Customer Reviews

The Fuck-Up

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Nersesian's first novel is still his best. This book is a raw, madcap, sometimes goofy -- but always fun -- story of a perpetual screw-up who can't catch a break to save his life. Sound familiar? This novel also offers the best tour of downtown New York City since Richard Perez's The Losers' Club. Of all of Nersesian's books, I prefer this one the best. It's a hilarious diamond in the rough. I guarantee you'll be entertained. Also recommended: Dogrun, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, Post Office by Charles Bukowski

For better or for worse, The Fuck-Up is the kind of novel that doesn't require too much attention or brain-power to absorb. Not far into the book, we get a good sense of what Arthur Nersesian's definition of a "fuck-up" is: the nameless, faceless [anti-]hero of this novel is a perennial loser whose portrait is painted against the backdrop of "normal" society where people have, and are able to keep, their jobs, significant others, and everything else that might mean anything to them. In his gritty and gut-wrenching text, Nersesian documents with disarming candor the ever downwardly spiraling series of events in the life of this everyman with whom we all willingly or unwillingly identify. If not, why did we even pick this book up in the first place?

The odd thing is that there is a certain level of frustration that comes with reading this book. This character walks away from opportunity, rebuffs advice, and almost always makes decisions contrary to those we would have made ourselves; yet at the same time, his observations -- which are almost never flattering to humanity -- are the same ones we would make. What is the commonality, then, between how we feel and how we live? Nersesian takes us through a world in which nearly nothing is as it seems. Kindness? Honesty? Strength? No way. In the process, the novel subsequently asks questions that are especially important to its targeted audience: Why does his observation of life seem so radically different from our own? Why is he so oddly up-spirited? Is his honesty refreshing or depressing? And perhaps most importantly, why should we even care about his story? We should care because this novel serves a dual purpose as both entertainment and a critical social commentary that probes the hows and whys behind human beings.

We've all heard about the typical "bad day." Nersesian asks us now, is there really any such thing as the "bad life"? The answer to that depends on why you're reading the novel to begin with. As the title might dictate, only certain types of readers would even pick this book up, let alone read it. It is quick and easy to read, very important in relation to this success-oriented society, and refreshing in its portrayal of this particular human being. He could feasibly be any one of us -- it's a sad but true fact. Ideally, this book would get three-and-a-half stars from me because of a ... ending, but on the whole, it is true, honest, and funny. And it certainly needs to be read.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary urban literature. But buy the original edition on Akashic Books, available here at Amazon.com. The Akashic edition is the independent edition, and besides, it has great drawings for chapter headings which the MTV Books edition doesn't have (!)

The brillance of "The Fuck-Up" is that it manages to squeeze more tragedies and failures into one novel than all of Shakespeare combined - and make it not only believable, but realistic. The anonymous main character is a simple Everyman who struggles daily to be saved from himself. His life is an endless miserable seige of trials and troubles, betrayals and near death experiences. However hopeless the situation may seem, however, the Fuck Up pushes onward with admirable determination, utterly convinced that eventually, everything will work itself out and his life will become easy. This is a book that is truly enjoyable, very funny, and even touching at times. Every reader will see a little bit of him/herself in the novel, and the book gently reminds us all of our own imperfections and human frailties. A Holden Caulfield on crack, the main character honestly tries to live a good life, but his weaknesses constantly beats him down. He doesn't give up however. From working at a gay porn theater, to beating up a girlfriend's son for a Porche, to posing as a gay punk rocker to score a place to live, the Fuck Up tackles each dilema with such reckless enthusiasm that it is impossible not to love him at the end. A memorable and original book, it should be read after a hard day to remind us that compared to this guy, our lives are a paradise.

I picked this book up in a bookstore mainly because the title made me chuckle. "Who would call their book *that*?"

In paging through, I found some interesting prose and went ahead and made the purchase. I'm not sorry. This is a well written book that details the life of someone who is not only submersed in poverty, but does not have the personal drive to do anything about it.

A realistic glimpse into the lives of those we see out there everyday, but thankfully don't have to live ourselves.
Our protagonist is an intelligent man, but has no desire to do anything with his life. He works as an usher at a third rate local theater, and is content with meager wages and life in the slow lane. He has a girlfriend and a place to stay and a job, and that seems to be enough. Until he meets a co-worker at the theater, and decides that he should have an affair with her. She, unfortunately, does not reciprocate his feelings, but leads him on anyway.

When his girlfriend finds out, she kicks him out of their apartment, forcing him to go and stay with an old friend of his. I found his friend to be one of the more interesting characters in the book, until......you should read it for yourself.

Things go from bad to worse, with our narrator winding up working in a gay porno theater and pretending to be gay to keep the job, getting involved in some shady business, getting badly beaten up not once but a few times.

