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It Needs to Look Like We Tried: A Novel
"Todd Robert Petersen is crazy-talented, and the wild, weird, hilarious stories of It Needs to Look Like We Tried are just what's called for in these bizarre, frightening times." —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and Trajectory
Everyone has a dream, an idea, a goal. But what happens when those desires are thwarted, when dreams and goals fall apart? In It Needs to Look Like We Tried, Todd Robert Petersen explores the ways in which our failures work on the lives of others, weaving an intricate web of interconnected stories.
A fastidious man takes a detour on the way to his father's wedding and kicks off a series of events that ricochets from the bride to her real estate clients; to a crazed former homeowner and his sister-in-law's reality TV lover; to a hoarding family whose lives are wrecked by their appearance on the second-rate show. Their daughter decides to escape the gravity of her tiny town with the help of her boyfriend who has a not-quite-legal plan to scrape together enough money to fund their departure.
On their way across the country, these star-crossed lovers encounter our fastidious man, and the Rube-Goldberg machine of life continues. Their fling has petered out, and they are driving home, whatever home is left after walking away from everything they abandoned a month before.
Everyone has a dream, an idea, a goal. But what happens when those desires are thwarted, when dreams and goals fall apart? In It Needs to Look Like We Tried, Todd Robert Petersen explores the ways in which our failures work on the lives of others, weaving an intricate web of interconnected stories.
A fastidious man takes a detour on the way to his father's wedding and kicks off a series of events that ricochets from the bride to her real estate clients; to a crazed former homeowner and his sister-in-law's reality TV lover; to a hoarding family whose lives are wrecked by their appearance on the second-rate show. Their daughter decides to escape the gravity of her tiny town with the help of her boyfriend who has a not-quite-legal plan to scrape together enough money to fund their departure.
On their way across the country, these star-crossed lovers encounter our fastidious man, and the Rube-Goldberg machine of life continues. Their fling has petered out, and they are driving home, whatever home is left after walking away from everything they abandoned a month before.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 15, 2018
Less a novel than a tapestry of misery, desperation and regret. The sideways humor and vivid settings act like duct tape to keep the machinery moving forward. Well-written.
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August 25, 2020I love the idea of this book -- that one accident and ensuing incident can set off a chain reaction -- and picked it up on a whim. It helped that the title was clever and that the hardcover was blurbed by Richard Russo, and since I love his work, this seemed as though it might be in the same vein. But where Russo's characters are richly rounded and realistic, the characters in "It Needs to Look Like We Tried" fell flat. I've seen these before: the PE teacher as an overgrown jock, the deadbeat drug dealer, the tragic floozy, the cuckolded husband whose introspection lasts maybe a paragraph but whose rage lasts the entire story. The dialogue was stilted and forced at times, and there were no surprises aside from some haphazard violence (aside: the author needs to revisit the principle of Checkhov's gun). Ultimately, what should have been keen satire about American society was just sort of a limp mashup of cliches. I suspect that part of the problem was the presentation: a series of short stories slightly linked to each other were too short to fully develop the characters and their motivations; I finished each chapter not caring much about what happened to the characters, and as a reader, that's really disappointing. I think this author has talent, but this book felt like it needed another set of revisions with a better editor.
June 19, 2018
I really like this book. The situations the characters find themselves in are zany and heartbreaking; whether the characters suffer a misery of their own making or walk straight into bad luck, though, Petersen treats them with kindness, the kind of forbearance that says it's ok to screw up because that's what humans do. Each chapter feels like a fully crafted story, and honestly you could almost read them in random order and feel satisfied. Petersen takes each chapter, bound off as it is, puts the knitting needle back in to pick up a loop, then knits off a whole new scenario that reshapes the pattern without showing any seams. (I hesitated to use a knitting analogy to describe the craftsmanship, but another reviewer described the chapters as joined together by duct tape, which doesn't quite get at the seamlessness of the seemingly unrelated pieces). I'm looking forward to reading this again and spending time with these characters who just can't catch a break but who inspire a quiet hopefulness nonetheless.
January 16, 2021
This is a terrific book, but I didn’t start out thinking that way. The first two of these interconnected stories brought up incidents from my own life that I would prefer never to surface in my memory! But then I remembered that good books draw you in and so I forgot about my personal connection and just enjoyed this book. It is crammed with flawed people, mentally, physically, financially, morally flawed. Yet there are few that you continue to dislike as their stories expand. Well, at least two or three might be entirely despicable, but the circle expands to include their victims and most readers will probably sympathize with them. The writing is superb and the plots extend from funny to cruel to black-as-damn dark. The people are real and authentic, though they find themselves in circumstances that strain at their capacity to cope. Watching them manage their anger, fear and disillusionment is the real treat of this book. I found this book in a review of Todd Robert Petersen’s new book which is not available at my library yet. So I took a chance with this earlier book of his and I’m delighted that I did.
