early trials of getting dumped for cheating on his girlfriend, then that night seeing the girl of his affair in some other guys arms. The reasons he can't get a job, or better yet the reasonings behind why a job shouldn't be had. Throughout the book the guy claims a couple prizes; money sometimes (always lost), women who need to be loved (always lost) a Mercedes for an off-the-wall favor (lost), true love? Besides what I've already mentioned the craziest scenario in this book is a section where the guy has to pretend he's gay to keep his job at a porno movie theater, and to hook up on a rental space with a guy who doesn't want his roommate moving in on his girlfriend while he is out of town.(he does). I would have to recommend this book to anyone who has ever had things just seem to be going really well, and for things to have changed for the worse for no good reason. It happens to all of us good people, and with that notion I think this book is relatable. It is a comedy so we are supposed to see some inspiration in his follies. this lead guy is a complete slacker, chances come along, but he somehow always finds a way to screw things up, so I know I can relate. I'm thinking if someone else hadn't had bought this book I never would've read it. I purchased this book through Amazon.com right after another great purchase, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, about an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. Both are fun, recommended books. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: say what?
Review: I am giving this book two stars because Nersesian has a wonderful way with language and writing. However, if I didn't happen to work in New York (can't afford to live here though), I would probably get really tired of the endless detailed walking tours of the main character. Street after street, number after number ... after a while, I wanted to say, "I get the point.. he wanders aimlessly..." I enjoyed this book at first, because I enjoyed the charatcer and his situation. However, as the novel wore on (at times, it appeared to be a bottomless novel.. the more I read, the more there was left to be read...)I grew tired of the endless situations our "hero" fell into... many of them of his own devising. You just sit there reading knowing that he can't possibly get out of this situation (in part owing to the "give it away" title). Also, while the book starts out promisingly, we fall into situations like "needs to pose as a gay guy to rent a great apartment of a film director, but sexy girlfriend of said director lives there also, which is why he needs to pose as a gay guy..." I could see the inevitable coming a mile away. I also found it difficult to accept such cartoonish and contrived situations as "intellectual best friend dates leathery flatulent 2 dimensional hag". It just ends up being cartoonish, unfunny and untrue. In fact, I am not sure what to make of any of the depictions of women in this novel. Not exactly a very positive outlook. I would not hesitate to read any more books by this author, but I find this effort a little forced, and delivering a little less than promised.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally bad.
Review: As another reader notes, this takes a rather tumultuous time and place in NYC -- the Lower East side circa 1985 -- and makes it boring. If you're at all interested in the topic, you should try to get a hold of the long out-of-print anthology, "Between C&D: New Writing from the Lower East Side" or "Love is Strange," both edited by Joel Rose and Catherine Texier. This was a cutting edge magazine, printed on a dot-matrix and distributed in a poly-bag, it published the early works of David Foster Wallace, Tama Jamowitz, Gary Indiana, Patrick McGrath, the late Kathy Acker, Dennis Cooper, Lynne Tillman, Barry Gifford, William Vollman, and many many more. Nersesian can't hold a match to this stuff. There's simply nothing inventive or compelling about his [weak] tale. A waste of money and time.
Rating:
Summary: fantastick
Review: i read this book, like some of you, because it's from the same publisher as the perks of being a wallflower. this book is depressing and makes takes you on the main character's journey to maturity. great allegory and amusing situations. read.
Rating: 
Summary: AWFUL!!!
Review: This book stinks!! One of the most idiotic, sappy, terrible, implausible endings imaginable. i threw this book into the garbage with total disgust!! Do not waste your money on this poorly written piece of trash. really weak...
Rating:
Summary: love love love
Review: i bought this book because i loved the perks of being a wallflower, and they have the same publisher. but after reading both books again, i think that this book holds up better. it has substance. at first when i started reading it i was faling asleep and put it down for 2 months, but then once i got past the first 30 pages or so i couldnt put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Wacky, Page-Turning Entertainment!
Review: The story starts off with our main character living in New York. No parents or family alive or living any where near him, just a girlfriend and a friend. Next thing you know he's working at a porn movie theater as an usher, stumbling from one wacky misadventure to the next. His life always seems out of control. You start getting the idea that this guy's life REALLY is screwed up, yet you keep turning the pages. I won't discuss much more about the contents of the book itself as that would ruin the story. Yet Nersessian keeps the events coming fast and furious. With the millions of people living in NYC, you can just imagine all these things happening to you there. The style of the book is easy to take, the pacing of the story is manic and fast. I found myself chuckling frequently. In the end, I really enjoyed it. Go pick up a copy today! I also agree with the other reviewer who recommended The Losers' Club by Richard Perez. Dogrun by Nersesian was another winner, but that's a separate review.
|