He looses his place to stay, looses his new job, looses his friends, looses, well....everything. Rather a "rags to rags" story, with a surprise ending that brings him closer to the one person he hates above everyone else, and back into a lifestyle of mediocre contentment.

This was an entertaining and enlightening read, well written, and taking us into paths we are curious about but just prefer not to tread in ourselves. Good book. Enjoy!

This is a really good book with a very bad title. I am a big fan of the artist naming his work whatever he/she wants to without the powers that be asserting their influence, but I think in this case the publishers should have made a fuss. Why, you may ask? Because I think the title effectively drives away many a reader who would really enjoy this quirky little novel and attracts an audience who may be disappointed it's not a lot heavier.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of heavy stuff going on in here--embezzlement, death, domestic disputes, psychosis--but it's actually quite an enjoyable read. The novel follows the exploits of a 20-something after his girlfriend breaks up with him and kicks him out of their New York apartment, leaving him effectively homeless. He manages to scrape by through a series of freak occurrences and emerge at the end a little road weary, but essentially none the worse for the wear.

This could be the story of any recent college grad, and that is a little frightening. However, rather than beat you over the head with a bunch of woe-is-me crap, the novel never gets overly depressing and is, in some places, rather optimistic, without being treacly or sentimental.

I really enjoyed this novel. It is well-written, interesting, and hard to put down.

Brilliant, fun, disturbing, humorous, philosophical. I was captured after the first two sentences: "Perhaps the price of comfort is that life passes more rapidly. But for anyone who has lived in uneasiness, even for a short, memorable duration, it's a trade-off that will gladly be made."

I read this novel after picking up THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez. Both novels take place in New York City's East Village, although a decade apart: LC in the 90s, FU in the 80s. Why does this novel work for me? Simple: despite being published by MTV, it very non-mainstream, meaning unpredictable and to some extent 'unpolished,' even 'unliterary.' It simply unfolds in a very unconventional way. I read a lot of books and believe me there's not a whole lot of humor and goofiness in 'literary' novels. I just enjoyed being able to lean back and read a book that was fun! So, yes, I recommend it! Originally this was a self-published novel that took on a life of its own, and was later picked up by MTV. I appreciate the offbeat quality it has. It also lacks the pretension of a lot of 'downtown' writing which is frankly quite dull, dreary, humorless and self-important. This book is simply a goofy romp! Heck, try it out! Laugh a little!

Admittedly, it was the title that caught my attention while I was perusing through Barnes & Noble one day. But when I opened it up and started reading the first paragraph, I was completely entranced and could not put it down. When I bought it, i had already read it over 4 times(bought new- I had bought it from a used bookstore and then gave it to a friend) and since then I carry it with me. It's an alaramingly amusing bittersweet story that takes the reader on a tour of the East Side of NYC, and rockets at a hundred miles a minute. For anyone who thinks they're having a bad day, read this book!!!

The ultimate slacker. This is a guy with EVERYTHING at his fingertips...but he always manages to throw it all away. I woke up yesterday, rolled out of the sack around 2 pm and wasted away my day for awhile. I finally decided at least reading a book would be productive so I grabbed my newly loaned copy of this book. Originally bought for a friend by a friend with the emphasis on the title, this book has made its way through a few in my crowd to me, who in retrospect had been anxious to read it. I want to mention now that I finished the book yesterday evening.

As the title suggests the book is about a young man and his trials and mishaps of rumbling through life in New York City. Anyone who has seen "Man about Town" on cable can attest. The style the book follows is one of hope and failure, showing that even if at times life seems to be going great, it can all crash down without warning into nothing. The funny thing is that none of the adventures seemed to be unreasonably outrageous, rather all plausible and things that could happen to myself; the early trials of getting dumped for cheating on his girlfriend, then that night seeing the girl of his affair in some other guys arms. The reasons he can't get a job, or better yet the reasonings behind why a job shouldn't be had. Throughout the book the guy claims a couple prizes; money sometimes (always lost), women who need to be loved (always lost) a Mercedes for an off-the-wall favor (lost), true love?

Besides what I've already mentioned the craziest scenario in this book is a section where the guy has to pretend he's gay to keep his job at a porno movie theater, and to hook up on a rental space with a guy who doesn't want his roommate moving in on his girlfriend while he is out of town.(he does).

I would have to recommend this book to anyone who has ever had things just seem to be going really well, and for things to have changed for the worse for no good reason. It happens to all of us good people, and with that notion I think this book is relatable. It is a comedy so we are supposed to see some inspiration in his follies. this lead guy is a complete slacker, chances come along, but he somehow always finds a way to screw things up, so I know I can relate. I'm thinking if someone else hadn't had bought this book I never would've read it. I purchased this book through Amazon.com right after another great purchase, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, about an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. Both are fun, recommended books. Enjoy!