This is the first book I’ve read by Joshua Ferris, and right away you can tell he is a very skilled writer. His style is sharp with plenty of clever turns of phrases to amuse the reader.
What he has put together here seems on the surface to be a story about a father and a family – but as you read it you get the sense that there are different layers here that may or may not be fiction. The author uses shifting time, a narrator that has motivation to break the reader’s trust, and a unique structure that could have given away the game if I had been paying more attention early on.
I liked reading this book, despite the sometimes over-the-top characters and meta references sprinkled throughout. The way it is written makes you rethink your previous opinions.
It is always a pleasure to read books that clearly took a great deal of effort and planning to write. This felt like a labor of love that happened to be entertaining. I’d like to re-read the book in the future, and see how much more I get out of it.
Next I’m reading The Last Professional by Ed Davis.
