Letters to Wendy’s is an outrageous, tragic, genre-bending novel written over the course of a year on comment cards from the fast-food chain restaurant Wendy’s. Through the letters, the book traces a year in the life and thoughts of an unnamed narrator obsessed not only by Biggies and Frosties, but also by consumerism, pornography, and mortality.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
What kind of person is inspired by a fast-food restaurant? If this new book is any indication, it's one who is by turns worshipful, disturbing and just plain weird. Conceived as a series of comment cards to a local Wendy's, this unconventional fiction chronicles the life (or lack thereof) of an unnamed narrator who spends his days drinking oversize sodas and contemplating the meaning of the fast-food icon. In his more lucid moments, the narrator imagines Wendy's as a cradle-to-grave institution, supplying IV nourishment for a person's last days in the form of "liquid fries." He also posits that Wendy's would serve well as a site for state-sponsored executions, providing both the correct quality of light and an abundance of refreshments. He's just as likely, however, to devolve into soft-porn daydreams involving the counter help and prepackaged foods. About the narrator himself, we learn very littleAno name, no profession, no home address: just an Everyman as fast-food customer. In its best moments, the book delivers some insights into the social mores of people thrown together in a public place of business, people who share the same space and general eating habits but are unwilling to share much else. In short snippets, the narrative can be intriguing; excerpts have appeared on the Web site Nerve.com. But there's no plot to speak of, and spending time with this voyeuristic stranger quickly grows both creepy and tedious. (Dec. 15) FYI: Letters to Wendy's is Verse Press's debut publication. The press will devote itself to releasing innovative works in all genres by poets (Wenderoth is the author of two poetry collections, Disfortune and It Is if I Speak).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A perverse, sometimes pretty, obscene and confounding collection of one page meditative missives... trimmed with lunatic fringe. -- Rolling Stone
Charting the narrator's daily routine .... the work reveals an obsession with sexuality, isolation and consumerism run amok. -- Valley Advocate, February 8th, 2001
I couldn't have loved this book any more than I did. So good. -- kottke.org, April 2, 2001
Letters to Wendy's, believe it or not, is a work of genius. -- Philadelphia Weekly, February 8th, 2001
Likely to be known... as the most apt, able, and adventurous ars poetica produced for and by Generation X. -- John D'Agata, Boston Review
These postmodern koans work, in part, because they conjure images so incongruous in the context of a Wendy's visit. -- Feed Magazine, feedmag.com, February 8th, 2001
Wenderoth's first book of fiction ... offers a poetic figure uniquely in tune with what is simultaneously perverse and glorious. -- Rain Taxi, April 2001
Charting the narrator's daily routine .... the work reveals an obsession with sexuality, isolation and consumerism run amok. -- Valley Advocate, February 8th, 2001
I couldn't have loved this book any more than I did. So good. -- kottke.org, April 2, 2001
Letters to Wendy's, believe it or not, is a work of genius. -- Philadelphia Weekly, February 8th, 2001
Likely to be known... as the most apt, able, and adventurous ars poetica produced for and by Generation X. -- John D'Agata, Boston Review
These postmodern koans work, in part, because they conjure images so incongruous in the context of a Wendy's visit. -- Feed Magazine, feedmag.com, February 8th, 2001
Wenderoth's first book of fiction ... offers a poetic figure uniquely in tune with what is simultaneously perverse and glorious. -- Rain Taxi, April 2001
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a brilliantly paced book of hilarious, sad, beautiful and perverted prose poems. It's like Nabokov in that it is simultaneously perverted and erudite. I read almost all of it on the subway this morning and relished the others reading over my shoulder as I read about Frosties, Porn in the morning, Foucault, and spanking Wendy.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Jared Dublin
Format:Paperback
Wenderoth has found a new form for poetry--the customer comment card--and filled a series of them with more desire and truth than any restaurant could safely want to know. Imagine the phrase "How can I help you?" finding no compromise. A stunning and dangerous book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Katey
Format:Paperback
This little book full of little "poems" packs a thunderous punch. Wenderoth manages to incorporate humor, genius, sex, love, pain, disease, etc in an inventive form. Why is this book so great? Because nobody's done it before. Nobody's brave enough to create such literature. This is a new favorite on my shelves of poetry books. It stands out...a blur of genre, a combination of many realms. Absolutely wonderful.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Letters To Wendy's is an incredible achievement: it manages to blend pornography, philosophy and beauty into one big frosty dessert treat. This book is a "Biggie" in more ways than one: it's big on lyrical beauty, humor, sex and thoughtfulness. It's a hilarious and poignant collection of prose poems. As a colleague pointed out today, who else can make the word "employee" sound so beautiful?
