Anything Is Good

by Fred Waitzkin

Two Bronx boys take radically different paths in this novel about the limits of genius and the loss of home, by a “terrifically gifted” author (Anita Shreve, New York Times–bestselling author).
 
Ralph Silverman was a foreign film buff, a victim of bullies, and a boy genius. He held long conversations with his pet parakeet and spent countless hours on a computer, creating mesmerizing music and solving problems in philosophy. He was a friend of great scholars and the son of a wealthy outer-borough businessman with shady associates and a secret second family. And, as he begins to take over the story from the narrator, Ralph finds himself in South Florida, physically abused and expelled into a frightening world of the unhoused—with a broken pair of glasses, no money, and no shoes.
 
From the celebrated author of Searching for Bobby Fischer, Anything Is Good is a hypnotically compelling tale of a man haunted by the fate of his childhood buddy, and of that friend’s pleasures and misfortunes as he navigates an unhoused life—a life more complex and dramatic than a bypasser might ever imagine.
 
“Anything Is Good . . . offers a deeply affecting dive into the lives of the unhoused. Its shifting perspective and changing narrative voice builds to a clarion call for greater empathy and understanding.” —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March
 
“Anything Is Good is the best portrait of homelessness I’ve read since George Orwell’s Down and Out in London and Paris. . . . Superbly written.” —Gabriel Byrne
 
Praise for Fred Waitzkin’s previous books
 
“Very few writers can deliver a story with this much heart . . . A great novel.” —Sebastian Junger
 
“I’ve seldom been so captivated by a book.” —Tom Stoppard
 
“A gem of a book.” —The New York Times

Genres: Fiction

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2024

About the author

Fred Waitzkin was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1943. When he was a teenager he wavered between wanting to spend his life as a fisherman, Afro Cuban drummer or novelist. He went to Kenyon College and did graduate study at New York University. His work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, Outside, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, the Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast, among other publications. His memoir, Searching for Bobby Fischer, was made into a major motion picture released in 1993. His other books are Mortal Games, The Last Marlin, and The Dream Merchant. Recently, he has completed an original screenplay, The Rave. Waitzkin lives in Manhattan with his wife, Bonnie, and has two children, Josh and Katya, and two grandsons, Jack and Charlie. He spends as much time as possible on the bridge of his old boat, The Ebb Tide, trolling baits off distant islands with his family. His novel, Deep Water Blues, will be published in spring 2019. You can find more on Fred Waitzkin at his website or check out some exclusive content on Facebook.

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Ralph, a brilliant man who never really fit into society and then sunk into homelessness for 20 years, was deeply disturbing. His family fell apart after his father’s fortune was frittered away, and they could no longer support Ralph with his eccentric ways and obsessions with computers and philosophy. Ralph never seemed to support himself financially, and had no real job skills to fall back on. Once he fell into homelessness in Miami Beach, his sole focus each day was to find food. Later, he moved to Pompano Beach and spent his days foraging for food in dumpsters, and his nights sleeping under the pier. He befriended a Chinese woman, and considered her his girlfriend, even though she was decades younger than him. But he never seemed to consider finding a way out of homelessness. That was his life, and he lived it day to day. The abrupt ending of the novel made it feel unfinished.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, well-written book with compelling subjects. I enjoyed the shifting perspective, from Fred to Ralph, and I thought that it dealt with the issues of homelessness and "otherness" with depth, insight, and compassion. Ralph is an excellent character; someone who exists outside the norms of society and the ruling order of capitalism, and suffers for it, despite his brilliance.

While the novel passes time without much regard to how much time has passed -- you never really get a feel for what year it is, or how old Ralph is, unless he explicitly states it -- I think it adds to the sense of how being adrift in life and without a home could feel. The novel sometimes is short on dialogue and heavy on exposition, but I feel like this, too, is in line with how Ralph experiences the world. Despite these non-conventions, I tore through this novel and found it engaging from cover to cover, including the postscripts that detail the author's real-life inspirations. I'm surprised this book hasn't garnered more attention, because it is deserving of a much wider audience.

I found out about Anything Is Good thanks to Waitzkin's appearance on the "History of Literature" podcast. It's a great episode, and I found Waitzkin to be a thoughtful, likeable interview subject. I'm glad I took the time to seek out this latest effort.

[Karen Koppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book based on a true story of a genius with difficulty fitting in with the real world. He chooses a life of homelessness. The author relates many experiences that the protagonist told him about his life. Lots of dumpster diving, homeless people he spent time with, places he found to make a "home" for himself, a tender love affair he has. But everything was so short lived - people came and went - no stability in his life at all. The ending was very abrupt. The epilogue further explained his relationship with the author but the book for me was tragic. A waste of a genius mind.

[Ju · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf
Could not get into the book, despite being very interested in the subject matter of a homeless person with mental health issues since childhood.
Maybe come back to the book

[Laurel Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 A bit of a ride. Not until about a third of the way into the book did I connect with it. It felt forced avant garde or something which is odd because it turns on a dime into the main character's life as a homeless person. Slightly Beautiful Mind meets Rough Sleepers. It does share a fictionalized version of his real life friend's many years of homelessness and those stories are harrowing and heartfelt but the "cruzy" way in which this book is laid out and so abruptly ends - which I can only imagine is done quite purposefully - is odd. Still a good read overall.