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The Dinner Party and Other Stories

Joshua Ferris (Goodreads Author)

3.43 · Rating details · 2,576 ratings · 413 reviews

The first collection of short stories from the author of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour.

Eleven stories by Joshua Ferris, many of which were first published in The New Yorker, on topics such as the modern tribulations of marriage, ambition, and the fear of missing out.

The dinner party --
The valetudinarian --
The pilot --
A night out --
The breeze --
Ghost town choir --
More aba ...more

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Hardcover, 247 pages

Published May 2nd 2017 by Little, Brown and Company

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Apr 16, 2017 Larry H rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I'm at 4.25, maybe 4.5 here?

Sometimes you love every book an author writes, and other times you have a completely different reaction to every one of their books. Joshua Ferris definitely falls into the latter category for me— Then We Came to the End left me bemused yet ambivalent; I absolutely couldn't get into To Rise at a Decent Hour ; and I really enjoyed The Unnamed .

Despite that mixed track record, I still really enjoy the way he writes, so I jumped at the chance to read an early I'm at 4.25, maybe 4.5 here?

Sometimes you love every book an author writes, and other times you have a completely different reaction to every one of their books. Joshua Ferris definitely falls into the latter category for me— Then We Came to the End left me bemused yet ambivalent; I absolutely couldn't get into To Rise at a Decent Hour ; and I really enjoyed The Unnamed .

Despite that mixed track record, I still really enjoy the way he writes, so I jumped at the chance to read an early copy of his first story collection, The Dinner Party and Other Stories . Overall, I really enjoyed it—he kept some of the quirks which occasionally throw me in his writing in check, and these stories are compulsively readable. They're fascinating, some are really packed with emotion, some are a little bizarre, and you just want to know how Ferris will tie things up.

Many of the 11 stories in this collection seem fairly innocuous at first, with characters you think you've seen before—a husband dreading another dinner party with his wife's oldest friend and her husband; the retiree who laments growing old alone; a man who is falling to pieces because he believes his wife has left him. But as you delve deeper into these stories, you discover that nothing is quite what it seems, and which gives each story a little bit of an unexpected kick. Sometimes that doesn't quite work, but for the most part, it really does.

Only one story in the collection really didn't excite me, but my favorites included: "The Pilot," in which an insecure writer gets invited to the party of a famous writer he met once, but he wonders if she meant to invite him, and he struggles with whether to go; "The Valetudinarian," about an elderly man struggling with growing old alone, whose life is literally changed by the arrival of an intriguing gift from an estranged friend; "More Abandon, or What Ever Happened to Joe Pope," which tells of a man's exploits in his office after hours; "The Breeze," about a woman who nearly comes undone with the possibilities which arrive with an unexpected spring breeze; "The Stepchild," in which an actor seeks out a woman he met one night, in order to counter his despair that his wife has left him; and the title story, which tells of a couple awaiting friends to come over for a dinner party, despite the fact that the husband is utterly over them.

There were many times in these seemingly simple stories that I was wowed by Ferris' prose. One such example comes from "The Stepchild":

And what you are growing here, and there, and over there, are little moments, and the memories make a life that can't be taken away from you by anyone or anything, not other people's fickleness, not even death. In the long run, you know, that's better than bowls of dried flowers, or whatever.

I don't believe that every person who has been successful at writing novels is as successful writing stories, and vice versa. But I felt that Ferris' storytelling ability was on great display in The Dinner Party and Other Stories . These were stories which really resonated, and worked for me in ways that his novels haven't always succeeded. And even if you've never read any of his books but you're a short story fan, this is a collection worth exploring.

NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo.... ...more

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May 14, 2017 Bam cooks the books ;-) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-reads, short-stories, 2017-netgalley

Read for Short Story Month--May, 2017. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an arc of this book for an honest review.

