It Feels So Good When I Stop [Hardcover]

Joe Pernice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2009

The hilarious and irreverent debut novel about a modern Everyman struggling to learn how to love, choose, and commit on his own terms, from the highly acclaimed singer and songwriter.

From the first moment he met Jocelyn, he knew he would marry her or destroy his life trying. He didn't count on being the lucky bastard that got to do both.
It's October 1996 in Cape Cod. Our hero- a narrator so ordinary that he remains nameless -is a talented but floundering musician-turnedwaiter who has hightailed it out of a volatile day-old marriage in New York and further into his own ever-deepening mess. With no job, no apartment, no wife, and a six pack of beer, he's looking for a clean slate. For years he's been dodging life's extremes, stuck somewhere between responsibility and freedom, love and obsession, obligation and desire, apathy and success. Now he's seeking sanctuary at the home that his sister abandoned, along with her marriage, so that he can sort out something in his life-what, he's not quite sure.

Looking for distraction from his memories of the hot-blooded Jocelyn, who is still refusing to return his calls, he agrees to look after his two-year-old nephew. Together, the unlikely pair catches the attention of Marie, a young woman in the neighborhood with a troubled past of her own. As they get to know each other, our hero ventures into unknown territory, where his affection for a damaged kindred spirit just might shock him awake and shake him to the core. By turns hilariously irreverent and unpredictably affecting, It Feels So Good When I Stop is a disarmingly fresh love story and coming-ofage novel that refracts with pristine clarity what it's like to grow up, and to fall and stay in love in the real world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Much like its unnamed narrator, Pernice's first novel ambles in no discernable direction, nudging up against tantalizing stories but never quite connecting. In it, the narrator retreats to a Cape Cod cabin, owned by his sister's ex-husband, after fleeing a days-old marriage. He then spends his time interacting with townsfolk; reminiscing about Jocelyn, his abandoned bride; babysitting his infant nephew; and assisting an alluring neighbor in coming to terms with her tragic past. The author, a noted musician, seeks to emphasize the ordinariness of his main character by leaving him anonymous, but the man is not ordinary at all—he is, in fact, pathologically aimless. He can never quite say why he left Jocelyn and has no idea what he hopes to accomplish in his exile; worse, there is no sense that he has any desire to find out. The main supporting characters, ex-brother-in-law James and neighbor Marie, are more compelling than the narrator, but of course their scenes are marred by the narrator's necessary presence. Pernice's easygoing prose is attractive, but the fetishizing of slackerdom is a make-or-break proposition. (Aug.)
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Review

"One can accept, reluctantly, Pernice's apparently inexhaustible ability to knock out brilliant three-minute pop songs-Just about any Pernice Brothers record contains half a dozen tunes comparable to Elvis Costello's best work. But now it turns out he can write fiction too, and so envy and bitterness become unavoidable."
-Nick Hornby, The Believer

"Observed with impeccable clarity, It Feels So Good When I Stop is a very funny, profoundly human novel, perfectly attuned to the quotidian grotesque of 21st-century America."
-William Gibson, author of Spook Country

"If Charles Bukowski had grown up in the eighties and listened to a lot of indie rock, he might have sounded a lot like Joe Pernice. It Feels So Good When I Stop is a hard-boiled slacker chronicle of heartbreak and self-renewal, as smart as it is funny, written in one of the most arresting voices I've come across in a long time."
-Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher

"A hilarious, moving and deep novel...Joe Pernice tells it true." -George Pelecanos, author of Drama City and The Night Gardener

"Quite a remarkable piece of writing. Acidic, profane and easily one of the most lethal and unrelentingly hilarious books that I have ever read."
-Jonathan Poneman, President of Sub Pop Records

"The best messed up love song you'll ever read."
-Dan Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino, creators of The Gilmore Girls

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (August 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594488746
• ISBN-13: 978-1594488740
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great First Effort, August 13, 2009

By 

Peter Arvidson (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It Feels So Good When I Stop (Hardcover)

