As a Decade Fades

by Joshua Fields Millburn

How does a man get past his past? How does someone deal with the emotions that surround the loneliness of loss--loss of direction, loss of identity, loss of purpose, loss of passion, loss of home, loss of career, loss of love, loss of loved ones, loss of life, loss of self?

As he approaches thirty, Jody Grafton's career as a singer-songwriter falls apart: he loses his record deal, his money, his fame--even his desire to create new music. While he stares at the rubble of his one-hit-wonder musical career, his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer, his marriage ends abruptly, and Jody starts drinking heavily to deaden his new reality.

When he hasn't a single reason left to live, he attempts suicide and ends up in a psych ward where he's prodded by doctors and social workers with questions he isn't yet prepared to answer. Amid the tailspin, Jody receives a phone call from his recently estranged girlfriend and she has unexpected news: she's pregnant.

As a Decade Fades begins with this phone call. As his twenties twilight, Jody Grafton grapples with loneliness, depression, lust, and infatuation, while glancing at the mounting wreckage in his rearview. When he can't fit--or force--the pieces of his life back together, he leaves his native Ohio to search for answers in the most unlikely of places: Brooklyn.

Cover design by Spyr Media · Published by Asymmetrical Press

Genres: Fiction

284 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2012

About the author

Joshua Fields Millburn is one half of the simple-living duo The Minimalists. As the bestselling author of five books, Millburn has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Time magazine and has spoken at Harvard, Apple, and Google. His podcast, The Minimalists Podcast, is often the #1 health show on Apple Podcasts, and his popular documentary, MINIMALISM, is available on Netflix. Raised in Dayton, Ohio, he currently lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a complete disappointment after reading an interview with the author. The writing is ostentatious and the main character is, at least in the first three chapters, overwhelmingly self involved. I have read several reviews that say they like the way this character develops, but I just didn't feel compelled to nurture the relationship with the book that long.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this book of off Amazon mostly because it was up for free. I enjoy reading "The Minimalist" by the same author, Joshua Fields Millburn. I have to admit that I was confused for half the book because the order of events that happen in the book overlap. I often found myself wanting to finish the book quickly so that I could move on to the next. About the mid-way point, I began to appreciate the book more, reading for the essence of the book rather than the end. I do find it a bit of cliché of the musician who could have had it all but lost it all. There were bits and pieces that I enjoyed and overall, I found the book to be a pleasant read. My only complaint is that the beginning was a little tedious to read.

[Matthew Lewellyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contained some beautiful writing, and interested me even though I wasn't sure why. Admittedly some of the frank (what can only be described as) douche-baggery of the main character seemed to go unaddressed, which did lean me towards dislike in terms of this book and characters in spite of my admiration for the author's nonfiction and other creative work. I understand that life is hardly free from douche-baggery behavior, but it did irk me when reading. However, there was most certainly beauty interspersed within the harsh albeit necessary crudeness within the novel. Admittedly certain degrees of the repetition seemed juvenile and the beginning of the book felt amateurish to a degree, but my initial presumptions on the writing quality did prove to be wrong around 1/3 of the way in, as I feel that things started to pick up and I wasn't as deeply focused on the sentence structure and word choice as opposed to the words themselves. Millburn has a very specific type of style that panned out well in the later portions of this book, but the first third is a rather rugged introduction. Overall something that I am glad to have read for my better knowledge of the author and his craft, but would most likely would not be reread. Jody Grafton felt like a self insert character with every quality ramped to the nth degree. Love JFM and his work, but this book did not cater to my liking.

[Rebekka Steg · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Decade Fades is a collection of shattered glimpses into the life of a broken man, Jody Grafton. We see little bits and pieces of his life, as his career as a singer-songwriter is falling apart and he himself tries to make sense of his life as he approaches thirty.

There were parts of this book that I absolutely loved, there is a lot of beauty, as well as a lot of rawness. Ultimately, however, I found it hard to care about the protagonist. Although most of his mistakes were made in his youth, I found myself caring much more for Jody as a young boy and man, than I did for the older, but also more cold and cynical man. Ironically though, I did love "his" song lyrics, and I found myself wishing there was an actual album.
Quotes

People don’t know how to love the ones they love until they disappear from their lives.

And yet they never found what they were looking for, and so their search continued— a target without a bullseye.

Sometimes the easiest things in life are the hardest and most frustrating things to understand.

It’s lonely at the top, but it’s crowded and miserable at the bottom.

Don’t give me your heart, I can’t even be trusted with my own, was the song he sang in his head but not aloud.

“You can’t get around what you have to go through,”

He knew his sorry couldn’t fix her broken heart. If you’re careless with something for long enough, it breaks.

People often avoid the truth for fear of destroying the illusions they’ve built.

— all of which questions he dismissed casually, because women are complex, insecure creatures. And so was he.

Those three words hurt infinitely more than all the punches combined; he wanted nothing but to be loved. But perhaps to hate someone this much you have to love them immensely. For a moment he understood how battered wives could repeatedly return to their husbands.

Sometimes we have to get everything we ever wanted before we realize that everything we wanted is not what we wanted at all.