These stories were my first taste of Joshua Ferris's writing so I cannot make a comparison to his full-length novels. However, these short stories beautifully showcase the writer's skill at characterization and the ability to get into each person's neurotic thoughts or bad choices in a few brief pages. Some, like The Breeze, were very invent ...more

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Apr 22, 2017 Jill rated it liked it

Shelves: goodreads-firstreads, short-stories

To quote another contemporary writer, T.C. Boyle: “A short story is like a toothache and you must drill it and fill it. A novel is more like bridgework.” Joshua Ferris is a master bridgework artisan. Since discovering Then We Came To The End more than a decade ago, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed To Rise Again at A Decent Hour, and even the less critically-acclaimed The Unnamed.

His short story collection, however, doesn’t quite rise to the height of his novels. Yes, there are moments of spectacular insi ...more

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May 12, 2017 Karan rated it it was ok

Found these stories somewhat amateur with the characters wearing their desperation so obviously that if you missed it there's always an intruding narrator or some contrived observer-character lurking a line away to restate the bleeding obvious. Richard Yates has covered this ground so slickly- the quiet tragedy and violence lurking underneath the mannered civility of urban yuppies, the "trapped" married-too-soon couples and families drifting in indifferent sprawling American metropolises who wak ...more

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May 17, 2017 Sara rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, short-stories, gave-up

Ever since Then We Came to the End, I have considered myself a fan of Joshua Ferris. That novel is one of my most-often recommended titles. I skipped The Unnamed based on poor reviews, but I chalked it up to a sophomore slump and thought no more about it. I eagerly grabbed To Rise Again at a Decent Hour and read it, but found the plot convoluted, and the overall effect was disappointing.

I was excited to see a short story collection, but after 5 stories, I'm ready to quit, and I'm sorry to say I ...more

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May 23, 2017 Leo Robertson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Evidently I'm in a weird mood this morning, explaining the below review. Just know that I almost ruptured my lingual artery forcing my tongue into my cheek that hard so I hope you enjoy the below and accept it in the heavily sarcastic spirit in which it was written :P (And J-Fez, if you chance upon this one, I enjoy your books, for what that's worth!)

Ah, MOST white men. We're MOST OF US NOT ALL OF US so privileged we can't even handle it when you so much as point it out. We scramble to find anyt Evidently I'm in a weird mood this morning, explaining the below review. Just know that I almost ruptured my lingual artery forcing my tongue into my cheek that hard so I hope you enjoy the below and accept it in the heavily sarcastic spirit in which it was written :P (And J-Fez, if you chance upon this one, I enjoy your books, for what that's worth!)

Ah, MOST white men. We're MOST OF US NOT ALL OF US so privileged we can't even handle it when you so much as point it out. We scramble to find anything to complain about. We double down on our unhappiness because people don't take it seriously enough, as well they mostly shouldn't.

The last thing I'd want to do is belittle anyone who felt under the weather, it's just that most men don't know how to articulate their emotional predicaments without making it sound like they're more important than anyone else's or the first time anyone has ever felt as bad as they have for the reasons that they do. It's like, chill. You're just a guy. You can go back to being just a guy if you want. Final offer tho lol. There are many ways white men approach the task of exaggerating their melancholy.

There's the Bret Easton Ellis/Alex Israel/Cronenberg-style, "Don't you understand how horrific our superficiality is, especially in these particular American locations? Also, do you wanna fuck me?" To which you can answer, "If you hated those places that much, you'd've left by now. But then what the hell would you write about? Also, no thanks."

There's the Chuck Palahniuk/Irvine Welsh/John Niven-style, "Don't you understand that I understand how terrible we are? Look how nasty this shit is! I DARE you to wanna fuck me now!" To which you can answer, "Again, you're wallowing where you are because you're having fun. That you're self-aware isn't even a start, because you're using false self-awareness to gloat over the kind of weird shit you enjoy thinking about. So I hope you're enjoying those mental images of eviscerating me for being such a frigid bitch, because you'll never see me naked now."

There's the Woody Allen/Joshua Ferris/etc-style, "When you're as clever as I am, you can desconstruct even pleasant 1% scenarios in a manner that will make you see why they're so bad... while lowkey making you wanna fuck me." To which you can answer, "Try mansplaining to some other broad. These legs open only to those men who don't think inviting pity is foreplay."

