To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris audiobook

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: A Novel

By Joshua Ferris
Read by Campbell Scott

Little, Brown & Company 9780316033978
9.81 Hours • Unabridged
Format : Digital Download (In Stock)
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    ISBN: 9781478953036

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this big, brilliant, profoundly observed novel by National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris explores the absurdities of modern life and one man's search for meaning. Paul O'Rourke is a man made of contradictions: he loves the world, but doesn't know how to live in it. He's a Luddite addicted to his iPhone, a dentist with a nicotine habit, a rabid Red Sox fan devastated by their victories, and an atheist not quite willing to let go of God. Then someone begins to impersonate Paul online, and he watches in horror as a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account are created in his name. What begins as an outrageous violation of his privacy soon becomes something more soul-frightening: the possibility that the online "Paul" might be a better version of the real thing. As Paul's quest to learn why his identity has been stolen deepens, he is forced to confront his troubled past and his uncertain future in a life disturbingly split between the real and the virtual. At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is a deeply moving and constantly surprising tour de force.

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Summary

Summary

A New York Times Editor’s Choice

Shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize

A BookPage Best Book of 2014

An Amazon Best Book of the Month for May 2014

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this big, brilliant, profoundly observed novel by National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris explores the absurdities of modern life and one man's search for meaning.

Paul O'Rourke is a man made of contradictions: he loves the world, but doesn't know how to live in it. He's a Luddite addicted to his iPhone, a dentist with a nicotine habit, a rabid Red Sox fan devastated by their victories, and an atheist not quite willing to let go of God.

Then someone begins to impersonate Paul online, and he watches in horror as a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account are created in his name. What begins as an outrageous violation of his privacy soon becomes something more soul-frightening: the possibility that the online "Paul" might be a better version of the real thing.

As Paul's quest to learn why his identity has been stolen deepens, he is forced to confront his troubled past and his uncertain future in a life disturbingly split between the real and the virtual.

