Book Review: The Unnamed

The Unnamed
Author: Joshua Ferris
Pages: 336 pgs
Reading Level: Adult
Published: January 14th 2010
Review Source: Hachette Book Group

The Unnamed is an interesting novel and not the type of novel that I usually read. However, I gave it a try to see where it went and my honest opinion is that this book is just not my type. When a book is not my type, I will give it a 100 page test. This book, I gave it 150 pages and had to stop. It did not hold my interest at all and was just confusing. Again as this book is not my type of book, It may draw another reader in and be interesting to them. 

The story begins with Tim, a successful lawyer with a wife (Jane) and their daughter (Becka). They are in the upper middle class and are living the American dream. That's until Tim's unusual walking disorder returns. He's had two episodes in the past and it is extremely dangerous especially when it happens during the cold weather. Tim and his wife have been to doctors and psychiatrists but they can't seem to help. They have tried drugs and restraints but that only seems to make matters worse. When an episode begins and Tim's career is on the line, Jane attempts to help but it seems like it's all crumbling down.

Summary: (from goodreads) 

He was going to lose the house and everything in it. The rare pleasure of a bath, the copper pots hanging above the kitchen island, his family-again he would lose his family. He stood inside the house and took stock. Everything in it had been taken for granted. How had that happened again? He had promised himself not to take anything for granted and now he couldn't recall the moment that promise had given way to the everyday. 

Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks and her puppy fat, he offers her every one of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world. 

He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. He loves his kitchen. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking. 

THE UNNAMED is a dazzling novel about a marriage and a family and the unseen forces of nature and desire that seem to threaten them both. It is the heartbreaking story of a life taken for granted and what happens when that life is abruptly and irrevocably taken away.