So if I feel this way, why do I read these books? It's pure comfort food. I don't go to McDonald's; I read PARTICULAR white male authors.

I would opt for my usual scenario of leaning on the fact that I'm gay to act like I'm not to be considered a white man as such, but that would ruin the fun of white men, who agree with the above and are mad they didn't write it first, trying to outsmart me in the comments to prove to themselves that since both of us aren't getting fucked, at least they're the smartest unfuckable, to which I would have enjoyed replying, wrong tree, married to another dude, knee-deep in weiner since 2006, but I guess I scuppered that. Better get off Goodreads and pretend I had something better to do! ...more

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May 31, 2017 Mike W rated it liked it

I sensed a thread of introspection weaving through Ferris' new short story collection, particularly concerning time. I could drill it down another level and say these are stories about people realizing that time truly is a limited commodity. In some it provokes fear, in others new life. In every case these musings cause interesting changes.

I won't summarize each story, but must mention briefly my favorite in the compilation, "The Valetudinarian". A darkly comic take on the Matrix (my interpretat ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Alan rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories

I was half and half on these stories: loved 5 of them, the others seemed paler copies. The best are enjoyable: cynical, funny, well written, sometimes moving, but occasionally straining for effect. They often concern couples on the verge of breaking up, and needed something different to make them fresh, hence I enjoyed the one from the child's p.o.v. over others. It was a relief to encounter a different subject too, e.g. the self doubting (a lot of that) screenwriter at an L.A. party, the reluct ...more

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May 17, 2017 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley

I was in the car with my husband listening to NPR when we heard an interview with Joshua Ferris on his new book The Dinner Party and Other Stories. My husband is no fan of short stories but he said to me, "I'd read that book." I smirked because I knew I COULD read it. Being pre-approved by Little, Brown & Co. on NetGalley has its perks!

I downloaded the book and started reading.

These twelve stories are about how good people can make really bad decisions. The stories have humor, ironic twists, and ...more

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Aug 19, 2017 Kathryn Bashaar rated it liked it

I frequently read short story collections, and I almost always find that I love some of the stories while others leave me unmoved. That was definitely the case with this collection.
When Ferris writes about 20 and 30-somethings and their worries about status and what everybody's thinking about them, that's boring to me as a 61-year-old woman who is past all that (well...mostly). And I was annoyed by one story about an "old" (in his 60s!!) man whose interest in life can only be reawakened by....w ...more

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Jan 26, 2017 Ilyssa Wesche rated it really liked it

I was lucky enough to pick up at galley at ALA - this book kept me company at dinner (Gus' Famous Fried Chicken, delicious!) and at the Atlanta airport while I waited for my delayed flight. I don't usually read short stories because I don't feel invested in the characters before the end, but in almost every one of these, I did. I found fault with only one, and that is more a reflection on me and what I like to read rather than the story.

This is mostly a collection of stories about flawed middle ...more

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Jan 30, 2018 Moira rated it it was ok

Or, Men Who Are Very, Very Bad at Imagining the Inner Lives of Other People and the Women Who Leave Them

(Ferris is a solid writer, and particularly good as always in describing the weird, deadening routines of office life; I'm just really not in the mood for these kinds of stories right now.) ...more

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Sep 12, 2016 Anna rated it really liked it

Well written short story but damn am I confused as to what went down lol. (I need to go back and reread this more slowly)

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May 12, 2017 LindaJ^ rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-yorker-20-under-40, short-stories

Not quite a 4* read but close enough to round up. Joshua Ferris is one of the "20 under 40" fiction writers to watch identified by the New Yorker in 2010. The eleven stories in this book were all previously published in The New Yorker. These stories are wildly disparate. They have no common link. They are somewhat on the dark side, as are Ferris's novels. Brief descriptions follow --

The Dinner Party starts with a husband complaining about the couple he and his wife are having to dinner. But then Not quite a 4* read but close enough to round up. Joshua Ferris is one of the "20 under 40" fiction writers to watch identified by the New Yorker in 2010. The eleven stories in this book were all previously published in The New Yorker. These stories are wildly disparate. They have no common link. They are somewhat on the dark side, as are Ferris's novels. Brief descriptions follow --