June 13, 2018
This is my idea of a perfect book.
Each character snaps to life the instant he or she walks on the page. Each scenario is electric with possibility for conflict.
Though I don't think the plot depends upon suspense, I'd rather not spoil anything, even with subtle hints. Instead, I will say that Petersen knows how to pace a story and breathe life into a character. Nothing feels artificial or forced, and the ending is satisfying without being overly cute. If you can allow the small ties between chapters to bind this story together as the author intended, you'll find a moving meditation on the ways that our lives overlap with one another and the way that each of us is the protagonist in our own minds. There are no secondary characters in this novel and that is the kind of story I love the best.
Each character snaps to life the instant he or she walks on the page. Each scenario is electric with possibility for conflict.
Though I don't think the plot depends upon suspense, I'd rather not spoil anything, even with subtle hints. Instead, I will say that Petersen knows how to pace a story and breathe life into a character. Nothing feels artificial or forced, and the ending is satisfying without being overly cute. If you can allow the small ties between chapters to bind this story together as the author intended, you'll find a moving meditation on the ways that our lives overlap with one another and the way that each of us is the protagonist in our own minds. There are no secondary characters in this novel and that is the kind of story I love the best.
July 27, 2018
Many of this novel's intertwining stories are full of sadness and losses of various kinds. But there are surprises along the way, some of them sort of ridiculous, and the final encounter that closes the loop of stories provides some measure of hope. And, the characterizations! Each person in this book seems real, and I loved many of them. Francis Bugg, with his finches. Hoot Jessup, standing up for his hoarder wife. Eric, truly seeing and appreciating Jaymee. Excellent writing, too, just a bit too sad for me at the moment.
November 21, 2018
Draw a line. Then draw a line breaking off of that line. Then draw another line breaking off of that line. Continue to do this....and somehow, connect everything into one giant circle. That's this book.
It Needs to Look Like We Tried is a novel, with many story lines, that are all connected in a roundabout way. It's funny, it's a tiny bit sad, it's fabulous. Todd Robert Petersen seems to write with a smirk. He knows where the story is going, but he likes to throw a wrench in your idea of where it should be going. This is my favorite book that I've read this year.
***one note***Peterson was a professor of mine at Oklahoma State - but that didn't affect my opinion on this book. I have been a fan of his writing since then and can't wait to see what comes next.
It Needs to Look Like We Tried is a novel, with many story lines, that are all connected in a roundabout way. It's funny, it's a tiny bit sad, it's fabulous. Todd Robert Petersen seems to write with a smirk. He knows where the story is going, but he likes to throw a wrench in your idea of where it should be going. This is my favorite book that I've read this year.
***one note***Peterson was a professor of mine at Oklahoma State - but that didn't affect my opinion on this book. I have been a fan of his writing since then and can't wait to see what comes next.
November 28, 2018
It's been a while since I've read a connected series of short stories, and after reading the first two, I wasn't sure how everything would fit together and wrap up, but it does so in the best possible way. Through Petersen's storytelling, we get insights into the best and worst of people, having the opportunity to laugh and love a wide spectrum of humanity. I can't wait to see what Petersen has in store next.
September 28, 2018
Definitely some funny parts, but overall just okay.
October 28, 2024
Reminded me of Raymond Carver’s Short Cuts.
“Nobody starts their life thinking it’ll end up this way,” Francis said. “If you did, you’d never have the courage to finish.”
A set of varied short stories that are all subtly interconnected with people whose efforts either backfire, fail, or leave them broken: a rigid and inflexible man who mistakes great sex for love, an expectant father buys a foreclosed house from a stalker, a family ruined by their appearance on a reality TV show makes an attempt at compensation from network scumbags who could care less about them, and a young man selling P2P to meth dealers as a way to solidify his relationship with his girlfriend and build a future for both of them.
“Doyle ordered a salad and paid with credit card. By the time he was done, she was sitting at a table facing the interstate. He stayed by the counter and looked back at the television, which now showed a commercial for a mutual fund. A slender older couple was riding bikes through a field of tulips, then sea-kayaking in Alaska, then nursing baby pandas. As the name of the mutual fund hovered over the waters of a fjord, Doyle found himself thinking about how long you’d have to work and be married to retire that way. 30 years? 40? Could anyone attain that kind of life? Would you tire of it in the end? What if you didn’t start until you were halfway done?”
Looking forward to reading more of Todd Robert Petersen’s work.
“Nobody starts their life thinking it’ll end up this way,” Francis said. “If you did, you’d never have the courage to finish.”