“Sometimes love is sad. Sometimes it drops your heart from a great height and it shatters into a million tiny shards, and those shards are sharp and painful.”

“I look at it like this: love wins, but love also ends, and when it ends it’s painful. So winning— at least a part of winning— is painful.”

[Rosie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this one up for my Kindle during a free giveaway that the author was having on this blog, The Minimalists, which I read regularly. I didn't have too many expectations for this book, but I was left feeling a little disappointed. The story is all about Jody Grafton, a musician, who is in a transition period. He is not happy with his life, especially after a lot of things he did in his 20's like divorce his wife, get another girl pregnant, issues with drugs and alcohol, etc. So, he goes to Brooklyn for a couple weeks to get away from it all. During this time, he still messes up a lot, but manages to write a few songs and sort of want to turn around his life toward the end of this trip. I had a hard time sympathizing with this character, and I didn't feel happy or proud of him during any of this revelations or behavior changes. However, I did enjoy a lot of the little vignettes places throughout the book that showed small, short interactions between the characters, or a look into the past on their lives. I didn't think the dialog sounded that authentic, but I still enjoyed it for the most part. After this one, I am definitely more interested in just reading the author's works on minimalism, and I'm not sure if I would try another if his novels.

[Jake McCrary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this because it was offered as a free rental for Amazon and I enjoy reading the http://www.theminimalists.com/. Figured it was worth a shot reading a longer length novel from Millburn.

I found myself getting drawn into the progression of Jody (main character) as he matured and moved forward in life. I wanted to see what happened to him and felt compelled to continue reading.

The format of the book is a series of disjoint stories which worked fairly well. I didn't find it distracting and don't think it negatively impacted the story.

In terms of writing style I thought this book was crammed too full of metaphor to the point of being distracting. This wasn't a constant problem throughout the book but did show up in multiple stories.

I also have a problem with the use of footnotes. I expect most readers will read this book in an electronic form and at least on the Kindle version if you want to read the footnote you end up jumping to another page and then having to jump back. This breaks the your flow. If the footnotes had been able to be worked into the story it would have improved the reading experience.

[Ace · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Decade Fades tells the story of struggling musician Jody. The story line is interesting and emotional. Jody faces a deep depression and a lot of self-pity; Joshua Fields Millburn effectively displays these troubling emotions. Jody's character offers some complexity in his thoughts and actions. While the plot held my interest, parts of the novel felt underdeveloped. The ending was overly optimistic and didn't fit the story or the character.

Prior to reading As a Decade Fades, I read Millburn's memoir, Everything That Remains. While I wouldn't suggest the two are the same, they do cover some of the same material, such as the death of a mother and a broken romance. Out of the two, I found Everything That Remains to be the more compelling read.

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a difficult book for me at the beginning. At first I didn't understand the pace of the book with its chapters with songs lyrics or news articles from magazines. It was not something I was used to, maybe.

The tone of the book is very melancholic and when I started reading it I thought it was too sad for me. So I abandoned the book for a few months, stopping at around 15%.

I eventually read some more later and thought that maybe I was too judgmental of the book. The story is about Jody Grafton, a singer and songwriter that seemed very real to me, because he has his flaws, uncertainties and is just trying to get along with life.

I was completely hooked by the story at around 40% of the book, and couldn't put it down until I finished it. It was emotional with hints of sadness but also it had that realization that life is simple and we are the ones who actually complicate it.

[Nelle Guebara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joshua Fields Millburn has presented the reader with a wonderful piece of modern literary fiction in the novel As A Decade Fades. He has told the story of musician Jody Grafton as he recollects the last 10 years of his life in a narrative comprised of 24 short stories. Each section composed of prose that are raw and beautiful that paint the tormented past and troubled present of Jody. Millburn's style is so well executed that he can elicit the emotional response that Grafton is feeling from his own readers as he touched on the dysfunctions experienced by most GenXers. Leaving behind a memorable protagonist that readers can connect with regardless of if they like him or dislike him. As A Decade Fades is a must for anyone who truly enjoys great literature.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly relate-able story about love, loss, and how to get back up and be successful again after failing. Jody Grafton's experience is the human experience, and Joshua Field's Millburn is a master storyteller who pulls you inside his world and has you sympathizing with Jody when he is down and cheering for him at the end.

[Keets · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to agree with an earlier review. The book gets better towards the end, but some of the sentences and phrasing are painfully long and overly elaborate. Had a very difficult time getting through this.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. An edgy, sad and beautiful story. Kind of reminds me of a young Delillo.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overwritten metaphors and aimless description create a pretentious and boring story.

[Archana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was more like a screenplay done from a Wikipedia page of a musician. Light read but not that engrossing.

[Sean Agans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable and too many clichés.

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was strangely drawn into this book at every moment... it may not be a novel in any standard sense of the word, but something about it commits in a way I find excellent.

[Sonja Likness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling in parts, and a well-developed narrator. I found the writing style off-putting and inconsistent, but it's possible that it was just too arty for me. I liked that it had a redeeming ending.