The Dinner Party starts with a husband complaining about the couple he and his wife are having to dinner. But then the couple doesn't show up. The wife is worried, as there is no answer when she tries to phone them, and she then calls hospitals. The husband suggests that he go to their apartment, where he finds a party in progress. But the story seems to really be about a marriage that just is not working.
The Valetudium is about Arty Groys. He and his wife moved to Florida when he retired but just after getting there, his wife is killed in an auto accident. Arty doesn't take it well and does not adjust well to Florida. In fact, he turns into a complainer and grump. So it's his birthday and it isn't until late in the day that he hears from anyone. Arty's only friend in Florida, who he is on the outs with, does remember and pays a hooker to visit Arty and Arty's life is changed.
The Pilot is about a most unconfident actor/writer who seems to live out the pilot he his writing. It is perhaps the saddest story in the book.
A Night Out is mostly about a woman's reaction to her husband telling her he had been seeing another woman but had come to his senses. At least the cheating husband suffers some consequences.
The Breeze starts and ends with the same scenario - a husband coming home early because his wife wanted to do something. Between the beginning and the end, many possible outcomes are portrayed. Another marriage that doesn't seem to be the best match.
In Ghost Town Choir a young boy tries to keep his mother with her most recent boyfriend. You will feel sorry for this child, but not too sorry.
More Abandon (Or Whatever Happened to Joe Pope?) was one of my two favorites. Joe Pope stays late at work because he has no reason to go home. He leaves 15 minutes worth of voicemails on the office phone of a pregnant co-worker he has concluded he loves but then realizes he shouldn't have done it and takes action to stop her ever hearing the voice mails. He also moves all the pigs from one woman's office to the office of a grieving mother and moves the grieving mother's pictures of her murdered daughter to the office where he got the pigs. They are on different floors. He wakes in the morning to find himself wearing another female co-workers's gym T-shirt, hugging the electric guitar of a mail co-worker, and laying on the couch in the office of yet another female co-worker. Just what will happen to him as a result of all this?
Fragments is about another marriage going to hell. Katy does the equivalent of a "butt-dial" to her husband and he determines from what he hears that she is having an affair. Katy is a young lawyer working on a case that is on its way to trial so her husband rarely is awake when she gets home or goes to work. The husband can't face having to divide their possessions so he starts giving them away ... without ever having asked his wife about what was going on.
The Stepchild concerns a husband, a well-known actor, who is sure his wife has left him when she does not return quickly enough after having gone for the Sunday morning bagels. He takes the rather dramatic action of going to the home of a married woman he met two weeks earlier and telling her he loves her. Apparently it is not the first time.
Life in the Heart of the Dead is my other favorite. Some guy is in Prague on business and doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of selling whatever it is he is selling. He knows nothing about Prague and has already been chastised for calling the country Czechoslovakia instead of the Czech Republic. Somehow he gets roped into having a tour of the city on his last day there and he's not too happy about it. But the tour and the tour guide seem to get to him. It was the tour guide with whom I related.
A Fair Price concerns two jerks. One hires the other to help him move the contents of a storage unit to the house of the woman he is about to marry. God help the woman if the marriage actually happens. ...more

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Nov 13, 2017 Jonathan Maas rated it it was amazing

Great Talent in the Writer, Difficult to Like Characters

I graded this on a curve because - it set out what it was supposed to do, which is to tell tales from the perspective of self-involved New Yorkers who seem set on finding a way to not enjoy life.

Great writing, great tales, some experimental, some straightforward New York tales.

Like in 1922 by Stephen King, Joshua Ferris gets better the farther he gets from his primary subject matter. The second tale is probably the best of the lot, about a ...more

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May 06, 2017 Justin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, review-book, short-stories, finished-2017

I think by now, I have established that I am a bit of a book nerd. So, it would not be weird, knowing this information, that I do things like- Short Story Saturday! Not that I would actually do or name out loud such an activity. Ok, ok, I may have cried out to my wife- it is Short Story Saturday this last Saturday and there may or may not have been a party hat involved. Tee shirts are definitely not on the way.

