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“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
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“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
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“[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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“[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
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“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)
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“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
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“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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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Utterly compelling. . . . Ferris brilliantly channels the suburban angst of Yates and Cheever for the new millenium.
— Booklist (starred review)
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Audacious, risky, and powerfully bleak, with the author's unflinching artistry its saving grace.
— Kirkus (Starred Review)
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Accomplished and daring.
— Tod Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
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Spellbinding....The Unnamed unfolds in a hushed, shadowed dimension located somewhere between myth and a David Mamet play.
— Laura Miller, Salon.com
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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
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An astonishing and compelling novel.
— VeryShortList.com