The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian

I first came across this book while browsing the shelves at my local Barnes & Noble. I love browsing the shelves because I find books I would not have come across anywhere else. Sometimes they are duds and then there are books like this one. This book is filled with words I had never seen which only word lovers can appreciate. The story itself is wonderful and I recommend this book to all the people I deem fuck-ups. I don’t do this to be insulting. I mean for it to be inspiring, like, “You too can turn your life around” or “Your mistake is not as bad as what happens in this book.” I read this book when I was struggling with life and was trying to figure out my next step. I felt like an awful fuck-up back then and it helped me feel better about my own situation and, with that realization, I was able to make a plan that has turned out pretty well so far.

Here is the summary from the back:

“Arthur Nersesian’s underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life…and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He’s a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he’s just trying to survive. But life has other things in store for the fuck-up. From being dumped by his girlfriend to getting fired for asking for a raise, from falling into a robbery to posing as a gay man to keep his job at a porno theater, the fuck-up’s tragi-comedy is perfectly realized by Arthur Nersesian, who manages to create humor and suspense out of urban desperation. ‘Read it and howl,’ says Bruce Benderson (author of User), ‘and be glad it didn’t happen to you.'”

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