If I had to name a type of book that I keep going back to, it is the short story. If I think by now, I have established that I am a bit of a book nerd. So, it would not be weird, knowing this information, that I do things like- Short Story Saturday! Not that I would actually do or name out loud such an activity. Ok, ok, I may have cried out to my wife- it is Short Story Saturday this last Saturday and there may or may not have been a party hat involved. Tee shirts are definitely not on the way.

If I had to name a type of book that I keep going back to, it is the short story. If I want to grab a quick read, I will often go for the short story/essay knowing I can pick it up and put it down or plow through all of the stories in one sitting. With The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris, it was the latter type of reading, due to the..um...totally not Short Story Saturday declaration.

I always go into short stories knowing this- there will be hits and there will be misses. Ferris' book is no different in that sense. My hope is there will be a lot more hits than misses. The other good news is that Ferris' book does that too. I also desire a short story to be the right length for a short story- about 18 pages or so, but definitely not over 50. The final good news is that Ferris' book excels in that too.

The only negative is I remembered reading a lot of these stories. I read the New Yorker often, so I had read or I was reminded I read many of the stories as I was going along, so I may have gotten through them faster than originally intended. So, I will warn, if you read the New Yorker, this is a collection taken mostly from that magazine. That was the only negative though.

There were more positives in this collection. Many of the stories deal with people, particularly males, struggling with connection and relationships. The first story for example is about a husband and wife, who are hosting a dinner party. The husband complains about how much he hates the people he is going to have dinner with, who are his wife's best friends. They are stood up and when the husband storms out to go find the couple, it turns out they are hosting their own party and he and his wife were not invited. Why? Well, I won't spoil the story.

Many of the stories have that type of vibe- an old man who only complains about his aches and pains, until a prostitute enters his life, a playwright struggling to write the pilot while his actors move on to other projects, a man who cannot interact with others, etc.

I found most of the stories were right on target and I loved this collection. The stories were well written, the right length for a short story, and a tight narrative that got the reader into the world quickly. I recommend this one.

I gave it 4 stars.

* I wish to thank NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book. I received it in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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May 17, 2017 Sandie rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary-lit, 2017-books

THE DINNER PARTY by Joshua Ferris is a measured, slow burning book of eleven stories of modern fiction filled with complex, unusual characters that reveal themselves via anxiety ridden situations covering everything from infidelity and rejection to career failure and even murder.

This dour collection of what amounts to urban morality tales does have a smattering of humor peppered here and there among the narratives but on the whole, for this reader at least, it was like sitting through a re-run o ...more

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Jun 25, 2017 jennyreadit rated it liked it

Shelves: shorties

I am really not sure what to make of this. I want to say the best way to describe it is Newton's Third Law ; "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects."
I interpreted the collection of stories to be a parallel to life's relationships with others and how we can muck them up if we over analyze/fantasize the other's motives for more than what they are. As in real life, most of our responses ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Jen Kirsch rated it it was amazing

I was sent this book of short stories (out May 2017) by Hachette Book Group. I had it in my library for the past month, and kept pushing it aside for other reads. Earlier this week, I decided to finally read the first of the short stories 'The Dinner Party,' of the books name. Within but I page I was invested not only in the hilarity, irony and sharpness of the plot, writing and characters, but the tone of the tale on a whole. I knew within the first two sentences, that I was in for a real treat I was sent this book of short stories (out May 2017) by Hachette Book Group. I had it in my library for the past month, and kept pushing it aside for other reads. Earlier this week, I decided to finally read the first of the short stories 'The Dinner Party,' of the books name. Within but I page I was invested not only in the hilarity, irony and sharpness of the plot, writing and characters, but the tone of the tale on a whole. I knew within the first two sentences, that I was in for a real treat c/o author Joshua Ferris's unique, yet consistent writing style, unlike anything I've ever read before.

