You Really Need to Read “One More Thing”
ONE MORE THING: STORIES AND OTHER STORIES by B.J. Novak
First off, gotta give respect to a new young author that pens a book of short fiction when he’s famous enough to sell a million copies of his autobiography.
Novak’s name not immediately ringing a bell? You’d recognize his face from the little NBC comedy The Office, the show where he played hipster/CEO wanna-be Ryan Howard. Or, if you’re not into sitcoms, in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglorious Basterds he played the “Little Man” Nazi-hunter. Or, if this is all sounding too R-rated for you, maybe you’d recognize him as Robert Sherman from Saving Mr. Banks.
What some of his fans don’t recognize is how multi-talented this guy is, and not in a try-everything James Franco way. For example, the guy graduated from Harvard with degrees in English and Spanish literature before becoming the executive producer, director and writer for The Office, all before staring down 25. We should be thinking of Novak as a writer first, actor second. Hopefully One More Thing will help with that.
It’s not that he wrote a collection of personal essays that are mildly fun since this guy is kinda famous. It’s not that he wrote some inside info from the stuff he’s worked on that we’re all dying to hear. It’s not that he even wrote some passable fiction and we’re just rooting for him anyway. The thing is: the stories in this book are, by all measure, just amazing.
You’ll be reminded of Sedaris when you read Novak’s fiction, except–and I’m saying this firmly and honestly–Novak’s stories are better. Yes, I like Sedaris and I’ll read his books, but, for me at least, his stories are hit and miss. Sometimes you can tell where he’s trying to go, but it’s boring along the way; sometimes he just comes out of absolutely nowhere with something horridly disgusting for what seems like shock-value alone (anyone else remember that story in Holidays on Ice where the lady sticks a baby in the dryer?). Let’s put it this way: B.J. Novak is like reading a book by Sedaris that doesn’t fall into any of the traps that Sedaris falls into.
Seriously, though, these stories are fantastic. Mostly centered on irony, they’re very dry, often darkly humored. Also, most of them are 4 pages long or shorter. The longest one I can think of was maybe 20 pages? It’s perfect, not just for someone with a short attention span, but because you only get the meat of the story. You get the joke and the punch line right away without having to hear some ridiculously lengthy setup.
Just a quick recap of some of the book’s highlight stories:
- The tale of a man who gets a sex robot only to return her after she falls in love with him.
- A boy whose winning cereal box sets him on the path to finding his real father.
- A transcript of the unaired Comedy Central roast of Nelson Mandela.
- A recap of the “Best Thing in the World” awards ceremony, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris (he wasn’t nominated, it’s addressed).
- The story of a group of friends that go to Vegas to seduce one of their buddies into an intervention, only to fall off their own edges.
- A welcome letter from Camp Fantastic for Gifted Teens.
- The story of Julie and her date with a warlord, which really didn’t go so poorly.
Also included throughout the book and at the end of the collection are discussion questions, well aware of the fact that you probably have no one you are really discussing these questions with. For instance, after the story of Julie’s date with the warlord, there’s a quick discussion period where it asks whether or not Julie should sleep with the man and encourages you to explain why or why not, and on the final page, poses the question “Do you normally have discussions in response to a question that was posed by a person not participating in the discussion? Why or why not?” Sly, meta-bastard.
Ultimately, it’s super funny, often dark, and a book that would absolutely stand alone if Novak wasn’t already a celebrity. Seriously, I loved every single minute of it.
