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Samuel Sattin: IMG Nanny of the Corn

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Fear was my gateway to becoming interested in stories. My nanny growing up, a Scottish expat named Jackie with a fox pelt of red hair and a manic... Continue »
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This title in other editions

The Fuck-Up

by

The Fuck-Up Cover

ISBN13: 9780671027636
ISBN10: 0671027638
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 1 left in stock at $7.95!

 

Staff Pick

Break-ups, bad jobs, and sad literary aspirations add up to make one gritty, funny New York comedy.
Recommended by the Humanities Team, Powell's City of Books

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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."

Review:

"The charm and grit of Nersesian's voice is immediately enveloping, as the down-and-out but oddly up narrator of his terrific novel, The Fuck-Up, slinks through Alphabet City and gutteral utterances of love." The Village Voice

Review:

"Nersesian...writes briskly and acutely, with a good sense of detail. At least he's not a fuck-up. But this isn't exactly the 'slice of gritty New York life' promised on the cover. Despite the narrator's many astonishing escapades, it's really kind of bland." Library Journal

Synopsis:

Follows a nameless hero from the girlfriend who kicks him out, to dismissal from his minimum wage cinema usher job, to a literary friend's couch, and back to Manhattan for a short-lived squat in a plush SoHo loft.

Synopsis:

Doesn't the title say it all? After a series of set-backs, an unnamed slacker pretends to be gay to get a job which launches him on a darkly hilarious odyssey through New York City grit.
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About the Author

Arthur Nersesian is the author of a second novel, Manhattan Loverboy. He was the managing editor of the literary magazine, The Portable Lower East Side, and has been teaching English at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College in the South Bronx since 1990.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
disaster, January 13, 2010 (view all comments by disaster)
Mr. Nersesian accomplishes a great deal with this book. What drives us and motivates us is a mystery and we are all tip-toeing perilously near the brink of the collapse of our perceived or created dominions, even if we are unaware of it.
Whether each of us is considered successful is a matter of definition.... This book is worth your time.
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Jose Juarez, August 21, 2009 (view all comments by Jose Juarez)
Two or three stars for this book. The Fuck Up is similar to likes of Charles Bukowski and Chad Kultgen but failed to intrigue me. If you must give it a try buy a used copy.
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troutyman5445, October 24, 2007 (view all comments by troutyman5445)
this just so happens to be one of the bes tbooks ive ever read. i saw the title in the back of another book i love, called the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky. if you can, read it. highly recomended
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780671027636
Author:
Nersesian, Arthur
Publisher:
MTV Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
City and town life
Subject:
Humorous Stories
Subject:
New york (state)
Subject:
New york (n.y.)
Subject:
Young men
Subject:
New York
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
City and town life - New York (State) -
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
1999
Edition Number:
1st
Edition Description:
B102
Series Volume:
no. 10
Publication Date:
May 1999
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
304
Dimensions:
7 x 5 in 7.14 oz
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Related Subjects

Arts and Entertainment » Humor » General
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Small Press » Fiction and Prose
Health and Self-Help » Health and Medicine » General
Health and Self-Help » Health and Medicine » General Medicine
Metaphysics » Healing

The Fuck-Up Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.95 In Stock
Product details 304 pages MTV Books - English 9780671027636 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

Break-ups, bad jobs, and sad literary aspirations add up to make one gritty, funny New York comedy.

by the Humanities Team
"Review" by , "The charm and grit of Nersesian's voice is immediately enveloping, as the down-and-out but oddly up narrator of his terrific novel, The Fuck-Up, slinks through Alphabet City and gutteral utterances of love."
"Review" by , "Nersesian...writes briskly and acutely, with a good sense of detail. At least he's not a fuck-up. But this isn't exactly the 'slice of gritty New York life' promised on the cover. Despite the narrator's many astonishing escapades, it's really kind of bland."
"Synopsis" by , Follows a nameless hero from the girlfriend who kicks him out, to dismissal from his minimum wage cinema usher job, to a literary friend's couch, and back to Manhattan for a short-lived squat in a plush SoHo loft.
"Synopsis" by , Doesn't the title say it all? After a series of set-backs, an unnamed slacker pretends to be gay to get a job which launches him on a darkly hilarious odyssey through New York City grit.
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