What do you think?
Rate this book
The Catastrophist
Meet Daniel art historian, academic star, devoted husband, and total basket case. Although Daniel has known nothing but success, he’s convinced the future promises nothing but disaster. When his wife, known simply as R., presents him with a tiny, size-XXS Yale sweatshirt, Daniel is seized by the impulse to bolt; the specter of imminent fatherhood sends him into a full-blown existential crisis. Soon this well-intentioned young professor finds himself plotting bigamy, lying about his past, imagining his pregnant wife in the arms of an androgynous grad student, and explaining to the dean his obscene e-mail to the lead in a student production of Miss Julie.
From an idyllic New England campus to the rarefied art worlds of Berlin and London, The Catastrophist charts the rise and fall and partial rebound of an ambivalent but endearing Everyman and heralds the appearance of a major new comedic voice in American fiction.
.
From an idyllic New England campus to the rarefied art worlds of Berlin and London, The Catastrophist charts the rise and fall and partial rebound of an ambivalent but endearing Everyman and heralds the appearance of a major new comedic voice in American fiction.
.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
3 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 29, 2012
I thought this book was funny and observant.
This is something like Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, with a few important differences. First, there's no traumatic event (i.e. war) in this narrator's past, to help us excuse and understand his borderline insane behavior. This might seem to work against the book's premise, but I didn't mind it much. It ups the comedic ante when this character is searching for something to give his life meaning and gravity, as well as making a terrible mess of things. Second, we're catching up with the character here five or ten years after we met Lucky Jim. That is, all the things Jim was obsessing about in that book, professional development, love, marriage--have already happened for this character. So, here, we have a whole new set of problems--fatherhood, boredom, etc.
I thought the whole "Art and Atrocity" part of this book was hilarious. I also LOVED that the author takes a jab at Phillip Roth for no other reason than to take a jab at Phillip Roth, and then goes back in for second shot later. Lots of laugh out loud moments here, and lots of cringing, too. And all of this in a quick pleasurable package.
This is something like Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, with a few important differences. First, there's no traumatic event (i.e. war) in this narrator's past, to help us excuse and understand his borderline insane behavior. This might seem to work against the book's premise, but I didn't mind it much. It ups the comedic ante when this character is searching for something to give his life meaning and gravity, as well as making a terrible mess of things. Second, we're catching up with the character here five or ten years after we met Lucky Jim. That is, all the things Jim was obsessing about in that book, professional development, love, marriage--have already happened for this character. So, here, we have a whole new set of problems--fatherhood, boredom, etc.
I thought the whole "Art and Atrocity" part of this book was hilarious. I also LOVED that the author takes a jab at Phillip Roth for no other reason than to take a jab at Phillip Roth, and then goes back in for second shot later. Lots of laugh out loud moments here, and lots of cringing, too. And all of this in a quick pleasurable package.
July 16, 2018
I found the relationship at the heart of this tale compelling and wrenching, as two such different people try to live as husband and wife and then as expecting parents. There is much that is funny, in a Richard Russo sort of setting, with the male professor at the small college with lots of colorful colleagues, some of whom are women with an eye for our hero, and he certainly flirts and thinks about having affairs but he never quite seals the deal. His wife on the other hand, does not seem to have infidelity pop up as a regular topic and then it happens. And she is so much more practical than he--when she thinks the time is right for then to make love she tells him to just "stick it in"--that's all the romance she attaches to love making.
It is hard for me to put my finger on why I found the plot development so well done (which the exception of one gross detail that I just wish had been left out). I guess our main hero seems to have so much going for him but can barely live his life happily when things are going well and then they don't go well he just cant get anything right. And his wife is an equally intriguing character--she seems like she understand each little nuance of her husband's soul, which isn't always an advantage.
But I like both of them.
The structure of the book was, for me, one of the highlights. From the very beginning when a train rumbles through at night we know it will come back, as it does at the very end, and that was so satisfying as a reader. By the end we understand why his life includes being woken up by a train at 3 in the morning. In fact we were told lots of things at the beginning--how his academic star would soar and quickly fade, as it does. So perhaps this is a little bit like a Greek play, in that we are told of upcoming downfall which indeed happens.
But there is hope at the end. His son is born, he and his wife are living apart, but I thought there was hope, that they will reconcile and put their newly won wisdom to work.
