241st out of 1,750 books
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1,535 voters
The Fuck Up
Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life...and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he's just trying to survive. But life has other things in store for the fuck-up. From being dumped by his girlfrie...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
May 1st 1999
by MTV Books
(first published 1997)
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you know when you buy a book based on the cover or title, essentially ignoring one of the more famous phrases that have to do with judging and books and covers? well this was that kind of purchase. i'm sure i'm not alone. a sparse cover. an intriguing title. just don't forget about the progtagonist you wish would die. i read this thing several years ago and still it ranks as one of my least favorite reads. i should have listened to oprah's book club and stayed the hell away from this thing. it w...more
I'm going through a relationship crisis right now, and for some twisted reason I felt that reading and carrying this book around would be like a little act of rebellion - would let me "own" my own fucked-up-edness. I'm glad I did, because, even though I've only read the first chapter, it made me laugh, which I thought would be impossible right now. It evokes a time and a kind of place I remember. The first chapter takes place often in a dingy second-run movie house; I frequented those a lot duri...more
I liked the first three quarters of this book a lot. It was kind of like a punk/new wave Candide set in early 80s New York. It also reminded me a lot of Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer, which I enjoyed. The narrator, for whom the novel is clearly named, makes a series of bad decisions which invariably yield temporary benefits before leaving him worse off than before. The fun is knowing that every one of his naive and dishonest schemes will fail. I guess it's sort of dramatic irony, but the re...more
I knew someone who had a first-edition copy of this book, and when I asked him about it, he said it wasn't any good. I took him at his word. Even so, for years I wondered why Johnny Temple had republished the book at Akashic. Finally, I decided to read the bloody thing.
Well, it reads fast, and it's funny, though not laugh-out-loud funny, not for me at least, and it brought back a lot of memories, since I lived on the Lower East Side of NYC in the early eighties, as the unnamed narrator keeps ref...more
Well, it reads fast, and it's funny, though not laugh-out-loud funny, not for me at least, and it brought back a lot of memories, since I lived on the Lower East Side of NYC in the early eighties, as the unnamed narrator keeps ref...more
Mar 24, 2008
Chris
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
nincompoops of the basest degree
Recommended to Chris by:
a leg-humping dog
Having read “Story of the Eye”, “A History of Orgies”, and “Crash” within the last month, I was determined to give up reading and write a story of my own, inspired by the filthy aforementioned tales, which I tentatively titled “Whores On All Fours”. The idea was to chronicle my own licentious tales of bizarre and incredible sexual triumphs, but when discovering I only had two pages worth of material (with one encounter being recollected thrice within) I quickly abandoned this doomed attempt. I g...more
To pick up a book and realize that you're currently living in that situation doesn't make the book more interesting. In fact it's like looking into a crystal ball of failure and of lost hope. Granted I'm not as fucked up as the main character, but I'm sure as hell not that far removed from his life. Unfortunately his life/my life is an exact replica of me being 24, except I live in a bigger city now. BUt alas those are my own issues, not goodreads...
Even though I finished reading the book almost...more
Even though I finished reading the book almost...more
Let's call this epidemic "runaway book." This is where I begin reading something funny. I'm dog-earring pages like crazy. A writer's voice is so clever and sassy that I start to imagine that my own word document privileges should be revoked.
And then, runaway book. This time, I actually felt my heart sink. I meant to mark the exact spot where it happened, in the latter fourth of "The Fuck-Up" by Arthur Nersesian, but now I can't find it. I suspect it was around the part where the main character...more
And then, runaway book. This time, I actually felt my heart sink. I meant to mark the exact spot where it happened, in the latter fourth of "The Fuck-Up" by Arthur Nersesian, but now I can't find it. I suspect it was around the part where the main character...more
This earlier work is not a patch on the excellent Suicide Casanova.
For some reason, I kept thinking that it was going to be about some sort of bank robbery that goes wrong, but the truth is that its about an individual who has a knack for being in the wrong place and saying the wrong thing.
But out hero stumbles from disaster to disaster with a remarkably upbeat attitude, which is most endearing.
His first disaster is getting the boot from his job as a cinema usher becase he dared to ask for a pay...more
For some reason, I kept thinking that it was going to be about some sort of bank robbery that goes wrong, but the truth is that its about an individual who has a knack for being in the wrong place and saying the wrong thing.
But out hero stumbles from disaster to disaster with a remarkably upbeat attitude, which is most endearing.