Each short story lived up to the peak story telling as the last short story and I found myself smiling as I read every sentence, each rich with observation on the mundane; each showcasing how the inner working of our psyche and our inner monologues affect our actions and in turn our relations with others.

From The Dinner Party, I took away the importance of making other people happy, and it sometimes being more central than them knowing the truth. I observed how we get caught up and the 'what if's' and how it can drive us mad. I also was reminded how our relations with some of our closest friends change, when they meet and marry someone we don't get along with; that we don't respect, nor like really at all.

The Valetudinarian: This short story reminded me of an older relative in my life (now deceased) who would spend every convo we shared over the years basking in her misfortune. Her hard life. Her struggles. Her medications. It strained our relationship and resulted in pushing me away, because it was always such a downer. Always the glass half empty. This story is about Arty who, the day after he moved to Florida to bask in his new found and much anticipated retirement, lost his wife in a head-on-collision, which left him unexpectedly alone and bitter and initiated a downward spiral making him a miserable man, who in turn lost all his friends and his grown kids barely talked to him. The story takes place on his birthday and each page the tale gets more obscene, as the one friend he has sends him a prostitute he immediately falls in love with (then chases) even after she left him for dead.

The Pilot: A tale that focuses on a big Hollywood party, and a sober man, who struggles so much with wondering whether or not he was meant to be invited, that it causes him to question himself and all the imagined ways he likely was invited by mistake, that it hightails him off the wagon, leading to his own demise.

A Night Out: Looks at a married couple and a wife whose sixth sense teaches her her husband has been cheating on her. The wife ends up following the woman, then stealing the woman's man from her and hooking up with him, cancelling her husbands cards, and a whole night of madness ensues between her estranged husband, her parents (who they were meeting for a night out with) and another one of his lovers.

*The Breeze: My favourite of all the stories in this book, the breeze looks at a young married couple who, on the first day of spring, want to embark on a night out, that turns into a whole
'What do you want to do?'
'No what do you want to do?' question-off. In each paragraph we look at all the things they could've done and situations they could've got themselves in that evening if they answered honestly, or took a different method of transportation or chose a different spot. It's all very 'Sliding Doors,' and is a reminder at how trapped we get into our heads that we always feel the grass is greener elsewhere, and made me question: Is anyone in this world *truly* happy? We all have so much stuff. So many destructive thoughts and patterns and clouded views that how can we ever just be? How can we ever really value what we have, our privilege, our ability to breath?

Ghost Town Choir: Didn't love this one, but enjoyed the actual writing that allowed me to hear one of the characters voices it was that well written in a very specific tone.

*More Abandon: Also one of my faves in this book. Joe Pope is a well to do man in a good position at a company in a high rise building. But he loves a woman who he works with who is married and oh-so-very pregnant. He needs more from life and its blaseness, so one day he stays after work, and once every leaves the office, he partakes in an array of wilder-by-the-hour activities, as we see him downward spiral and by the next morning, still there, after all his madness, we are left with what will likely be his demise.

*Fragments: A wildly creative and well written story of the fragments of things we hear, whether we've been pocket dialed, are people watching, are overhearing peoples convos when we pass them on the street, or they are next to us on the subway. A hilarious and well thought out tale.

The Step Child: Now this one, up until the very last second had me. I didn't see the great plot twist that would come. This looks at an actor whose wife doesn't come home after getting bagels one Sunday morning (their usual to-do is to eat them in bed while reading the paper every Sunday morning, as lovers do,) and how he has a downward spiral through his thoughts, that lead him to learn that she has finally left him. His helplessness causes him to go to the home of a woman he met a few nights earlier from a gala. It is there (while her kids are out with her husband) that they end up talking about an hour (he feeds her ego, her heart, her hope) and by the end of their hour together they are kissing and can't get enough of each other and she intends to tell her husband when he gets home, so they can now be together. I'll leave it at that because this must read story is so sharp, and the ending will leave you in shock, yet smiling, because you'll totally get it. ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 Dan rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature, read-in-2017

Everything I've read by Ferris has been solid. This is no exception. ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Renita D'Silva rated it really liked it

Loved these beautiful stories, each one a gem.