A set of varied short stories that are all subtly interconnected with people whose efforts either backfire, fail, or leave them broken: a rigid and inflexible man who mistakes great sex for love, an expectant father buys a foreclosed house from a stalker, a family ruined by their appearance on a reality TV show makes an attempt at compensation from network scumbags who could care less about them, and a young man selling P2P to meth dealers as a way to solidify his relationship with his girlfriend and build a future for both of them.
“Doyle ordered a salad and paid with credit card. By the time he was done, she was sitting at a table facing the interstate. He stayed by the counter and looked back at the television, which now showed a commercial for a mutual fund. A slender older couple was riding bikes through a field of tulips, then sea-kayaking in Alaska, then nursing baby pandas. As the name of the mutual fund hovered over the waters of a fjord, Doyle found himself thinking about how long you’d have to work and be married to retire that way. 30 years? 40? Could anyone attain that kind of life? Would you tire of it in the end? What if you didn’t start until you were halfway done?”
Looking forward to reading more of Todd Robert Petersen’s work.
August 16, 2019
Love this romp of a story that could be read as distinct short stories but in fact are all tied together randomly with connections of lives lived well...not so well. So we start with a man driving west to attend his father’s wedding to a real estate agent who we meet in the second story because she is selling a house to a couple who then buy on a foreclosure with a man who refuses to leave the house and who turns out to be the brother of Dr. Science who we meet in the next story. Dr. Science’s wife is having an affair with Vogel who is the crazy lead in the reality show which tapes Vogel murdering The reality show star, Hoot, and his wife committing suicide. So where is this going? In the last two chapters,we meet the daughters of Hoot, who are now orphaned and learn all about her deaf boyfriend who gets caught up in methadone brawl and heads out west with the orphaned daughters. Where he runs into the man who is driving west to attend his fathers wedding. One of the best book of short stories I have ever read. For those who love the magic of ‘shorts’ but with almost depraved yet mystical connections, this is your book. Read it.
November 28, 2018
...from my profile of Todd Robert Petersen at 15 Bytes:
IT NEEDS TO LOOK LIKE WE TRIED is a novel in stories. Stories that for the first third of the book make the reader wonder, “OK. I can see this coming together, sort of.” But very soon in the second third the reader sees the genius at work. Petersen has put his DNA into this novel; his principles and his own humorous surprise. Surprise. The novel satisfies . . . like a rub on the back sitting in a church pew? No, the milieu is off. It’s more like a Saturday night college party in the fall where there’s booze available, maybe a Pall Mall outside where all the cool dudes are hangin’ out. The sun is down a while ago and the moon is coming up. There’s smoke in this milieu. Smoke and plot. Characters. TV. Great film work. Todd Robert Petersen’s DNA. There’s nothing but truth. Truth, humor, and that industrious nest of hair.
http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/inde...
IT NEEDS TO LOOK LIKE WE TRIED is a novel in stories. Stories that for the first third of the book make the reader wonder, “OK. I can see this coming together, sort of.” But very soon in the second third the reader sees the genius at work. Petersen has put his DNA into this novel; his principles and his own humorous surprise. Surprise. The novel satisfies . . . like a rub on the back sitting in a church pew? No, the milieu is off. It’s more like a Saturday night college party in the fall where there’s booze available, maybe a Pall Mall outside where all the cool dudes are hangin’ out. The sun is down a while ago and the moon is coming up. There’s smoke in this milieu. Smoke and plot. Characters. TV. Great film work. Todd Robert Petersen’s DNA. There’s nothing but truth. Truth, humor, and that industrious nest of hair.
http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/inde...
August 17, 2018
A breezy, effortless read, this book is both heartbreaking and funny, though not substantial. Written as a collection of interconnected short stories, it is similar to Jennifer Egan’s Welcome To The Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize a few years ago. However, while this book is entertaining, it lacks the emotional depth of Goon Squad. The one standout story deals with a widower and his high school son, both dealing with the loss of their wife/mother in different ways, and yet the action takes us on to the next short story and ultimately left me unsatisfied. The one thing all the stories have in common are normal people feeling stuck in difficult circumstances, trying to figure things out. You may enjoy the book more than I did, but it felt to me like one of those movies that can’t decide if it wants to be a comedy or a drama when it grows up.
October 20, 2018
I'm not entirely sure why this says it's a novel. It is very clearly a collection of short stories that are barely linked to each other through the characters. This read like a first-time author, but I see that he has published a couple of other books. The descriptions of actions were particularly painful. And passive voice that was used incorrectly and not intended to have a specific purpose.
The characters were stereotypes. The stories were not all that interesting. There were so many typos! Is your character named "Margot" or "Margo"? Spelling your characters' names correctly and consistently is editing 101.
I wish I could remember where I learned of this book, so I can make sure to never take a recommendation from them again.
If your TBR pile will last you past your death, then skip this one completely. Save your time for anything else; it's bound to be better than this.