His first disaster is getting the boot from his job as a cinema usher becase he dared to ask for a pay...more
The book captures the neighborhoods of the East (and West) village circa the early 1980's very well. The action moves continuously, and the young main character (who never is named) is faced with a series of downfalls based on questionable decisions. The main character, who seems to be running from something in his past, devolves and suffers comprehensively. His downward plight seems to have an inverse relationship on the fortunes of the once salty neighborhood, which is quickly being gentrified...more
A good, quick, semi-trashy honeymoon read. The title is apt as the lead character makes just one stupid ass decision after another -- for no real reason in most cases. Too many implausible scenarios held this book back from being more fascinating. One or two turns of luck, good or bad, are fine but seemingly each and every plot turn seemed so odd and made up: Now he's doing coke with his landlord's girlfriend, now he's being caught in gunfire at a Blimpie, now he's lying his way into a job as a...more
The following summary is taken from the Author's website (http://www.arthurnersesian.com/theFuc...):
Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life...and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he's just trying to survive. But life has other things in store for the fuck-up. From being dumped by his girlfriend to getting fired for a...more
Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life...and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he's just trying to survive. But life has other things in store for the fuck-up. From being dumped by his girlfriend to getting fired for a...more
I was going to give this book three stars but I think the two star's "it was ok" is a better description. This book is not a total waste of time. I would just describe it as something you shouldn't prioritize to read.
Mostly it has to do with the audience it targets. I'm 20 and I think I'm well within the target audience. And I get it. The story is about a nameless narrator who, while smart and well-read is a bit of a slacker. There is little that motivates him beyond his mentor, Helmsley and the...more
Mostly it has to do with the audience it targets. I'm 20 and I think I'm well within the target audience. And I get it. The story is about a nameless narrator who, while smart and well-read is a bit of a slacker. There is little that motivates him beyond his mentor, Helmsley and the...more
I LOVE THIS BOOK. I admit i picked it up because I saw that it said "fuck" in the title (great marketing), but when you crack it open it astounds. You then realize that you have only put it down because you there is nothing left to read. Its is so good that you find yourself wanting to read the very next word, sentence, paragraph, page, chapter. I can relate to the main character on so many levels yet at the same time i found myself screaming out "you dumb ass". By the end of the book you forget...more
"You know you've been in a place too long when every other locale serves as a reference for some sad recollection."
"I was moving away from myself; silly ideas and images moved their way across the desert of my mind. I no longer had control; all I could do was watch them and react; sometimes I'd laugh, sometimes I'd cry. The great caravan of thoughts passed more and more rarely until soon there was just the great desert: tabula rasa."
Funny! --But somehow also deeply profound.
This little bugger is...more
"I was moving away from myself; silly ideas and images moved their way across the desert of my mind. I no longer had control; all I could do was watch them and react; sometimes I'd laugh, sometimes I'd cry. The great caravan of thoughts passed more and more rarely until soon there was just the great desert: tabula rasa."
Funny! --But somehow also deeply profound.
This little bugger is...more
Picked this up several years ago and probably mostly because of its minimalist cover and the fact that it said "FUCK-UP" in huge letters (hey, it doesn't take a lot to grab your attention at 16). The fact that it was an MTV approved book probably didn't hurt, as I was brainwashed at the time to think that all things pushed by MTV were cool (God, how the mighty fall).
Several years later, all I can say is that this book didn't leave an impression on me. In fact, I remember nothing of it except for...more
Several years later, all I can say is that this book didn't leave an impression on me. In fact, I remember nothing of it except for...more
Oh man! I remember finding this on the shelf in the St. Augustine Barnes & Noble when I was twenty and being like Whoah that says FUCK right on the cover, and buying it and reading it and liking it kind of pretty okay but NOW I live in New York and I see Arthur Nersesian all over the place and the other day he came by and was like "Hey someone just gave me a copy of my book, want it?" and signed it all nice and so I went home and read it yesterday and oh man! Isn't that a sweet little story?...more
This was an interesting book, by a guy I'd never heard of...Reminds me of on the road in New York.
If you're sitting at home enjoying a nice glass of wine, sitting on your favorite lounge chair with this book on your lap...you're much better off than the tragic protagonist in Nersesians' "the fuck-up". This was the first of 4 books I've read by this author and I'll keep coming back for more. Not only can Nersesian capture a brilliant image of new york city but also the futility of being a twenty-something college drop-out with all the intelligence but none of the motivation. The situations fo...more
I really enjoyed reading about the New York I always imagined, sordid but wonderful. The central character was like an old friend, who was a bit aimless after going through a rough patch.
An immature lazybones in New York loses his girlfriend and his employment all in a twelve hour time period. Homeless and with nothing but the clothes he was wearing, he spends the next few nights couch surfing, trying to figure out what he needs to do to carry on. This novel narrates his descent through the dark...more
An immature lazybones in New York loses his girlfriend and his employment all in a twelve hour time period. Homeless and with nothing but the clothes he was wearing, he spends the next few nights couch surfing, trying to figure out what he needs to do to carry on. This novel narrates his descent through the dark...more
This was a top of the line book I always had it sitting around but never read it. Finally one day I just decided to pick it up and give it a look and I finished it in like two days I hardly put it down.