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Apr 04, 2020 Ridzuan Rosli rated it liked it · review of another edition

Jack was a good man, but now he had to ask himself a serious question. What does a man do — and I mean a real man, now, what does a real man do — when he knows he’s done something wrong? — Joshua Ferris, The Dinner Party (2017, 2018)

First of all, I would like to say that I love this book cover by Penguin Books. This edition is published in 2018, a year after first published in the United States. This is a comical short story collection by Joshua Ferris. I have never heard his name before. I thin ...more

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Jun 17, 2018 Sterlingcindysu rated it liked it

Shelves: arc

3.5 rounded down. One of his stories makes references to a book he wrote, Then We Came to the End. Men sure don't look good in these stories.

I love to read short stories, but I hate reviewing them...so I'll paste a bit from a review from the Guardian by Marcel Theroux:

In his first short story collection, the Man Booker-shortlisted American author Joshua Ferris presents a bouquet of egregious male doofuses. Behind a deadpan title – “Fragments”, “The Breeze”, “A Fair Price”, “The Stepchild” – ea ...more

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Sep 19, 2017 Derek rated it liked it

While this author's writing didn't really fit me, I couldn't help but admire the style. He has this very interesting way of slowly drawing you into a false sense of security with the story (you think you understand the characters and how things are developing)...and then there comes a curious sentence that keeps you pondering for the next page or two....and BAM! Things take a drastic turn and you suddenly are taken aback by the surprise that just hit you. ...more

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Apr 09, 2020 TheBookWarren rated it really liked it

Shelves: shortstor-novella-essay-graphic-nov, fiction

4.25 Stars - Brilliant, simply brilliant! The Novella itself is a masterpiece, brooding with tension yet funny, real & is undoubtedly one of the most quintessential 21st century Novella OR short stories I’ve ever read..

There are other gems that follow, and whilst they may not feature the same shrines the title piece has, that’s no criticism!

Never mention GR scores ordinarily but come on, this 3.44 rating on GR is CRIMINAL!!!

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Mar 12, 2020 Nick Davies rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

The author clearly has some talent, and there were three or four of these which I enjoyed, but in truth this collection of short stories didn’t ever really absorb me. There seemed a slight repetitiveness in the domestic themes, the American nature left me slightly distanced, and most of the stories took the path of setting up an interesting or awkward situation and then ending the story with this unresolved. The net effect was of ideas explored, writing muscles flexed, end product under-baked.

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May 14, 2019 China Rodriguez rated it it was ok · review of another edition

“I never used to live for my life. I lived to prove something, and to get revenge. But my life was a small, mean thing. Then, somewhere along the way, it became everything. That was terrifying.”

“You worry about losing everything. I worry about wanting to hold on to it. Some days, I don’t know if I have the strength to hold on to it.”

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Feb 28, 2020 Leo Robertson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoy this guy's writing well enough :) As I think I've mentioned before, I don't see many people trying to be the next Joseph Heller and I think Ferris does a decent job.

That said I don't really understand all the praise. But I usually have a good time with his work :)
...more

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Apr 10, 2018 Daniel Simmons rated it really liked it

Acidly funny and squirm-inducing. As with most short story collections, this one has its hits and misses, some more gimmicky than genuinely thoughtful, but I found all of them enjoyable nonetheless.

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Dec 03, 2018 Lindsay Seddon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Underwhelming.

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About Joshua Ferris

Joshua Ferris

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Joshua Ferris is the author of novels Then We Came to the End, The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour as well as a story collection, The Dinner Party. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He was named one of The ...more

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Is this an on-the-road novel? Not in the Kerouac sense. But it sure feels like the narrator clocks as many miles wandering around his Scandinavian...

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“This was a simple exchange, labor for cash. It had nothing to do with gestures of kindness, or if you knew the other guy's name or not, or what mans' ultimate purpose on earth might be. What the market would bear--that was the only relevant question. (from the short story 'A Fair Price')” — 0 likes

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