At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is a deeply moving and constantly surprising tour de force.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is beautifully written. It’s also funny, thought-provoking, and touching. One hesitates to call it the Catch-22 of dentistry, but it’s sort of in that ballpark.” —Stephen King
“Patient readers will find that when the author pulls the story from out of the woods, the things Ferris has to say about humanity are curiously and devastatingly observed.” —Amazon.com, editorial review
“[Ferris] shrewdly stages a kind of theological symposium in [an] uncomfortably intimate place, conducted halfway between levity and overeager sincerity... It's a pleasure watching this young writer confidently range from the registers of broad punchline comedy to genuine spiritual depth. The complementary notes of absurdity, alienation, and longing read like Kurt Vonnegut or Joseph Heller customized for the twenty-first century.” —Wall Street Journal
“The protagonist’s sharp inner dialogues are laugh-out-loud hilarious, combining Woody Allen’s New York nihilism with an Ivy League vocabulary…Ferris’ unique voice shines.” —Booklist
“Narrator Campbell Scott’s understated performance is a perfect match for the protagonist of this introspective novel…Scott’s subtle inflections reflect O’Rourke’s narrow emotional range, bringing listeners along as the dentist’s initial discomfort at his stolen identity slowly morphs into curiosity about why he’s become a target…Listeners will appreciate Scott’s skill at transitioning between conversation, thoughts, and religious texts.” —AudioFile
“Enjoy the first great novel about social-media identity theft…It’s an atheist’s pilgrimage in search not of God but of community …O’Rourke’s search feels genuine, funny, tragic, and never dull.” —GQ
“The author has proved his astonishing ability to spin gold from ordinary air…Ferris’ third novel falls somewhere between the voice-driven power of the first [novel] and the idea-driven metaphor of the second…[He] remains as brave and adept as any writer out there.” —New York Times Book Review
“Brilliant...Ferris has managed to blend the clever satire of his first book...with the grinding despair of his second…The result is a witty story. At his best, which is most of the time, Ferris spins Paul's observations and reflections into passages of flashing comedy that sound like a stand-up theologian suffering a nervous breakdown.” —Washington Post
“Ferris’ trademark blend of dark satire and ominous absurdity suits his subject, and his focus on one character allows him to perform a psychological excavation of his subject in conjunction with his examination of modern life...The result is a stimulating, bittersweet read.” —Huffington Post
“A novel that raises questions about meaning and belonging, even if the only answer is that we will never know...This is the novel’s peculiar brilliance, to uncover its existential stakes in the most mundane tasks...[a] curiously provocative novel.” —Los Angeles Times
“An engrossing and hilariously bleak novel…This splintering of the self hasn’t been performed in fiction so neatly since Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock.” —Boston Globe
“[An] alternately sad and hilarious new book...Showcases the wit, intelligence, and keen eye for workplace absurdity…A welcome outlet for Ferris’ enormous virtuosity as a philosopher and storyteller. Ferris raises profound questions about the role of faith, not just in belonging, but in living.” —Newsday
“A bizarre case of identity theft forces a dentist to question his beliefs in this funny, thought-provoking return to form by Ferris…Smart, sad, hilarious, and eloquent, this shows a writer at the top of his game and surpassing the promise of his celebrated debut.” —Kirkus Review (starred review)
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is beautifully written. It's also funny, thought-provoking, and touching. One hesitates to call it the Catch-22 of dentistry, but it's sort of in that ballpark. Some books simply carry you along on the strength and energy of the author's invention and unique view of the world. This is one of those books. —Stephen King
This is one of the funniest, saddest, sweetest novels I've read since Then We Came to the End. When historians try to understand our strange, contradictory era, they would be wise to consult To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. It captures what it is to be alive in early 21st-century America like nothing else I've read. —Anthony Marra, author of New York Times bestseller A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
With almost Pynchon-esque complexity, Ferris melds conspiracy and questions of faith in an entertaining way...Full of life's rough edges, the book resists a neat conclusion, favoring instead a simple scene that is comic perfection... Smart, sad, hilarious and eloquent, this shows a writer at the top of his game and surpassing the promise of his celebrated debut. —Kirkus (Starred Review)
A "wry, intelligent novel that adroitly navigates the borderland between the demands of faith and the persistence of doubt...In seizing upon both the transitory oddities of contemporary life and our enduring search for meaning, Joshua Ferris has created a winning modern parable...He's a gifted satirist with a tender heart, and if he continues to find targets as worthy as the ones he skewers here, his work should amuse and enlighten us for many years to come. —Shelf Awareness
A stunner, an unnerving portrait of a man stripped of civilization's defenses. Ferris's prose is brash, extravagant, and, near the end, chillingly beautiful. —The New Yorker
A portrait of a couple locked in an extreme version of a familiar conflict--the desire to stay together versus an inexplicable yearning to walk away. —O, The Oprah Magazine
Utterly compelling. . . . Ferris brilliantly channels the suburban angst of Yates and Cheever for the new millenium. —Booklist (starred review)
Audacious, risky, and powerfully bleak, with the author's unflinching artistry its saving grace. —Kirkus (Starred Review)
Accomplished and daring. —Tod Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
Spellbinding....The Unnamed unfolds in a hushed, shadowed dimension located somewhere between myth and a David Mamet play. —Laura Miller, Salon.com
Arresting, ground-shifting, beautiful and tragic. This is the book a new generation of writers will answer to. No one in America writes like this. —Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook
An astonishing and compelling novel. —VeryShortList.com

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Author

Author Bio: Joshua Ferris

Author Bio: Joshua Ferris

Joshua Ferris is the author of three previous novels, Then We Came to the End, The Unnamed, and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour and a collection of stories, The Dinner Party. He was a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was named one of the New Yorker's “20 Under 40” writers in 2010. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour won the Dylan Thomas Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His short stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta, and Best American Short Stories. He lives in New York.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download
Category: Fiction/Literary
Runtime: 9.81
Audience: Adult
Language: English

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