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The Ask

Sam Lipsyte (Goodreads Author)

3.29 · Rating details · 6,364 ratings · 949 reviews

Milo Burke, a development officer at a third-tier university, has “not been developing”: after a run-in with a well-connected undergrad, he finds himself among the burgeoning class of the newly unemployed. Grasping after odd jobs to support his wife and child, Milo is offered one last chance by his former employer: he must reel in a potential donor—a major “ask”—who, myste ...more

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Hardcover, 296 pages

Published March 2nd 2010 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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Lists with This Book

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010 (fiction and nonfiction)

100 books — 666 voters

Best Books of 2010

1,446 books — 2,532 voters

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Community Reviews

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Average rating 3.29 ·

Rating details

· 6,364 ratings · 949 reviews

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Mar 08, 2011 Paul Bryant rated it it was ok

Shelves: novels

This is not a bad book, Sam Lipsyte has a cute turn of phrase, but it's just not funny at all and makes you feel bad when you're actually reading it so that you feel good when you stop. Ugh. I checked up my list of all time favourite novels to answer the question - well, maybe you just don't like comic novels. Here are the ones on my list with some comic elements:

the fountain overflows
the mezzanine
catch 22
eighty-sixed
trainspotting
the curious incident of This is not a bad book, Sam Lipsyte has a cute turn of phrase, but it's just not funny at all and makes you feel bad when you're actually reading it so that you feel good when you stop. Ugh. I checked up my list of all time favourite novels to answer the question - well, maybe you just don't like comic novels. Here are the ones on my list with some comic elements:

the fountain overflows
the mezzanine
catch 22
eighty-sixed
trainspotting
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
lolita

You might possibly say that The Mezzanine, Catch-22 and Eighty-Sixed are comic novels rather than novels which have a lot of comedy in them, but you will note that two of these three are about Aids and War & so have that tragic undertow. Only The Mezzanine proudly declares itself to be Light as in light music. The narrator never impales himself on a stapler. He suffers mortal embarrassment in a men's urinal, but he figures out how to overcome his urethric strangulation problem and everything's plain sailing apart from the shoelaces.

Novels which notice everything about Modern Life in America and then jeer loudly at it like The Ask have three terrible giants breathing down their neck; there's Tom Wolfe, who invented this micro-trend the-future-is-already-happening Americans-are-really-absurd stuff way way back in great books like The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby which was in like 1965 which was, well, before before; there’s Jonathan Franzen who is doing this sort of stuff in giant novels once every 8 years (and how glad I am he's so slow); and of course there’s David Foster Wallace about whom I would not wish to comment because I haven't read enough but he is the Galactic Warpdrive model of all Noticing Machines. It’s a brave author who sails his skiff into those waters hoping to catch an overlooked eel. And Mr Lipsyte then goes and sets his novel in a not-very-good University, just like about ten thousand novelists have been doing since the 50s – Snow, Bradbury, Barth, Amis, Sharpe, Lodge, Delillo, Jacobsen, Byatt, Tartt, Powers, Smiley, Chabon, Roth, Coetzee, Roth, Roth, Roth… and so you see that even though Mr Lipsyte has a cute turn of phrase, sometimes very cute, nonetheless, I have to report that this stuff has been

DONE TO DEATH
...more

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Jul 18, 2013 MJ Nicholls rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, merkins, tortured-artists

Lipsyte’s comedy is of the frenetic sledgehammer variety (nothing wrong with that) and his narrator poisonously witty. The comedy is sadly all-too-sitcommy in its overexuberance, despite attempts to establish its own Elkinesque style, and relies overly on hyper-zingy dialogue where every character is a fast-talking asshole, a technique that overwhelms and removes the reader from the simulated reality of this world. In comparison to a similar novel, the superhumanly brilliant Laura Warholic (published th ...more

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Mar 01, 2010 unknown rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2010, 52-in-2010, ha-ha-hee-hee-ho-ho, add-half-a-star, library-books

When you try to be cute by writing a book with a detestable protagonist and include dialogue exchanges like this:

"I'm not very likable, am I?"
"You're likable enough."
"No, I mean, if I were the protagonist of a book or a movie, it would be hard to like me, to identify with me, right?"
"I would never read a book like that, Milo. I can't think of anyone who would. There's no reason for it."