Joe Pernice's first novel (hopefully more to follow) is an enjoyable read, interesting in many ways but particularly for those who may have grown up in the Northeast and come of age in the 80's and 90's. Though a different character, the narrator is reminiscent of the protagonist in Pernice's "Meat is Murder" novella from the 33 1/3 series (also an excellent read by the way). Two story lines in 'It Feels So Good When I Stop" flip flop between two different times in the narrator's life - his post-college years in Amherst and NYC with his girlfriend/wife and slightly later on when the narrator debunks to Cape Cod after their break up. For myself, I thought Pernice captured that time in life perfectly when one is directionless and slowly & gingerly feeling one's way along to an uncertain future. He does this with humor and characters we all could come across. I'd be interested in a followup novel to see where the main character goes in life. I recommend this book for a good read. And you might as well pick up "Meat as Murder" at the same time and get the free shipping.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Look At A Guy's Attempt To Change, August 12, 2009

By 

Lauren G - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: It Feels So Good When I Stop (Hardcover)

It Feels So Good When I Stop (from here on out IFSGWIS) is about a man at his wits end. The book starts with the marriage and separation of Jocelyn and the narrator (an Everyman type character who is never given a name). After three days of being married (and years of an on again off again relationship), he leaves, runs away for Cape Cod to live with his sister's ex-husband James. There, he experiences the daily life of an unemployed man in his twenties struggling to figure out what's next. He babysits Roy, his sister's son, and becomes incredibly attached, regardless of his desire to never have children. He meets Marie and helps her film a documentary. He makes friends with the locals and learns where he can and can't ride a bike. From the back of the book, the narrator learns "how to love, choose, and commit on his own terms."

IFSGWIS is a seemingly inconsequential book, but that's not to say I didn't like it. It shows what happens when a man loses everything and has to figure out what he wants and what's good for him. Told in modern times with flashbacks interjected, we see how the narrator got to where he was and where he might be going next. The dialogue is fast, funny, conversational and incredibly crude. It felt like I was spying on a conversation two guys were having when they were sure no women were around. Nothing was held back.

As much as I didn't want to like the narrator, I did and I'm sure it's because of Pernice's excellent writing. He was honest, was what was so endearing about him. With music being as central of a character as the narrator, the book is remniscent of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, which isn't surprising considering Pernice is quite the musician himself. Using his musical prowess, a CD will be released in conjunction with the book. According to Pernice, "Though the book is not explicitly about music, there are quite a few cover and fictional songs mentioned, so I thought it would be a cool idea for me to record some of those songs and release them, as a soundtrack album to the novel." How neat is that?

There were certain things that I really enjoyed about the book. I liked the narrator's strange relationship with Marie and how nice it was in contrast to his tumultuous one with Joclyn. Similarly, I loved the scenes with him and his nephew - they show hope for this Everyman. One scene, insignificant to the plot, cracked me up. Ricky, the narrator's former roommate, suggests that he'd look terrific with a Hitler mustache, but it's a shame that he can't grow one due to the stigma attached. "What is the point is why can't I, a decent, semi-law-abiding citizen wear a Hitler?" complains Ricky. He then goes on to compare that mustache to Stalin's, which is generally considered okay to grow (see: Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck). Horrible, yes. Hilarious? Definitely.

I'd like to think Pernice took some inspiration from the 15th century play Everyman, and not just in regards to the character's lack of name. The play was considered a morality play, one that had the viewers take a look and their lives and see what good they've done. In a way, I think this book proposed the same question. The flashbacks are a way for the narrator to reflect.

The book was overall really good, one I seem to like the more I think about it. It's witty, fast and fresh. It doesn't have a concrete ending, it doesn't propose a huge cathartic moment, but I think that was the point. Not everyone goes through a change - but hopefully everyone does learn something as they grow up.

4.0 out of 5 stars Pernice makes good literary music..., February 28, 2010

By 

Larry Hoffer (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It Feels So Good When I Stop (Hardcover)

I loved this book. I really did. Usually when I read books featuring characters who can't seem to commit, hold a job or carry on any successful relationship, they tend to be as disappointing as I'd imagine the characters are to their friends and family. But this book really resonated for me. The author, Joe Pernice, is really talented--he and his brother have a band, the Pernice Brothers, and he's a great songwriter as well.

The narrator of this book (you never learn his name, and while I thought that would annoy me, it didn't) has just had yet another break-up with his girlfriend/wife, so he has fled to Cape Cod. In between trying to get back in touch with her, he starts taking care of his young nephew, and builds a bond with Marie, a woman who lives down the street from where he's staying who has issues of her own. The story switches between the current time and the start of the narrator's relationship with his wife. I really enjoyed the story, the characters, everything, except the ending. It was a bit abrupt and left the story feeling unfinished, so maybe that's a sign that Pernice will revisit this story again soon.