It is hard for me to put my finger on why I found the plot development so well done (which the exception of one gross detail that I just wish had been left out). I guess our main hero seems to have so much going for him but can barely live his life happily when things are going well and then they don't go well he just cant get anything right. And his wife is an equally intriguing character--she seems like she understand each little nuance of her husband's soul, which isn't always an advantage.
But I like both of them.
The structure of the book was, for me, one of the highlights. From the very beginning when a train rumbles through at night we know it will come back, as it does at the very end, and that was so satisfying as a reader. By the end we understand why his life includes being woken up by a train at 3 in the morning. In fact we were told lots of things at the beginning--how his academic star would soar and quickly fade, as it does. So perhaps this is a little bit like a Greek play, in that we are told of upcoming downfall which indeed happens.
But there is hope at the end. His son is born, he and his wife are living apart, but I thought there was hope, that they will reconcile and put their newly won wisdom to work.
June 10, 2017
This book was so funny! Well, ok, it was also poignant. And stressful. And perilous. And sad. And really funny! The writing was superb. Very reminiscent of the book Straight Man, my all-time favorite novel by Richard Russo. It's about a college professor awaiting tenure, who gradually attains fame and respect and even tenure, only to toss out all that good will with a seriously bad, totally self-inflicted downward spiral. Bonus points for a great book title, and a cover that I never grew tired of looking at as I opened and closed the book.
May 15, 2022
Honestly, I was bored through this book. Easily forgettable. There wasn't anything that drew me in, the characters weren't very interesting, the (what felt like) non-stop historical lectures on buildings or information that Daniel knew had me skipping multiple paragraphs as well.
September 9, 2010
Old review from 2006
Ak gave this to me for my birthday because of the hilarious cover. The author is an Amherst professor, and the book is about an almost adulterous professor at a small Massachusetts liberal arts college. Why do people take “Write what you know” so literally? It just makes the book seem pseudo-autobiographical. More later.
I’m not sure I would call this book “riotously funny” or “thought-provoking” as the dust jacket would have you believe. A professor of art makes it big, has a mid-life crisis, gradually loses connection with his wife, constantly ends up betraying her with other women while never actually consummating the affairs, and ends in catastrophe. The apparent madness white men experience when realizing they are half dead is a well-trodden trail, as is the unbearable weight of Western monogamy that fiction would have us believe leads all men and most women to temptation. I have found these things interesting in the past. I loved Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm. This book’s approach to these topics didn’t seem as appealing.
Here’s one difference: The Ice Storm depicted the social and sexual strains in what seemed like general terms. It presented a number of characters suffering and fracturing in different directions. It cast infidelity and sexual frustration among modern, American adults as a phenomenon, something affecting everyone, occurring in real time. The Catastrophist takes a different tack, recollecting events from the first person, a person who seems increasingly annoying, ineffectual, and occasionally despicable as the book progresses. Infidelity becomes a character flaw, then, the result of neuroses. I never felt the need to admit my part in this problem, because it didn’t feel like my own, which left me feeling uninvolved. The fact that he was an academic and not a suburbanite played into this as well.
I guess the proper context in which to place my impression of this novel is alongside my feelings about the novels I’ve read recently. I read this one right after David Mitchell’s Number9Dream, which I absolutely loved. Mitchell also has a tendency towards first person, internal prose, but Number9Dream was more a direct (if stylized) tap into the protagonist’s mind. The Catastrophist’s protagonist is literally telling us his story, and I constantly felt the need to judge him as a storyteller. Why is he telling us about this affair? Is he looking for pity? Disdain? Validation of his self-pity through our disdain? Number9Dream achieves a more objective first person point of view (well, more subjective really, but less apparently influenced by the author) by streaming thought directly to me. I wasn’t being told a tale, but living it alongside the “narrator.” I like that immersion. Or maybe I just liked that character more.
Which, of course, leads me to what is probably the real reason I didn’t quite care for this book: although I didn’t feel particularly involved with the main character’s problems, I found his cowardly approach to resolving or avoiding them uncomfortably familiar. When he wasn’t behaving in ways that I might, he was doing so in ways that I might some day, which is frankly pretty boring. I don’t need to read about myself. Even smarter, more accomplished versions of myself who seem irresistible to women.