Its about a dude thats literally a "Fuck up" no matter what he does he cant succeed in one case he wants to get a rais at the theatre he works at then goes on to pretend he's gay to get a job a a porno theatre the ends up with a wealthy woman and gets beat up for making her son say he's "sorry" to...more
Its about a dude thats literally a "Fuck up" no matter what he does he cant succeed in one case he wants to get a rais at the theatre he works at then goes on to pretend he's gay to get a job a a porno theatre the ends up with a wealthy woman and gets beat up for making her son say he's "sorry" to...more
It's easy to see why this divides opinions - it's full of bad language, drug taking and despicable characters. Indeed, a quick scan of the Good Reads comments tells me that Oprah herself wasn't a fan. This disappointment aside, I found 'The Fuck Up' witty, clever and always surprising.
I don't agree with those that have remarked 'just be glad it's not you!!!' or similar (not least because of the superfluous exclamation marks). I was most struck by the slippery slope the protaganist faces without...more
I don't agree with those that have remarked 'just be glad it's not you!!!' or similar (not least because of the superfluous exclamation marks). I was most struck by the slippery slope the protaganist faces without...more
I bought it because it looked like someone wrote a book in the early 90s and put it out themselves DIY style. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. It's not terrible. I think the bit bemoaning the gentrification of the East Village back in the bad old days of 1982 is awesome, and shows that people will always complain that things aren't shitty enough for them. Every generation does it. Really small print, typos, messed up indents, looks like it was typewritten...all add to the charm. The story's...more
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so, sometimes, when i finish a book, i think to myself: "man, that was the worst book i've ever read." finishing the last page in "the fuck up," was one of those moments.
at no point did i enjoy reading this book. at no point did i care about the main character. i found this book to be boring beyond all belief, and i found it to be frustrating to read-- not that it's hard to understand-- it's just so stupid. a nameless, hapless loser bumbles his way through life, falling in and out of bed with va...more
at no point did i enjoy reading this book. at no point did i care about the main character. i found this book to be boring beyond all belief, and i found it to be frustrating to read-- not that it's hard to understand-- it's just so stupid. a nameless, hapless loser bumbles his way through life, falling in and out of bed with va...more
I guess you could say this novel was mediocre, but, then again, I can barely bring myself to say even that. In my opinion, this novel should have never been published at all—I’ve found phone numbers written on Mcdonald’s napkins that are more publish worthy than this novel. The unnamed main character is a depressing man who cannot seem to get anything right and the story itself doesn’t seem to really progress to any sort of bigger plot. I think the author gives his character a boring outlook on...more
I fucked up when I selected 'The Fuck-Up' as the next book to read on my Kindle list. An attempted modern odyssey following the fucked up travels of a frustrating protagonist, who continuously fucks up in a city of fuck ups (New York). Did I mention the book is 'hilariously' called 'The Fuck-Up'?
To be fair, the first 25% of the book did provide readable enjoyment on a Bukowski / Houellebecq-esque level. But then the unbelievable grotesque twists the book takes leaves one with a sense of disorien...more
To be fair, the first 25% of the book did provide readable enjoyment on a Bukowski / Houellebecq-esque level. But then the unbelievable grotesque twists the book takes leaves one with a sense of disorien...more
"This is the first novel I have read written by Arthur Nersesian and I am thoroughly impressed with this novel for it does have a lot of cult potential. Why it is a very popular cult-classic talking about an anonymous slacker who can't hold a job, can't find a place to stay, and has nothing to his name whatsoever. I personally thought this would be the best part of the novel and it is. I heard from many it could have been done far better but I take it that this is Nersesian's first novel and giv...more
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Arthur Nersesian is the author of eight novels, including The Fuck-Up (Akashic, 1997 & MTV Books/Simon & Schuster, 1999), Chinese Takeout (HarperCollins), Manhattan Loverboy (Akashic), Suicide Casanova (Akashic), dogrun (MTV Books/Simon & Schuster), and Unlubricated (HarperCollins). He is also the author of East Village Tetralogy, a collection of four plays. He lives in New York City.
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“As the components of your life are stripped away, after all the ambitions and hopes vaporize, you reach a self-reflective starkness-- the repetitious plucking of a single overwound string.”
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3 people liked it
“Some of the more industrious ones were washing the windshields of cars that had been trapped by the red light. I used to see them from inside cars and think they brought it on themselves, and they probably did but now it didn't make a difference. I went over to the fire and warmed my hands with the group. I looked at their faces: idiots, criminals, retards, schizophrenics, paranoids, rejects, fuck-ups, broken-down failures. Alone, once children, never asked to be put on this earth, they ended up as jurors. Their lives were the verdict: the system, the man, something had failed.”
—
2 people liked it
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Apr 28, 2012 02:47pm
Nov 26, 2012 12:47am