Description
It's obvious that Ferris had a ball while he was writing his wildly funny story of an all-around American guy, a divorced dad with more than a couple of secrets. And when Charlie's handed a second chance, he takes it with the help of his son, a writer. Like Ayad Akhtar's Homeland Elegies or Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, this novel is driven by a big question: Who owns a story? If you've read Then We Came to the End you know just how funny Joshua Ferris is. (And if you're a fan of The Office and haven't read Then We Came to the End, what are you waiting for?)
From National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris comes a “murderously funny” novel about a modern American family and one man’s attempt to come to understand the many lives of his father. (Janet Maslin, New York Times)
Someone is telling the story of the life of Charlie Barnes, and it doesn't appear to be going well. Too often divorced, discontent with life's compromises and in a house he hates, this lifelong schemer and eternal romantic would like out of his present circumstances and into the American dream. But when the twin calamities of the Great Recession and a cancer scare come along to compound his troubles, his dreams dwindle further, and an infinite past full of forking paths quickly tapers to a black dot.
Then, against all odds, something goes right for a change: Charlie is granted a second act. With help from his storyteller son, he surveys the facts of his life and finds his true calling where he least expects it—in a sacrifice that redounds with selflessness and love—at last becoming the man his son always knew he could be.
A Calling for Charlie Barnes is a profound and tender portrait of a man whose desperate need to be loved is his downfall, and a brutally funny account of how that love is ultimately earned.
Number of pages: 352
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 15 mm
