Attention. Deficit. Disorder.: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I was at Horvak's apartment in the Haight, a couple of blocks from Golden Gate Park, on Waller..." (more)
Key Phrases: accidental comedy, oxygen issue, open playa, Uncle Brian, New York, Burning Man (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of Listi's debut diagnoses the novel's malady: a jangly, unfocused plot that caroms off pop cultural flotsam in an attempt to evoke the potpourri of postmodern existence. This lurching ride begins as 20-something Wayne Fencer, a defeated day-trader and idling pizza delivery boy with a B.F.A. in avant-garde filmmaking, attends the funeral of an ex-girlfriend in San Francisco who has committed suicide. Wayne can find few words of condolence and instead strafes the reader with a fusillade of facts on suicide, death and mourning, a distancing device that Listi relies on throughout the novel. The news that Wayne's ex aborted his child in college sends the narrative machinery sputtering to life, with Listi shuttling his hero across the country (after jaunts to Mexico and Cuba) in a neo-beatnik search for meaning. Wayne's encounters trigger all manner of intrusive digression, from boldface definitions of key words (e.g. "pheramone," "megalopolis," "absinthe") to bulky movie plot summaries that detract from the novel's story. With this Trivial Pursuit–like tic, Listi aims to capture the fragmented worldview of a coolly detached generation, but a few wedges are missing. (Feb.)
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Review

"As its title seemed to demand, I found myself skipping about Brad Listi's novel, yanked further in by each random, episodic jewel. They were quirky, evocative, and clever...something genuinely different, and defiantly genuine. Then, reading from start to finish, an entirely other experience emerged: a cohesive, poignant story, subsuming warmth and depth, and -- again -- that unflinching honesty. Overall, it seems I got a lot more than I bargained for. A perfect book about what we and the world are becoming."

-- Jim Carroll

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment (January 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416912304
• ISBN-13: 978-1416912309
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,015,760 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seriously?, June 22, 2007

By	J. Jarrett "PhD. Doctoral Student" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Attention. Deficit. Disorder.: A Novel (Paperback)

I love a great book, but you can't seriously say this is one of those. Short chapters about absolutely nothing. If he's trying to recapture The Catcher In the Rye, or another coming of age classic, then he needs to get a new idea... Thankfully I didn't buy this book, but instead it was passed out a Beauty Fair for free. I guess that's one way for people to read your book.

If you are looking for a great read that captures your attention the whole time, then skip this one. I think I am finally understanding the title after all...since I had ADD reading this silly book. There's better books to spend your time with.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unconventional, moving tale, November 14, 2007

By	Kenneth Simon (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Attention. Deficit. Disorder.: A Novel (Paperback)

Wow. I had put off reading this book because of the decidedly mixed reviews it had received. I wish I hadn't waited. I just tore through this book in a few hours' time, and when I reached the end, it left me with that weird teary feeling that comes on when I really connect with a story.

The narrator of this book, Wayne, finds out that his ex-girlfriend has committed suicide. Over the course of the book, every decision he makes, each path he carves out is somehow colored by the horrible news he has received.

This is, in some sense, a road novel combined with A. J. Jacob's The Know-It-All, which, coincidentally, I just finished reading a couple of weeks ago. Wayne's narrative is populated with definitions of words and the history of places, inventions and ideas. It is not clear as you read that these devices are directly tied to the narrative. I understand that some readers become impatient with this. I think perhaps The Know-It-All conditioned me for this -- but for whatever reason, it worked for me.

By the end, I understood exactly what why these passages and digressions were there, and when I soaked up the last word of the last page, I experienced a moment of clarity about the narrator and his trajectory that startled me.

This review may sound fairly vague, but I'd hate to get more specific about the "message" of this book and color your own interpretation or ruin your own experience reading it. I am guessing that this is the kind of book that will mean different things to different people, and resonate with their own life experiences in different ways.

I recommend it to all, especially those who feel they can adapt to a somewhat experimental narrative form. I also wonder if this book will resonate more with men than women, but obviously I can't say...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Start, February 5, 2006

By	Braun Schweiger (LA, CA) - See all my reviews

Rapturous novel for a first time scribe. Wayne is an endearing, aloof character that is hard not to like. I look forward to future works from Mr. Listi.