Couch (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: nice couch, South America, William Temple, Thom Bakker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Parzybok's delightfully lighthearted writing successfully diverts attention from the heavy-handed plot devices that threaten to overwhelm this ambitious debut. An apartment flood destroys almost everything owned by mismatched roommates Thom, Tree and Erik, leaving only the handmade orange couch, which the landlord demands they remove. Broke, jobless and now homeless, the roommates begin carrying their couch through the streets of Portland, Ore., and quickly discover two things: it might be magical, and Goodwill won't take it. They reluctantly embark on a hapless quest to take the couch exactly where it wants to go. Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the enthusiastic prose carries readers through sporadic dark moments, though it can't save a clunky finale that leaves too many unanswered questions, including the survival of its heroes. Parzybok's quirky humor recalls the flaws and successes of early Douglas Adams. (Nov.)
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Product Description

"Couch hits on an improbable, even fantastic premise, and then rigorously hews to the logic that it generates, keeping it afloat (at times literally) to the end."
—Los Angeles Times

"Delightfully lighthearted writing. . . . Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the enthusiastic prose carries readers through sporadic dark moments . . . Parzybok’s quirky humor recalls the flaws and successes of early Douglas Adams."—Publishers Weekly

"The book succeeds as a conceptual art piece, a literary travelogue, and a fantastical quest."
—Willamette Week

"Hundreds of writers have slavishly imitated—or outright ripped off—Tolkien in ways that connoisseurs of other genres would consider shameless. What Parzybok has done here in adapting the same old song to a world more familiar to the reader is to revive the genre and make it relevant again"
—The Stranger

A Spring Summer Indie Next Reading List Pick: Top 10 Reading Group Suggestions
"Couch follows the quirky journey of Thom, Erik, and Tree as they venture into the unknown at the behest of a magical, orange couch, which has its own plan for their previously boring lives. Parzybok's colorful characters, striking humor, and eccentric magical realism offer up an adventuresome read."
—Christian Crider, Inkwood Books, Tampa, FL

A January 2009 Indie Next List Pick

"This funny novel of furniture moving gone awry is a magical realism quest for modern times. Parzybok's touching story explores the aimlessness of our culture, a society of jobs instead of callings, replete with opportunities and choices but without the philosophies and vocations we need to make meaningful decisions."
—Josh Cook, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

"A lot of people are looking for magic in the world today, but only Benjamin Parzybok thought to check the sofa, which is, I think, the place it’s most likely to be found. Couch is a slacker epic: a gentle, funny book that ambles merrily from Coupland to Tolkien, and gives couch-surfing (among other things) a whole new meaning.”
—Paul La Farge

"One of the strangest road novels you'll ever read. It's a funny and fun book, and it's also a very smart book. Fans of Tom Robbins or Christopher Moore should enjoy this."
—Handee Books

"It is an upholstered Odyssey unlike any other you are likely to read. It is funny, confusing in places, wild and anarchic. It is part Quixote, part Murakami, part Tom Robbins, part DFS showroom. It has cult hit written all over it."
—Scott, Me and My Big Mouth

Benjamin Parzybok on tour: http://booktour.com/author/benjamin_parzybok

In this exuberant and hilarious debut reminiscent of The Life of Pi and Then We Came to the End, an episode of furniture moving gone awry becomes an impromptu quest of self-discovery, secret histories, and unexpected revelations.

Thom is a computer geek whose hacking of a certain Washington-based software giant has won him a little fame but few job prospects. Erik is a smalltime con man, a fast-talker who is never quite quick enough on his feet. Their roommate, Tree, is a confused clairvoyant whose dreams and prophecies may not be completely off base. After a freak accident fl oods their apartment, the three are evicted—but they have to take their couch with them. The real problem? The couch—huge and orange—won’t let them put it down. Soon the three roommates are on a cross-country trek along back roads, byways, and rail lines, heading far out of Portland and deep into one very weird corner of the American dream.

Benjamin Parzybok is the creator of Gumball Poetry, a journal published through gumball machines, and the Black Magic Insurance Agency, a city-wide mystery/treasure hunt. He has worked as a congressional page, a ghostwriter for the governor of Washington, a web developer, a Taiwanese factory technical writer, an asbestos removal janitor, and a potato sorter. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with the writer Laura Moulton and their two children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Small Beer Press; First Printing edition (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931520542
• ISBN-13: 978-1931520546
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,983 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Possibly groundbreaking..., December 9, 2008

By	EP (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I don't usually read magic realism or fantasy books and hesitate to call this one of them- but when I saw it in the book store my curiosity got the better of me. Three guys carry a magic couch?? What?

It was sometimes weird, true. But, I loved it. I laughed out loud. It was intellectual, it was ironic, but it was also literary. As I see more super hero stories becoming good movies, the Lord of the Rings becoming an Oscar winner, and TV shows like LOST and Heroes on prime-time, I wonder if this book isn't bridging a gap between the "nerdy" sci-fi fantasy world and the "hipster" literary world.

It is potentially ground-breaking because although the story has magic in it, the characters are modern American dudes. They are skeptical and gritty. They are not guileless like Frodo and they're not ethereal like Garcia Marquez' characters. They are flawed, contemporary epic heroes- a refreshing idea.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somewhere between Clueless and Heart of Darkness, January 14, 2009

By	Katherine E. Mehrer "Kate" (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Parzybok's first work, he introduces characters whose internal struggles are delightfully complex. Honing in on three youthful samples of angsty internal struggle, he raises the stakes one notch at a time as the impossible, the supernatural, and the miraculous drop layers over a twisted slacker scenario. The characters' quest, their struggles to believe, and their resulting commitment to a life-threatening, though life-affirming, adventure comes across as believable and intensely suspenseful as the novel-turned-travelogue paints scenes of otherworldly natural splendor and makes frightening but insightful forays into historical spiritualism. In the end I am left with one handful of early Stephen King and another of seminal Douglas Coupland. (Raising the slacker flag high in the name of eerie ancient symbolic stuff)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kind of brilliant, December 29, 2008

By	W. A. Hockersmith (Tokyo) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Oh man, was this a good novel: fresh, original, funny, smart, quirky, cool, philosophical, and whimsical. Couch begins with a simple premise: three roommates attempt to get rid of a couch; however, this seemingly mundane task soon spirals into an epic quest in which . . .

. . . I can't tell you more here; I wouldn't want to give anything away. But trust me when I say that Parzybok has produced a wondrous debut here. It ponders big questions without being ponderous. It's intellectual without taking itself too seriously, and it's irreverent without being sarcastic. Plus, part of it takes place in Portland, Oregon and that's always a good thing.

Bottom line: You need to check this one out.