The End of All Things Planned For

by Christopher Patrick Steffen

A descent into the suburban nihilism of the mid 2000s, Christopher Patrick Steffen's debut novel journeys through keg parties, rock shows, and mundane day jobs. Blake is a fledgling writer, whose novel manuscript has recently been deleted by his girlfriend. His artist brother, Taylor, hasn't finished a painting since the end of his own relationship. Their father, Albert, can't seem to communicate with either of his artistic children, while their mother, Karen, is an alcoholic lost in daydreams and memories. As the story unfolds from the different characters' perspectives, common connective threads are drawn between family members: alcoholism, anxiety, a struggle to connect with others in lasting relationships.

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2014

Reviews

[Cole Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I live with the authors nephew, he’s my best friend and told me to read this book his uncle wrote. Really loved the chapters from Blake’s perspective and the last chapter was really something to me, it felt like a conversation I’d had with my roommate 1000 times. I live in Salt Lake City and so reading something so very blantly taking place in the same city as me, just twenty years prior was special.

[Turi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. It's told from the point of view of two grown brothers and their parents. I think everyone can find a bit of themselves in this novel, but at the same time the story is entirely new. I'd recommend reading this book for sure!