Bored to Death: A Noir-otic Story

by Jonathan Ames

The basis for the HBO® Original Series starring Jason Schwartzman ( Rushmore ), Zach Galifianakis ( The Hangover ), and Ted Danson, Bored to Death is a Raymond Chandleresque tale of a struggling Brooklyn writer—curiously named Jonathan Ames—who, in a moment of odd whimsy and boredom, becomes a private detective after spontaneously posting an ad on craigslist. As a rank amateur who just thinks he can help, this Ames alter ego quickly becomes embroiled in the search for a missing NYU coed. He moves from one scrape to the next, all while trying to escape a life of periodic alcoholism, dead-end relationships, writer’s block, and hours of Internet backgammon. Bored to Death was originally published in McSweeney’s Issue 24 and is the centerpiece of Ames’s collection of essays and fiction, The Double Life Is Twice as Good .

Bored to Death Artwork © 2009 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Crime, Mystery, Humor, Detective

38 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jonathan Ames is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs, and is the creator of two television series, Bored to Death (HBO) and Blunt Talk (STARZ). In the late '90s and early 2000s, he was a columnist for the New York Press for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. He also has a long-time interest in boxing, appearing occasionally in the ring as "The Herring Wonder".
Two of his novels have been adapted into films: The Extra Man in 2010, and You Were Never Really Here in 2017. Ames was a co-screenwriter of the former and an executive producer of the latter.

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reread. The blurb and cover had me intrigued to read it again to see if I liked it more. It's more of lukewarm feelings. It was ok but not enough pages, plot or whatnot to get into it or get attached to anything

[Nazanin · Rating 1 out of 5]

چرا داستان کاراگاهی باید پایان باز داشته باشه ؟!

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always been weird when I go back and read the source material for a television show or movie that I've already made an attachment too. With AMC's adaptation of the Walking Dead I'd already been a fan from the very beginning of the comic so I knew that the creative team making the show would take some creative liberties. But, it's a bit like working backwards going to the source materiel after already becoming attached to work that has been adapted. I knew that Jonathan Ames' Bored to Death short story would be different but this short is a one-eighty from the HBO series. Which isn't a bad thing.

The book definitely works best how the book reads. Noir is supposed to the lone gun or at least told from the narrators perspective and although funny and clever the ensemble cast of characters and their intertwining relationship works best on screen. The lone voice of Bored to Death Jonathon Ames is perfect for the story.

If you're a fan of the show you'll notice similarities between the story and the show but the similarities are more or less like a shadow cast over the finished work. You'll see the majority of them in the pilot episode.

If you're a huge fan of Bored to Death the show check this book out but please buy The Double Life is Twice as Good by Johnathan Ames don't buy this book unless your a collector (for some reason) or you only want this story. Bored to Death is only thirty pages at 10 bucks and The Double Life is Twice as Good which contains the Bored to Death story is 10 bucks too (on amazon) and you get more Ames and more book.

[Umi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Ames once yelled at my best friend and me in the line for ice cream at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and then as we were enjoying our ice cream and chatting with Angelyne he just sat at one of the picnic tables by himself and sulked and left after like five minutes.

Anyway I loved this show when it was on because I loved Schwartzi so after that and the ice cream thing my best friend found this at the book store where she works and gave it to me. I give it five stars for letting me tell that anecdote, four stars for the photo on the cover, and three stars for the story, which was actually better than I expected but also it was kind of from the golden age of mcsweeneys so I don't know why I expected less. Kinda wish I'd read this guy in high school when I had more interest in reading male authors, but then I guess I would have had to have made conversation with him and not just let him pout.

[Ako31 · Rating 3 out of 5]

clever and funny but after awhile it deteriorates into not very attractive porno of a sort. when he sticks to more tasteful topics he is pretty hysterical.

[Sidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one awesome read.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good homage to Chandler, Goodis and some other third noir writer.

Ended a little too abruptly.

[Graham Techler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve watched and rewatched the show more times than I can count, but I went in with the expectation that this would have a different vibe. Indeed, it’s a lot darker and less whimsical, and every change made to this for the pilot is an improvement. That said, it is an interesting dry run for the style and tone he’d use much later for the Happy Doll books—shaggy dog and neurotic (“Noir-otic” is maybe a little much) but with the capacity to go to a very real and upsetting place. It will tide me over until the next Doll book and was also the perfect gym-length audiobook, can’t complain.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the HBO series "Bored to Death" then you'll recognise much of this story's contents in the very first episode of the series where Jonathan posts an ad on Craigslist for his services as an unlicenced Private Detective leading to his first case of a missing girl. Where this story diverges from the episode is that the show is much less dark and serious and more playful - here Ames goes very dark and instead of going for comedy, instead goes for death and murder. Some of it funny but with a kind of gallows humour to it. Also there is no Ray and George in the story, they were included in the TV show to flesh out the world in a way this 30 page story didn't.

Overall, it is a quick read but an enjoyable one. Ames writes clearly and in the charming, eloquent way that Jason Schwartzman's character speaks in on the TV show and keeps the story chugging along at a brisk pace. I'd suggest buying "The Double Life is Twice as Good" just because you get more for your money than this slim offering, but as a review of the story "Bored to Death", it's anything but boring.

[J.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

More or less matches the plot of the pilot episode of the TV show with a few details about the narrator changed, but takes a wildly different direction once he gets to the hotel room...

Upon finishing the short story I had this strange sense of deja vu -- and not just because I've recently been binging on the TV show. Dug through my bookshelf and found issue 24 of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern that I originally read "Bored to Death" in back in 2007. I remember enjoying it then too.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, nothing like the TV series at all!

[Suzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better at the beginning (during the bumbling detection) than at the end (when the 'action' happens). Overall, OK.

[Babs]

FALSE

[Janos Varga]

This is great!