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Well, okay, it's great to suddenly hear Wenderoth lust after an American Icon/logo (and she gets spanked!). "Letters" is interesting in parts, but by page 150 one starts to feel a sense of diminishing returns while reading this book. How many clever--albeit slightly twisted--aphorisms in a row can one continue to be as hungry for, after all, as, say one of those big double cheeseburgers with the dual square patties. This book lacks the formal variety of Wenderoth's books of poems. Wenderoth is not, as a writer, always best served by forced brevity. And in "Letters" he seems so intent on shocking the reader and it just feels mildly arrogant. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from buying this book, but I prefer the poems full of large breaths and diamond honed crystalizations in Wenderoth's first two groundbreaking books.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By William Gass
Format:Paperback
I have never encountered a book like this before, laid out in such a snippet-like format where each page is a chapter. I also thought it was interesting that there were no page numbers. Apparently, we were supposed to use the dates of these "sayings" as page markers in the event we found ourselves without a bookmark or some other method of remembering our place. I thoroughly enjoyed Wenderoth's willingness to risk offending people in order to deliver on his point that we are all human, despite our proclivities and weaknesses. Good work.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Helena Vozhd
Format:Paperback
i read this in the bookstore in one sitting; it is immensely entertaining, & the author has some excellent turns of phrase, plus who has not at one point confessed some horrible secret on a We'd Like to Hear Your Thoughts card, or wanted to do so.
unfortunately some of the letters degenerate into mindless genital-centric bores without any redeeming prose elements, it seems one cannot get away from this in any form of literature. but vague & nebulous social commentary does not belong in reviews so i'll put this tape over my mouth & we'll all be a lot happier.
but for the most part i loved it, very surreal at times & surprisingly perceptive. i am definitely interested in reading more of his work.
unfortunately some of the letters degenerate into mindless genital-centric bores without any redeeming prose elements, it seems one cannot get away from this in any form of literature. but vague & nebulous social commentary does not belong in reviews so i'll put this tape over my mouth & we'll all be a lot happier.
but for the most part i loved it, very surreal at times & surprisingly perceptive. i am definitely interested in reading more of his work.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I was really surprised by this book. It doesn't work like a novel-- doesn't give the novel reader what the novel reader expects. It is foolish to understand this fact as an indication of the book's being deficient. Its value is more like the value of a book of poems-- a book one can look into, quite at random, again and again, and in which each Soul will surely have her favorites. The worth of the book can be gauged by how intensely one clings to one's favorites, and how elusive they nevertheless remain.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
The title's the best bit
I've tried, believe me I've tried, but this is samey and slackerish, like that depressive American poet with the short Chinese name that's like the other one with the short Chinese... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Simon G. Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Most of the other reviews said what needed to be saided. Just wanted to add some stars for an exceptional and unlikely book. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Monkey Bingo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ditto on the other five stars
Just wanted to bump the number up, this was the best book I've read in years. Perfect gift for anyone with a perverse sense of humour.
Published on February 15, 2011 by N0011
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect gift!
I gave this gift to a friend who has everything, and she can't live without it!
Funny, profound, profane, and irreverent, Letters to Wendy's is an inspiring work of... Read more
Funny, profound, profane, and irreverent, Letters to Wendy's is an inspiring work of... Read more
Published on December 20, 2008 by Michael A. Espinoza
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a book!
The book is a diary of each visit Joe Wenderoth has at his local Wendy's. There is a lot of shock value in the book. Read more
Published on March 12, 2008 by Mark R. Lais
3.0 out of 5 stars
Off-the-wall
This is such an off-the-wall book. It either had me laughing out loud, confused, or just plain speechless. Entertaining, but short, with no re-read value.
Published on November 12, 2007 by C. Danca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reads like a tone poem, fits like a ..... heel?
If you don't like slightly obscure, definately off color, nuianced, weird humor...this isn't for you.
But, I do! I love this book. Read more
But, I do! I love this book. Read more
Published on December 7, 2005 by L. Plybon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting concept.
I was a little put off by the book at first, but after rereading it, I think I like it a lot better.
Published on April 29, 2004 by Celestejz
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book sucks!
I was one of Wenderoth's students about two years ago. The content of his class did not leave much to speak for and I have the same opinion of his book, Letters to Wendy's. Read more
Published on January 29, 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking, Just Shocking
What surprises me is the amount of attention this book has received. It's simply not any good. There is no narrative whatsoever in it, the "pieces" simply line up with... Read more
Published on December 1, 2001
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