...then you probably should make sure the reader isn't going to agree with you. And though this is a well-written/>"No,/>"You're/>"I'm ...more

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Nov 18, 2009 Greg rated it really liked it

The Ask is a weird novel to find yourself really enjoying--it's like getting punched in the face and laughing about it. It's hilarious and dead serious at the same time; on one page you laugh out loud, only to be soberly put in your place on the next by the pitiless resentment and biting cynicism that plagues Milo, Lipsyte's hapless protagonist, who gets fired from his job at the development office of a Manhattan university after mouthing off to an overly entitled student. Then there's all the othe The Ask is a weird novel to find yourself really enjoying--it's like getting punched in the face and laughing about it. It's hilarious and dead serious at the same time; on one page you laugh out loud, only to be soberly put in your place on the next by the pitiless resentment and biting cynicism that plagues Milo, Lipsyte's hapless protagonist, who gets fired from his job at the development office of a Manhattan university after mouthing off to an overly entitled student. Then there's all the other failure in Milo's life--the failure to be a successful painter, son, husband, and father--and the added burden when his college friend Purdy (the picture of wealth and success) comes out of the past with a particularly awkward proposition for him.

An early review at the Quarterly Conversation has called The Ask "another unrelenting tour de force of black bile...there is no cushy fictional distance between the world [Lipsyte] describes and the world he inhabits." But even though The Ask ends on the most unnerving note possible--and regardless of whether or not you're repelled by Milo's view that "stories were like people...we pretended they all counted, but almost none of them did," you at least realize (as Milo does) the guilt-inducing fact that there are always people worse off than you, that no matter how low you think you've gone, there are things to feel lucky for. "Everybody wanted to get home," Milo reminisces after he hits rock bottom at his childhood home in New Jersey, where his lesbian mother lives with her longtime lover. "Home could be a ruined place, joyless, heaped with the ashes of scorched hearts, but come evening everybody hustled to get there." A concrete sense of home is what Milo apparently seeks the most, but ultimately he wants a life free of illusions about what "home" really means.

What really won me over in The Ask was not only the razor-sharp writing--phrases like "sexagenarian whippersnappers" and "greeting card ontology" are abundant--but Lipsyte's equally razor-sharp observations about the absurd truths of American life: of the spoiled, uber-connected kids at the university ("they were happy, or seemed happy, or maybe they were blogging about how they seemed happy"); the purgatorial middle class existence he is destined never to leave ("We still did not own the devices that let you skip the commercials. Would we always be part of the slow television movement?"); the satirical, misguided manifestos of child daycare centers; and the sobering realities embodied by war veterans. The Ask avoids tempering the bitterness that comes with all this; instead, it stews in it, even embraces it. It's sort of exhilarating to finish the book seeing Milo "digging in for the long night of here."If he gains anything, it will be peace...maybe. ...more

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Feb 04, 2012 David rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2012, hideously-vile-protagonists

I was underwhelmed. It amazes me that this book has been universally acclaimed as hilarious. "So funny you might lose an eye". Really, Vanity Fair reviewer? What does that even mean?

If the shrill bludgeoning of obvious targets that is this book's stock in trade is considered as genuine wit, then God help us all.
Personally, if there were an immediate moratorium on the publication of whining, self-pitying tirades by narcissistic, obnoxious, self-hating losers, I would not be particularly u ...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Justin Evans rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Has anyone else noticed that there is a new grammatical person? We've always had first ("I fell") and second ("You fell") and third ("She fell.") But now we have the first middle-aged white middle-class reasonably well educated underemployed male person, "I fell into a [sea of references], and made a joke about it, but mainly focused on my self-pity and my loathing for my self-pity." Ladies and Gentleman, this is the literary form embodied in The Ask. It could be much worse; it could be 'The Fin ...more

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Jun 05, 2015 Trish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, art, family, parenting, fiction, funny, quirky, totally-unexpected, war

It’s a war out there. And this book is about war crimes. The kind that happen when failed painters take jobs as development agents for the arts departments of mediocre universities, sucking up to successful wealth-creators to support the drug habits of university arts brats who produce drek. But the tap of money from wealthy donors was running dry, and our failed painter Milo Burke was now a failed development agent.

Milo’s last big “ask” was to Mr. Ramadathan who had mortgaged his electronics s ...more

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Jul 04, 2010 Sebastian rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Did not love it and at times didn't like it. It's satire, sure, but everything is strained with ironic distance and studied disdain, including the narrator's regard for himself. Maybe this generational bitching is just a couple years outside of my sweet spot, but I found myself aching for something post-ironic or with some faint sense of authenticity ("Is that like the faint smell of death lurking around KFC's Double Down?" an early piece of rejected draft dialogue from The Ask might counter). It's ...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Bradley rated it liked it

Shelves: from-library

Sam Lipsyte is a great prose stylist, but this book was about 100 pages too long. It only had enough plot for a short story, but was stretched into a novel. His writing style made about 200 pages highly readable and enjoyable, particularly due to the author's humor. But because of the book's minimal plot, an extra 100 was pushing it. It's a prime example of the stereotypes that genre fiction writers and readers have about literary fiction: a focus on style rather than plot and character developm ...more

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Apr 08, 2010 christa rated it really liked it

I was Sam Lipsyte's bitch for the first 60 pages of his novel "The Ask." I mean, he really had me in the zone. I was ready to sell my stuff, buy a psychedelic bus, and follow him on a book tour until the restraining order caught up with me somewhere near Missoula.

Then I became exhausted. Sam Lipsyte is so freaking hilarious, too freaking hilarious, that I actually started to drown as I slogged through his super clever sentences and whack, sarcastic dialogue. I couldn't follow the thin plot (rea I was Sam Lipsyte's bitch for the first 60 pages of his novel "The Ask." I mean, he really had me in the zone. I was ready to sell my stuff, buy a psychedelic bus, and follow him on a book tour until the restraining order caught up with me somewhere near Missoula.

Then I became exhausted. Sam Lipsyte is so freaking hilarious, too freaking hilarious, that I actually started to drown as I slogged through his super clever sentences and whack, sarcastic dialogue. I couldn't follow the thin plot (really just seemingly an excuse to make said sentences more than a story begging to be told); I couldn't remember the lesser characters. Have you ever ended up at an after bar with a bunch of strangers, only to find out they are all trying to become professional comedians? Ugh.

Milo is an office grunt, trying to raise funds for the arts department of the mediocre New York City university where he works. This is not his forte. His memories of what it was like when he still thought he could make a living as an artist are too fresh. His wife isn't very amorous -- she says she's "touched out." His very young son is a smart ass who attends a special hippie school and has a neglectful babysitter.

Then Milo gets fired. Then he gets a second chance: He must secure a donation from a high falootin' donor -- or Ask -- who has requested Milo solicit his cash. Milo knows this smug richie rich from college, and this becomes a madcap adventure of late night phone calls, candy shops and amputees. Chaos ensues.

You should shelve this book on your toilet tank and use it the way you would "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader": Open it. Read a really hilarious paragraph out of context. Chuckle. Refile, flush and wash hands.

I just tried this experiment and landed on this interaction between Milo and Purdy, the biggie Ask.

"That's the one. He's impressive. What my dad used to call a comer. You must hate his guts."
"He's okay."
"Sure he is. Anyway, that's what he gave me to believe, when I met him at this sort of art happening. An historical reenactment of the dotcom bubble. Some guy rented a loft and hired actors to pretend to be designing websites. Have to say he nailed the details, the clothes, the snacks, the drugs, the toys. Thought I was in a time machine."

See? You should see the one about the hangover.

So what's wrong with this? Nothing in small doses. But it all reminds me of those early months with my boyfriend when we were always "on." "The early banter months," one could call them. Always trying to outwit the other one. One night I showed up at his house. He was in plaid pajama pants, vanilla candles flickering, a season of "Nip/Tuck" from Netflix. I started in with the joking and poking and prodding and he said the best thing he could have said. Something about us taking the night off from sparring. Could we just be quiet? He was too tired to play along. It was such a relief.

Sometimes I wished Lipsyte would just be quiet. Just for awhile.

...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Sam Lipsyte, author of the cult favorite Home Land, is back in fine form with his third novel. In The Ask, Milo Burke is a not-very-lovable loser (think Paul Giamatti playing him in the movie, and you'll get the idea), who's approaching middle age with nothing much to show for it but a bachelor's degree, a failed career as an artist, and a crummy job as a development officer at Mediocre University in New York City. Unfortunately for Milo, he's never quite perfected the art of The Ask -- the delicate proc Sam Lipsyte, author of the cult favorite Home Land, is back in fine form with his third novel. In The Ask, Milo Burke is a not-very-lovable loser (think Paul Giamatti playing him in the movie, and you'll get the idea), who's approaching middle age with nothing much to show for it but a bachelor's degree, a failed career as an artist, and a crummy job as a development officer at Mediocre University in New York City. Unfortunately for Milo, he's never quite perfected the art of The Ask -- the delicate process of cultivating potential donors for large sums of money. Even more unfortunately, Milo loses his temper with the bitchy daughter of an Ask (the word is also a noun), and his crummy job evaporates. This state of affairs doesn't help his marriage, which has stagnated into one of those where the parties can't seem to remember why they got together in the first place.

Lipsyte spins this scenario into a comic narrative that somehow manages to incorporate internet zillionaires, meth freaks, helicopter parenting, the Iraq War, and Astoria without ever coming close to losing its footing. To make matters even better, Lipsyte is more than capable of coming up with full paragraphs that will make you do a double take just to admire them. For example, about the aftermath of a home invasion robbery:

"But no matter my conversational machinations, I knew the truth. Nobody ever mentioned it, of course. It meant not much. Physical bravery probably held the same value in our milieu as skill at parallel parking: a useful quirk. But the box score stayed in my wallet, or the wallet of my heart, so to speak, a smeared and origamied scrap to remind me how little I resembled the man I figured for the secret chief of my several selves."

And if you're looking for a redemptive narrative of dawning acceptance and enlightenment, look elsewhere, because Lipsyte doesn't make it easy on himself, or on the reader, by taking the easy way out at the end of this one. Fortunately for Lipstye's audience, neither he nor and Milo buys into the rose-colored, easy-listening pablum of works like American Beauty. This book hurts at the end, but it's worth it. ...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2012

Usually after I check out a pile of books from the library, I read the first chapter of each one to try to figure out where to start. After I read the first chapter of The Ask, I was hooked and didn't want to put it down! There were several moments in the beginning where I laughed like an idiot.

Here are a few:

"I'd ask for American flags, stick them on upside down in protest against our nation's foreign and domestic policies."
This is probably only funny because I do the exact same t ...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Kevin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-faves, funny-stuff

Sam does it again. This novel takes an unassuming (and seemingly unfunny) premise about a dude who wrangles large financial donations for a school and turns it into an outright laugh riot. Not only is this just as funny as the amazing Home Land but it also showcases Lipsyte's ramped-up, amped-up ability to deliver killer sentence after killer sentence. This might turn out to be my fave of 2010. Yeah--I'm already saying it.

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Jul 30, 2011 V. rated it did not like it

They say an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters and an infinite amount of time will eventually reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare. In the case of this book I estimate you’d need one monkey and about six weeks.

Horribly clichéd literary American novel: set in a university, failing main character, shrewish wife having an affair, precocious child who has no love for his own father, ruminations on college days, a sense of impotence, concerns about hi ...more

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Nov 08, 2011 John Arfwedson rated it liked it

Dark, darker, darkest. The attitude/voice/style here are blacker than the blackest coal mine but not only have all the canaries died...they never existed.
Milo Burke, whose job is to get rich people to donate money to a third rate New York university, is fired and then temporarily "rehired" because of his long-ago college friendship with a megawealthy guy who's thinking of giving. It's "the ask" versus "the give", but of course never that simple.
Lipsyte is witheringly whipsmart and his lash cut ...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Ellie rated it really liked it

Shelves: american, library, 2013-individualchallenge, fiction

The Ask by Sam Lipsyte is a book that demands to be read twice. So I probably shouldn't review it after reading it only once. I really feel that in order to feel like I read the book at all, I should read it again.

Nevertheless, the general sense of it is clear. Milo Burke is a fund-raiser (one who gets "the ask"-money, favors, etc. from potential donors) who loses it with a donor and so loses his job. He drifts free-fall in an ironical haze alongside his 4 year old son Bernie and adulterous wi ...more

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Jun 11, 2012 TJWphd rated it did not like it

I'll let this book speak for itself (pp. 228-9):

I came to with Vargina leaning over me, her breasts brushing up against my chest.

"I'm sorry I undress you with my eyes," I said.

"It's okay, Milo. Just breathe."

"I do a lot worse with my eyes. Am I the only one?"

"Of course not, Milo. You just lack subtlety. But breathe now."

"Subtlety," I said.

"Breathe."

"I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to slid ...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Judith rated it liked it

I read this book because one of my heroes (Michael J. Fox) praised it, and then I read a positive book review in the NYT. At first I found it laugh-out-loud funny, but after I got used to the author's style, I felt like I was stuck at a cocktail party with a drunken bore. The narrator sort of reminded me of Dennis Miller because so much of the book's humor was based on "rants" and that is funny for awhile, but it does get old.

The story is based on the premise of a guy employed at a s ...more

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May 10, 2010 Rachel rated it did not like it

This book reminded me of that Dorothy Parker quote, (I'm paraphrasing here): "There is a helluva lot of difference between wit and wise-cracking; wit has some truth to it but wise-cracking is just calisthenics with words." I felt that way about this book. Mr. Lipsyte is a clever writer, but I felt like he was more concerned with me knowing that than telling a story. The main character is so consumed with self loathing that it's difficult to muster any sort of sympathy or understanding for how he ...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Lauren rated it it was ok

I picked up The Ask because a) it is a NYT bestseller, b) I enjoyed Lipsyte's last book Home Land, and c) because it has a very long and compelling blurb list on the back of the book. I would now like to ask said blurb authors the following questions:

1) Do you typically enjoy books with completely unlikeable protagonists?

2) Do you find repeated, somewhat degrading sexual fantasies about co-workers/friends/strangers interesting?

...more

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Aug 11, 2019 Aisling rated it really liked it

Not for everyone but a great read. Lipsyte's writing is a joy to read; rich and satisfying, fresh and funny. The plot is good, too, but the ending fell flat for me. Maybe the ending was realistic but in a highly unrealistic book it seemed disappointing. Milo is a sad kind of everyman/shlub who is presented with an opportunity for greatness but of course there is a catch. The genius of this book is the language and phrasing--you'll enjoy it tremendously if you can avoid caring about anyone in the ...more

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Jan 13, 2015 Ian Belknap rated it really liked it

You know that thing about the frog and the pot of boiling water - that if you put the frof in the pot and heat it slowly, it doesn't notice what's happening and gets boiled alive (vs. frog that will hop out when dropped into already boiling water)?

I feel like the satirist - the real satirist, the deep satirist - is that contrary frog that NOTICES the gradual rise in temperature, and CHOOSES still to stay in the pot. That's how Lipsyte strikes me, here - he is willing to sacrifice his ...more

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Jul 20, 2019 Ericka Clouther rated it liked it

Shelves: own-fiction, 0-own, read-kevin, fiction, humor, 3-5, own-read, author-male, book-club-kevin, 24in48

The beginning was really funny (and sad) but after about two thirds through I got tired of the characters not developing and their situation devolving. Lipsyte is very intelligent and witty, and kudos to you if you get all his jokes. I’m sure so many of his jokes went right over my head, but oh boy will you feel full of yourself when you get some of them. Ha! Ultimately, I thought Don, a minor character, was the most interesting, though I didn’t like the direction his story took. The plot is mos ...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Julie rated it did not like it

This book was so self-conscious and over-trying to be clever it was hard to care about the characters. It just felt hipper than thou. Every internal character thought was a reference and/or rant. There was no insight. There were a few sparks of human feeling within interactions between the main character and his son, but these were few & far between. Would not recommend reading this unless you want to be clobbered over the head by the author's ironic-bitter-weary main characters that have li ...more

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Mar 30, 2010 Kathrina rated it it was ok

Shelves: american-fiction

Clever, sometimes too clever, in love with hating himself (author and narrator), and soooo self-absorbed. A product of his generation, I suppose, but I find it hard to care. Lipsyte's dialogues are fantastic, but then comes the inner dialogue that leaves a bile-y taste in my mouth. He's a shit, I'm a shit, we're all destroying each other. We live miserably ever after. Eh.

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Feb 03, 2010 Ryan Chapman rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I just recommend watching the author read. It perfectly captures how fucking absurd and hilarious this book is.

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May 09, 2010 Todd N rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle

This book proves that my ability to absorb negativity is still as great as ever. I bought it on the strength of its mention in a NYTimes article about Gen X reaching mid-life crisis age.

This was also an experiment in reading using the iBooks app on my iPad. My observations:
- The iPad is just heavy enough that it's hard to read comfortably lying down.
- I felt a tingling in my left arm after holding the iPad for a while. I should exercise more.
- Adjusting the scree This book proves that my ability to absorb negativity is still as great as ever. I bought it on the strength of its mention in a NYTimes article about Gen X reaching mid-life crisis age.

This was also an experiment in reading using the iBooks app on my iPad. My observations:
- The iPad is just heavy enough that it's hard to read comfortably lying down.
- I felt a tingling in my left arm after holding the iPad for a while. I should exercise more.
- Adjusting the screen brightness is very handy
- Around 2/3rds the way through the book the iPad's charge ran out, so I was tethered to my bed where the charger is for the rest of it.
- The highlighting/bookmarking thingie looks like a real highlighter. I think I even noticed it change color as the ink "dried" but that could have been a side effect of looking at a lit screen for hours.
- The dictionary look up is quick and handy.
- I feel the strange italic script used in places in the iBook app is a middlebrow affectation.
- There is too much meta information on the screen showing what page I was on and how far through the book. Half way through the book I realized I could turn off the distracting book controls.
- It's very distracting when your "book" alerts you to new mail and tempts you with Facebook and Twitter or a game of Solitaire. So unless you are really into it or have just taken some ADD medication, it's easy to drift away to some higher bandwidth form of entertainment..
- I think the text is brown-ish instead of black like those weird sepia-inked editions of the classics I find at used book stores sometimes.
- The Kindle and iBook prices are the same and less than half the hard cover price.

Anyway, about the book itself. It's another one of those books with a thoroughly dislikable protagonist and a plot that only exists enough to hang one-liners or extended riffs on. Since the one-liners and riffs are so damned clever I wish I'd come up with them I didn't mind so much.

Back in the olden days I think novels were supposed to have characters readers could identify with, but now (maybe since Confederacy of Dunces maybe?) it's enough to have a character who exists in a cartoony version of the target demo's life and who is unburdened by the need to be either liked or self-aware.

The big thing with this book is that the character hasn't developed much beyond his college mindset, so the fun comes when he bumps up against archetypes like (1) the morally ambiguous Internet zillionaire, (2) the Gen-Y temp who spouts cultural references, (3) assorted successful grown-up posers, (4) a Gulf War vet as proxy for "real life." So it exists in a space somewhere between Encino Man and Hot Tub Time Machine.

After a while the negativity wore on me. The jokes are hilarious but the level of self-pity required for a character to utter them is almost too much.

I can think of three people I would recommend this book too, and they will know who they are. The rest of you won't be able to handle it. ...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Martin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012books

I would classify this book more as a "howl" than a novel; it's all riff and rant over plot and character. The writing is terribly funny, and it averages about ten wonderful, acerbic observations per page. But the whole thing barely hangs together -- all the riffing and ranting starts to feel one-note after awhile, and then awhile after THAT it just becomes draining.

It's entirely possible that somewhere along the last few years of my life I've stopped enjoying these hilarious, scabrou I would classify this book more as a "howl" than a novel; it's all riff and rant over plot and character. The writing is terribly funny, and it averages about ten wonderful, acerbic observations per page. But the whole thing barely hangs together -- all the riffing and ranting starts to feel one-note after awhile, and then awhile after THAT it just becomes draining.

It's entirely possible that somewhere along the last few years of my life I've stopped enjoying these hilarious, scabrous novels. All the modern-day angst either hits too close to home, or doesn't offer any relief from the angst of modern-day life, or both, or neither. Whatever it may be, I found myself both enjoying and struggling to get through this book. I borrowed Dave Eggers' new novel, "A Hologram for the King," from the library sometime in the past few months and got through about fifteen pages chock full of of fatherly concerns, money fears, and tragic insecurity before I had to bail out. "The Ask" was just funny enough to keep me engaged, even as it started taking an emotional toll and became more difficult to get through.

I consider there to be a fine line between instructive, humorous sadness and unadulterated misery. I think about movies like "Meet the Parents" or any movie where a hapless protagonist gets dragged lower and lower and degraded further and further before finally hitting rock bottom, and how much I hate movies like that. There's something cruel and brutish and NOT instructive about them. Now, it's obviously a horrendous insult to even mention this generally excellent novel in the same breath as such comedy-drek; it's unwarranted and unfair. Yet something about this primal scream of a novel leaves me wanting more. I'm not sure I can even articulate it other than to say it's just not enough for a novel to point out all the nasty features of modern-day life. Even if it's all pointed out in an impressive symphonic maelstrom of jokes...so what? What else? Does laughing purge the pain? Is laughing at something enough? I used to think so. Now I'm not so sure.

I wonder if the characters had felt more human/fully realized/sympathetic, or if more of a plot had existed, or if Sam Lipsyte had offered some comfort mixed in with his coal-black view of the world -- I wonder if any of these things would have helped me love this book. Or whether I simply don't have the constitution for such acid anymore. I'd hate to think I'm becoming a doughy dad that doesn't like to read about sadness or Juvenalian satire, laugh-out-loud funny or not. So for now I will choose to think that I haven't changed, but rather that this book's heart was just slightly too coal-black. I guess time will tell whether it's the book...or me. ...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Bennett Gavrish rated it did not like it

Grade: F

L/C Ratio: 65/35
(This means I estimate the author devoted 65% of his effort to creating a literary work of art and 35% of his effort to creating a commercial bestseller.)

Thematic Breakdown:
30% - Collapse of American life
20% - Failing relationships
15% - Parenthood
15% - Comedy
10% - Office politics
10% - Visual arts

I can't remember ever being this frustrated with a novel. The opening chapters of The Ask had me laughing ...more

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May 15, 2010 Llopin rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2010

*shrug*

Disappointing. Unfunny. Self-indulgent.

Archetypal middle age crisis story ["what does it all mean?" phase:] flourished with a tedious plot, irritating characters and an annoyingly clever attitude. For some reason I didn't find this as decadent as some say, then of course I couldn't possibly take it much seriously. And not as humorous as it is advertised: didn't laugh once. This is not satire. Look elsewhere.

A mildly satisfying collection of dialogues, w ...more

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About Sam Lipsyte

Sam Lipsyte

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Sam Lipsyte was born in 1968. He is the author of the story collection Venus Drive (named one of the top twenty-five book of its year by the Village Voice Supplement) and the novels The Subject of Steve and Home Land, winner of the Believer Book Award. Lipsyte teaches at Columbia Universitys School of The Arts and is a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow. He lives in Manhattan.