The characters were stereotypes. The stories were not all that interesting. There were so many typos! Is your character named "Margot" or "Margo"? Spelling your characters' names correctly and consistently is editing 101.
I wish I could remember where I learned of this book, so I can make sure to never take a recommendation from them again.
If your TBR pile will last you past your death, then skip this one completely. Save your time for anything else; it's bound to be better than this.
August 31, 2023
I really enjoyed this book, and it's very unique in its approach to storytelling. However, it ended with a few too many loose ends untied for it to have really hit for me. Most of the characters only appear in their short vignettes, and there simply isn't enough time to really become invested in them. For example, in the last chapter we re-meet Doyle and CJ - the two who kicked off this series of unfortunate events - and they've had months of development in their relationship that we as the reader didn't experience, so it's very difficult to feel emotional connection to them.
That aside, this is the first book of this kind (a novel told through short stories) that I've read, and I think it was successful in weaving together seemingly unrelated plots and people into a cohesive-ish novel.
That aside, this is the first book of this kind (a novel told through short stories) that I've read, and I think it was successful in weaving together seemingly unrelated plots and people into a cohesive-ish novel.
August 26, 2018
This is a novel with each chapter a different interconnected short story about characters whose stories intertwine through the novel. All of the characters are well written and come alive in a few short pages. I wanted more of every chapter’s main character. If there’s any criticism to be given it’s that I wanted the story of each chapter to go on longer, rather than flow into the next segment with different characters. Just as you fall for the one character the chapter is over and that part of the story is done. Still amazing how well done it is that in those few pages I could get on board with the characters so quickly. Very impressive writing.
January 29, 2019
I have never heard of this author before and, to tell you the honest truth, I've got no idea why I got hold of and read this book. But, boy, am I glad I did.
This author has written a book that 'changes to a new story at each chapter, while interweaving the characters & stories of the previous chapters. The topics covered by each chapter have you sitting back and revaluing your own life and reconsidering what lives others may be undergoing. Well edited also.
I have never come across a book like this before and it is quite ingenious in its presentation.
Highly recommend.
This author has written a book that 'changes to a new story at each chapter, while interweaving the characters & stories of the previous chapters. The topics covered by each chapter have you sitting back and revaluing your own life and reconsidering what lives others may be undergoing. Well edited also.
I have never come across a book like this before and it is quite ingenious in its presentation.
Highly recommend.
March 6, 2018
From the very first paragraph, I was intrigued, and continued to be entertained from there on out. Each character and POV is detailed and has their own voice; each experience is unique and also connects back to the over-arching story that enriches each shorter story. I enjoyed this book a lot, and will be recommending it to everyone I know with vigor.
July 8, 2018
Every kind of crazy appears in these linked stories. Mostly they are funny while being serious in tone, contemporary in setting while ancient in themes. And what about the birds (fowl) and the ideas of deafness? I loved the collection even when the stories turned serious: “Everything at that point was more than I could handle.”
Great read.
Great read.
March 30, 2019
This is really a book of short stories (not a novel, as I was expecting it to be). I enjoyed it, but I admit I am a sucker for interconnected stories. There is no guesswork involved here as to how they are connected; characters from one story carry on into the next, and it's wrapped up in the end. The characters are the unifying thread.
January 5, 2018
We start (and end) with Doyle, a man who has just hit a dog on his way to his father's wedding in California. This event kicks off a brilliantly-twisted collection of short stories all connected to Doyle's unfortunate decision to take a detour...
It Needs to Look Like to Tried has a similar feel to Richard Russo and his short story collection "Trajectory."
It Needs to Look Like to Tried has a similar feel to Richard Russo and his short story collection "Trajectory."
November 23, 2018
I don't enjoy books that go from one situation to a very different situation. It this case the stories were separate with very little connection. Well written stories but nothing special. Kind of sad!
December 10, 2020
I wish I hadn’t tried to read this one. The characters are all tied together but the story was strange and didn’t appeal to me. Luckily it was short -211 pages- so I didn’t waste too much time reading it.
August 18, 2018
This world is going to shit because nobody sues television shows anymore.
August 27, 2018
It was good! There are just no resolutions, so don’t expect any!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2018
These short stories fit together in such an interesting, humorous, heartbreaking, and page turning continuation of events.
September 27, 2018
It started out well, but faltered about a third of the way in. The book's promise of weaving the stories together only partially materialized. It turned out to be quite depressing.
September 24, 2021
A fun romp with surprising moments of poignancy.
October 24, 2021
I liked how the stories interconnected and then came full circle by the end. Characters were interesting.
May 25, 2022
Great story telling!
Loved it. Why is this not a movie!!! Is there a sequel, what else do you have? Enjoyed all of it.
Loved it. Why is this not a movie!!! Is there a sequel, what else do you have? Enjoyed all of it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews