Customer Reviews

Apathy and Other Small Victories

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I can't express how funny this book is. It satirizes that 95% of the world that makes your life more miserable with each passing minute. The breakup scene beginning on page 172 makes me so happy that I want to hang it on my wall. His ex-girlfriend tries to hurt him with shallow pop psychology insults and he mocks her so slyly and satisfyingly that I cheered. Every page contains multiple out loud laughs.

It's a difficult book to describe but an easy one to read and enjoy.

I thought this book was ridiculously funny. Originally, I only bought this because Max Barry said to (I'm a sucker for a great marketing scheme), but I have been euphoric to find that this was a smart and funny story that had me crying from laughing so hard. Quite possibly one of the funniest books I have read today.

... in the best way possible.

I compulsively read sections of it out loud to anyone who will listen.

I also highly encouraged a crowded room of librarians to buy it and read it out loud to their patrons.

I love it when something amazing is not critically acclaimed and essentially ignored. Doesn't it seep credibility? I've read others' reviews of this and I am wondering why no one has hit on the obvious: this is our generation's foul-mouthed Holden Caulfield.
Oh my goodness the story is not perfect- duh - it's not supposed to be. We don't get completely developed characters -duh - we are not supposed to. We don't know why Shane has hit this point in his life- get real...we aren't supposed to. What happened to symbolism and thought and stretching our minds? We are supposed to absorb the prose and imagine and work through and enjoy this.
Wow- when was the last time we read something, not for the story, but just for the words? Not to skim for the action but to sip on each sentence like a fine wine? No, not Salinger but maybe Salinger mixed with a bit of ourselves.
Critics go back to your bestsellers---I prefer something that makes me think AND laugh.

Like others here, I think several parts of the book are read-aloud funny. The funny parts, however, are towards the beginning where we are getting accustomed to Shane's take on life and people. As the book progresses, what makes Shane's inner dialogue funny ends up making it sad and kind of pathetic. The murder mystery driving most of the book was wrapped up in two pages and seriously, what was the deal with the salt shakers? I kept expecting some explanation for his compulsion, some glowing revelation, but none came.

I'd really give this book 3.5 stars. Three isn't giving it enough credit, while four is too much. I really enjoyed the book overall, especially the first half, and I think it is a great debut. I will definitely pick up the author's next book based on this one and I recommend it to anyone that, like the jacket says, liked Office Space.

I am of two minds on this book. The dark and edgy part of it was just OK for me. A lot of it reminded me of Choke by Chuck Palahnuik, a book I loved, however, those parts in this book didn't really work for me.

However, the parts in this book that are funny are really THAT funny and worth both the read and the cover price. The birthday scene was absolutely hilarious. I can't wait to share that part with others.

This is a great book. The story is put together as you experience the protagonist's attitude towards life. This main character, Shane, is refreshingly honest. The author condenses Shane's views on life into great statements, musings, descriptions, and actions. There are interesting characters and plotlines. I laughed aloud often while reading this book, & I couldn't put it down until I finished it.

Of the many books I've read in the past several years, this has got to be one of the best. The back of the novel says all you need to know - not much. Just follow along and laugh out loud at the random hilarity of it all. If someone asks you why you just laughed while reading this book, not even rereading the one sentence could help them understand what the hell is going on. There is so much comedy in every paragraph...well, it just doesn't seem possible. While you may rarely find a complete sentence, Neilan's metaphors and syntax only contribute to Shane's character, which never, never, varies. Like the protagonist in The Stranger (worst book ever), Shane doesn't care about much of anything; however, his outlook on life does nothing but add to the witticism and overall awesomeness that is this book.
To conclude, if you want an uplifting book, read it; if you want a depressing book, read it. If you want a book that has both with wit, grit, and much much more...Read it. Read it now.

The promo tag on the jacket is eerily accurate--if you like Office Space, Bukowski, or A Confederacy of Dunces, you'll probably enjoy this. The book is totally reliant on the poisonously funny black humor of the narrator, but that's okay. It's not a long enough book to need more than one brilliant element. And hey, it's a first novel. I can't wait for another one.

Apathy and Other Small Victories rests squarely within a genre I call Slacker-Lit. These books are populated by lazy, cynical, self-loathing protagonists whose role in life is simply to be as self absorbed and unproductive as is humanly possible. Usually there isn't even a real story--the book is one long, interminable soliloquy of chaotic misery.

Enter into the fray Paul Neilan who has written what may well be the ultimate slacker book. True, this is tantamount to damning with faint praise and placing this text atop and almost inverted pyramid of literature--to use that word loosely.

However, this effort is wildly--if incoherently imaginative, well written and very, very funny. There is even a discernable story thread of sorts ranged around the death of one of the characters and the suspicions the police have to about Shane--the main character--being a murderer.

The book suffers many of the inherent flaws of the Slacker Novel--the characters are little more than caricatures, there is little to no action of any sort, no one in the book is likeable and self-loathing is interesting for only so long.

Shane gets you through it. At least he's an introspective and thoughtful self-loather. His congenital sense of confusion and consternation fuels much of the humor. And, while goal-less, he's not tragically antisocial.

Finally, the book is funny--very, very funny. Shane's world view and his sense of humor are almost--but not quite enough--to get you to consider the notion that this genre might theoretically be capable of producing an actual novel.

But, hey, at least Neilan came close.