Oh, that was the other thing: this book is so ridiculously, painfully male. Like some horny intellectual neurotic’s fantasy land. Cooky and attractive profs who proposition you with casual sex? Horny former students? Leggy German painters? Every woman in the book was some kind of pinup for the nice-guy dish-washing-I-love-you-for-your-mind-AND-your-boobs set. Oh! She’s quirky! Unique! Intelligent! Funny! Did I mention she’s surprisingly beautiful when she takes off her glasses? Please. Like a person is a feature set. Just because you add Sense of Humor and Good Taste in Books to Nice Rack and Great Ass doesn’t make the methodology of assessment any different. I don’t know why this bothers me. Isn’t this how everyone describes the reasons they like people? As a list of features? I know I do. The whole book just seemed so grossly . . . gendered, which again, was boring. I know the neurotic male point of view, ok? Let’s try something different.
Maybe I should just stop reading fiction.
Ak gave this to me for my birthday because of the hilarious cover. The author is an Amherst professor, and the book is about an almost adulterous professor at a small Massachusetts liberal arts college. Why do people take “Write what you know” so literally? It just makes the book seem pseudo-autobiographical. More later.
I’m not sure I would call this book “riotously funny” or “thought-provoking” as the dust jacket would have you believe. A professor of art makes it big, has a mid-life crisis, gradually loses connection with his wife, constantly ends up betraying her with other women while never actually consummating the affairs, and ends in catastrophe. The apparent madness white men experience when realizing they are half dead is a well-trodden trail, as is the unbearable weight of Western monogamy that fiction would have us believe leads all men and most women to temptation. I have found these things interesting in the past. I loved Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm. This book’s approach to these topics didn’t seem as appealing.
Here’s one difference: The Ice Storm depicted the social and sexual strains in what seemed like general terms. It presented a number of characters suffering and fracturing in different directions. It cast infidelity and sexual frustration among modern, American adults as a phenomenon, something affecting everyone, occurring in real time. The Catastrophist takes a different tack, recollecting events from the first person, a person who seems increasingly annoying, ineffectual, and occasionally despicable as the book progresses. Infidelity becomes a character flaw, then, the result of neuroses. I never felt the need to admit my part in this problem, because it didn’t feel like my own, which left me feeling uninvolved. The fact that he was an academic and not a suburbanite played into this as well.
I guess the proper context in which to place my impression of this novel is alongside my feelings about the novels I’ve read recently. I read this one right after David Mitchell’s Number9Dream, which I absolutely loved. Mitchell also has a tendency towards first person, internal prose, but Number9Dream was more a direct (if stylized) tap into the protagonist’s mind. The Catastrophist’s protagonist is literally telling us his story, and I constantly felt the need to judge him as a storyteller. Why is he telling us about this affair? Is he looking for pity? Disdain? Validation of his self-pity through our disdain? Number9Dream achieves a more objective first person point of view (well, more subjective really, but less apparently influenced by the author) by streaming thought directly to me. I wasn’t being told a tale, but living it alongside the “narrator.” I like that immersion. Or maybe I just liked that character more.
Which, of course, leads me to what is probably the real reason I didn’t quite care for this book: although I didn’t feel particularly involved with the main character’s problems, I found his cowardly approach to resolving or avoiding them uncomfortably familiar. When he wasn’t behaving in ways that I might, he was doing so in ways that I might some day, which is frankly pretty boring. I don’t need to read about myself. Even smarter, more accomplished versions of myself who seem irresistible to women.
Oh, that was the other thing: this book is so ridiculously, painfully male. Like some horny intellectual neurotic’s fantasy land. Cooky and attractive profs who proposition you with casual sex? Horny former students? Leggy German painters? Every woman in the book was some kind of pinup for the nice-guy dish-washing-I-love-you-for-your-mind-AND-your-boobs set. Oh! She’s quirky! Unique! Intelligent! Funny! Did I mention she’s surprisingly beautiful when she takes off her glasses? Please. Like a person is a feature set. Just because you add Sense of Humor and Good Taste in Books to Nice Rack and Great Ass doesn’t make the methodology of assessment any different. I don’t know why this bothers me. Isn’t this how everyone describes the reasons they like people? As a list of features? I know I do. The whole book just seemed so grossly . . . gendered, which again, was boring. I know the neurotic male point of view, ok? Let’s try something different.
Maybe I should just stop reading fiction.
