The Fuck Up
The Fuck-up Arthur Nersesian 5/5
Sometimes a book comes along with a title that limits its audience based on the title alone. This is one of those books, but if you're mature enough to look beyond that then you're in for one hell of a read. It's one of those rare novels that doesn't become a mission to tell a happy story or give a wide variety of reasons for the characters behavior. The title character is just a complete and total fuck-up and there's nothing at all redeeming about him. Nothing about him is remotely likable, but the book is like a really bad car crash. You know you should look away, but you just can't. You have to take a peek and see just how bad it is.
What draws you in is Nersesian's writing style. He starts off slow and before you now it you're too invested to quit. His characters are all needy and self obsessed. Everyone is broken in some way and that's what makes this such an interesting read. These are characters that seem to seek each other out and use each other. Somehow it seems as if all of these people are seeking for someone to repair the broken pieces within themselves. Problem is our title character is too much of a fuck-up to offer anything of any value to anyone. As a writer he creates a bleak, almost hopeless existence and you almost feel yourself feeling sorry for these people. It's a book for people that are drawn to broken, imperfect characters with an injection of black humor to balance it all out.
The reviews on this are quite mixed and there are two camps. Those who either love it or hate it. You can look at a multitude of reviews and still feel as if maybe you shouldn't read it. The fact is you should. The Fuck-up is a novel that you have to experience for yourself. Not everyone is going to like it, but there's people like who see the brilliance underneath the grit there is our main character who seems to have no redeeming qualities at all but you should stick around and see what happens to him. This is an interesting book that isn't for everyone, but there is an audience for it somewhere. I had never heard of this novel and just stumbled onto it. I'm glad I did.
Sometimes a book comes along with a title that limits its audience based on the title alone. This is one of those books, but if you're mature enough to look beyond that then you're in for one hell of a read. It's one of those rare novels that doesn't become a mission to tell a happy story or give a wide variety of reasons for the characters behavior. The title character is just a complete and total fuck-up and there's nothing at all redeeming about him. Nothing about him is remotely likable, but the book is like a really bad car crash. You know you should look away, but you just can't. You have to take a peek and see just how bad it is.
What draws you in is Nersesian's writing style. He starts off slow and before you now it you're too invested to quit. His characters are all needy and self obsessed. Everyone is broken in some way and that's what makes this such an interesting read. These are characters that seem to seek each other out and use each other. Somehow it seems as if all of these people are seeking for someone to repair the broken pieces within themselves. Problem is our title character is too much of a fuck-up to offer anything of any value to anyone. As a writer he creates a bleak, almost hopeless existence and you almost feel yourself feeling sorry for these people. It's a book for people that are drawn to broken, imperfect characters with an injection of black humor to balance it all out.
The reviews on this are quite mixed and there are two camps. Those who either love it or hate it. You can look at a multitude of reviews and still feel as if maybe you shouldn't read it. The fact is you should. The Fuck-up is a novel that you have to experience for yourself. Not everyone is going to like it, but there's people like who see the brilliance underneath the grit there is our main character who seems to have no redeeming qualities at all but you should stick around and see what happens to him. This is an interesting book that isn't for everyone, but there is an audience for it somewhere. I had never heard of this novel and just stumbled onto it. I'm glad I did.
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