March 7, 2016
Daniel Wellington is an art historian and quickly rising star in his field. He has a little bit of a break with reality when his wife gets pregnant and he panics...in a BIG way. Unfortunately she miscarries and Daniel MOSTLY comes back to real life but not totally. Now he is wanting to have an affair, he is lying about his family history and having a few too many moments when he is too honest with colleagues, students, and friends. He suspects his wife of cheating on him and he is basically a complete mess.
This book is entertaining. You can see the train wreck coming. It is moving in slow motion so you aren't going to be too surprised, except by the fact that Daniel doesn't step off the track.
This book is entertaining. You can see the train wreck coming. It is moving in slow motion so you aren't going to be too surprised, except by the fact that Daniel doesn't step off the track.
December 4, 2014
I started out loving the book. It's witty, irreverent view of academia reminded me of Smiley's Moo and Russo's Straight Man, and of course, I loved the references to German cultural history and the fact that the protagonist had a Fulbright to Germany. Past midway, the novel veered toward the midlife crisis and the painfully obsessive aspects of a failing relationship. I liked the ending, and overall, the book.
August 28, 2008
A dark satirical look at marriage and academia in contemporary society. The protagonist's wild journey through life leads him into an entertaining existential crisis. Lawrence Douglas' writing style reminded me of both Philip Roth (Jewish identity issues) and Tom Wolfe (commentary on social issues). A solid debut novel by an author who I will be anxious to read again.
March 25, 2013
I HATED the first 2/3 of this book. The main character is a selfish, childish philanderer who is surrounded by amazing yet totally accomadating women. Obviously the author's delusional fantasy about what being an academic is like. The last 1/3 was actually pretty sweet and funny, but on the whole I would say don't waste your time.
April 13, 2012
I liked it, I really did. Solid enjoyment. Well-developed characters. Just--not quite sure it lived up to the promise of its title.
Marriage, career, the awkward romance of academia all pitch-perfect here. R. is a likeable lady. Daniel a sympathetic fellow. It's just. Why aren't the settings more vivid, the action more energetic?
Marriage, career, the awkward romance of academia all pitch-perfect here. R. is a likeable lady. Daniel a sympathetic fellow. It's just. Why aren't the settings more vivid, the action more energetic?
July 9, 2015
- a "darkly comic" tale of a paranoid, neurotic, future-phobic, academic (professor of Art History) who is seized by panic, and the desire to bolt, when he learns of his wife's pregnancy
- I found myself feeling sorry for the protagonist as his well-intentioned, but ultimately deranged behaviour causes his own downfall on all fronts (marital, academic, etc.)
- I found myself feeling sorry for the protagonist as his well-intentioned, but ultimately deranged behaviour causes his own downfall on all fronts (marital, academic, etc.)
March 29, 2016
Did this book get a lot of buzz and I missed it? Because I thought it was awesome. Hilarious but also sort of dark. The ending was kind of lame, but what's one page in 300?
My only caveat would be NOT to read the back. I think knowing the plot ahead of time would ruin the fun.
My only caveat would be NOT to read the back. I think knowing the plot ahead of time would ruin the fun.
April 9, 2008
It's a downer book about academic life that manages to be both spot-on at times and dead-wrong at others. Most memorable part? The one where academic publishing is likened to throwing rose petals in the Grand Canyon--beautiful and useless.
July 31, 2009
I like books like this now, about professionals, particularly professors in their 30's and their neurotic ways. It has the comforts of Edsel, Straight Man, Philip Roth books, or what little I know of Richard Ford.
September 3, 2007
the existential struggle of the everyman. often times tooooo relatable.
September 27, 2007
The woe of being a smart man with an equally smart wife. It was hard for me to give a damn about this story. There was a wit to the writing which kept me reading.
December 14, 2007
another story about neurotic academics that manages to be both both incredibly accurate and incredibly inaccurate.
June 17, 2010
You can find my review here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2008
another semi-realistic look at life....but way way more interesting than you might think....this poor guy makes a mess of everything...but you feel good reading it.
December 29, 2008
Dark, but enjoyable.
November 12, 2010
This book stressed me out, and I didn't like the characters. (Sorry Allie.)
May 6, 2012
I wish you could give half-stars. I'd give this 3 1/2. It was a sort of depressing story, I wanted to reach into the book and save the main character from himself.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews