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A Philosophy of Ruin
A young philosophy professor finds himself in the middle of a drug-running operation after his personal life derails in this taut, white-knuckle debut for fans of Breaking Bad
Oscar Boatwright, a disenchanted philosophy professor, receives terrible news. His mother, on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father, has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land.
Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord. To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run.
A Philosophy of Ruin rumbles with brooding nihilism, then it cracks like a whip, hurtling Oscar and Dawn toward a terrifying threat on the road. Can Oscar halt the acceleration of chaos? Or was his fate never in his control? Taut, ferocious and blazingly intelligent, A Philosophy of Ruin is a heart-pounding thrill ride into the darkest corners of human geography, and a philosophical reckoning with the forces that determine our destiny.
Oscar Boatwright, a disenchanted philosophy professor, receives terrible news. His mother, on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father, has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land.
Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord. To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run.
A Philosophy of Ruin rumbles with brooding nihilism, then it cracks like a whip, hurtling Oscar and Dawn toward a terrifying threat on the road. Can Oscar halt the acceleration of chaos? Or was his fate never in his control? Taut, ferocious and blazingly intelligent, A Philosophy of Ruin is a heart-pounding thrill ride into the darkest corners of human geography, and a philosophical reckoning with the forces that determine our destiny.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2019
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2382 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
May 10, 2019
Oscar Boatwright's life is crashing in slow motion.
He's received news his mother died on a flight home from Hawaii. His father arrives at his home, stunned and still numb.
To make matters worse, Oscar learns his mother's depression had overwhelmed her and led his parents to spend tens of thousands of dollars on seminars with self help guru Paul St. Germaine.
Now Oscar's dad has not only lost his life savings but the wife he longed to save from deep depression ...and he still owes thousands to St. Germaine.
Oscar's extremely modest income as a philosophy professor barely covers his expenses and student loan debt so he's hopeful his wealthy sister will be able to help their dad in his dire financial situation. It isn't long before his sister confides she and her husband are separating and their finances haven't been great since the market turned.
Just when life seems it can't possibly get any worse, Oscar has a drunken one night stand with a woman he meets in a bar ... and finds her sitting in his class the next day.
Dawn isn't just his student, she's also a drug dealer. While Oscar attempts to remove himself from the awkward situation, he's drawn further into Dawn's world, and she knows some of his story. Enough to know Oscar won't say no to helping with a large drug run, both out of fear she'll blackmail him and because he can't possibly turn down $30,000 in his current situation.
Numb from his recent loss, disillusioned by the past, and uncertain of his future, Oscar sets out with a simple plan: drive a borrowed Land Rover to a GPS programmed location several hours away, pick up a backpack, and return to campus. That's it.
His simple plan takes a dramatic turn when Oscar believes he's being followed by a black truck. What follows is an abrupt and terrifying turn into chaos.
A Philosophy of Ruin begins with a man struggling to come to terms with his mother's mental illness and sudden death and evolves into the story of a man trying to escape a dangerous drug run.
Mancusi manages to deliver this novel in a controlled way though the events are a dramatic and sudden spiral. I could compare the plot and delivery to the television show Breaking Bad which has a similar tone and theme.
The ending was abrupt and lacking for me personally but this was still an overall fantastic novel!
Thanks to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. A Philosophy of Ruin is scheduled for release on June 18, 2019.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
He's received news his mother died on a flight home from Hawaii. His father arrives at his home, stunned and still numb.
To make matters worse, Oscar learns his mother's depression had overwhelmed her and led his parents to spend tens of thousands of dollars on seminars with self help guru Paul St. Germaine.
Now Oscar's dad has not only lost his life savings but the wife he longed to save from deep depression ...and he still owes thousands to St. Germaine.
Oscar's extremely modest income as a philosophy professor barely covers his expenses and student loan debt so he's hopeful his wealthy sister will be able to help their dad in his dire financial situation. It isn't long before his sister confides she and her husband are separating and their finances haven't been great since the market turned.
Just when life seems it can't possibly get any worse, Oscar has a drunken one night stand with a woman he meets in a bar ... and finds her sitting in his class the next day.
Dawn isn't just his student, she's also a drug dealer. While Oscar attempts to remove himself from the awkward situation, he's drawn further into Dawn's world, and she knows some of his story. Enough to know Oscar won't say no to helping with a large drug run, both out of fear she'll blackmail him and because he can't possibly turn down $30,000 in his current situation.
Numb from his recent loss, disillusioned by the past, and uncertain of his future, Oscar sets out with a simple plan: drive a borrowed Land Rover to a GPS programmed location several hours away, pick up a backpack, and return to campus. That's it.
His simple plan takes a dramatic turn when Oscar believes he's being followed by a black truck. What follows is an abrupt and terrifying turn into chaos.
A Philosophy of Ruin begins with a man struggling to come to terms with his mother's mental illness and sudden death and evolves into the story of a man trying to escape a dangerous drug run.
Mancusi manages to deliver this novel in a controlled way though the events are a dramatic and sudden spiral. I could compare the plot and delivery to the television show Breaking Bad which has a similar tone and theme.
The ending was abrupt and lacking for me personally but this was still an overall fantastic novel!
Thanks to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. A Philosophy of Ruin is scheduled for release on June 18, 2019.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
July 13, 2019
Meh. I respect some of the author’s ideas but the ending was a miss for me.
July 30, 2019
I was impressed with some of the reviews I saw for this book. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. If you read the publisher's blurb, you know the gist of the story. Advertised as a journey into nihilism, it does just that. However, the road is paved with predictable characters and a very Hollywood action thriller style ride.
If you like action this book is for you. It has a few dashes of thriller (small dashes) in the mix, cuz when you do bad things, you are bound to mix with bad people, who do nasty things. Additionally, there is a burning anger towards a guru who snookered Oscar's mom. Oscar and his father are both tormented by this man's control over their mother and wife. It fuels their frustration at her sudden departure and becomes the trajectory for Oscars crazy adventures.
I think we are supposed to connect with Oscar and his reassessment of his life's commitment to philosophy but he seems very flat as a character and I didn't feel any emotional connection, unfortunately. The drug dealing girlfriend is simply in place to engage his thoughts away from his career and his loss and into her panties. Frankly, I wasn't impressed with any of the characters and the plot meandered. Then too there was the lack of realism in the last 2/3 of the book. I found my eyes rolling again and again as this ordinary man becomes extraordinary exiting a "hospital setting" after only two days after a bullet nearly removes his innards. He is on a mission, a ridiculous pursuit. It had some potential and unlike the bullet that hit him in the gut, strayed very far from the bull's eye.
One of the review on the back cover said it was made for Hollywood. That's true but not in a good way. If it achieves making it on the screen, it will be your television. This was a very unimpressive D movie that will go straight to DVD. I contemplated abandoning it several times and upon conclusion, I was ready to take one of the many guns from the story and shoot myself for being so wasteful with my time. The last few chapters were incoherent at times. They were so jumbled that I had to reread a group of paragraphs to understand a passage. When I closed the book, the only thing I could say was "Huh".
This should come with a warning: AVOID!
If you like action this book is for you. It has a few dashes of thriller (small dashes) in the mix, cuz when you do bad things, you are bound to mix with bad people, who do nasty things. Additionally, there is a burning anger towards a guru who snookered Oscar's mom. Oscar and his father are both tormented by this man's control over their mother and wife. It fuels their frustration at her sudden departure and becomes the trajectory for Oscars crazy adventures.
I think we are supposed to connect with Oscar and his reassessment of his life's commitment to philosophy but he seems very flat as a character and I didn't feel any emotional connection, unfortunately. The drug dealing girlfriend is simply in place to engage his thoughts away from his career and his loss and into her panties. Frankly, I wasn't impressed with any of the characters and the plot meandered. Then too there was the lack of realism in the last 2/3 of the book. I found my eyes rolling again and again as this ordinary man becomes extraordinary exiting a "hospital setting" after only two days after a bullet nearly removes his innards. He is on a mission, a ridiculous pursuit. It had some potential and unlike the bullet that hit him in the gut, strayed very far from the bull's eye.
One of the review on the back cover said it was made for Hollywood. That's true but not in a good way. If it achieves making it on the screen, it will be your television. This was a very unimpressive D movie that will go straight to DVD. I contemplated abandoning it several times and upon conclusion, I was ready to take one of the many guns from the story and shoot myself for being so wasteful with my time. The last few chapters were incoherent at times. They were so jumbled that I had to reread a group of paragraphs to understand a passage. When I closed the book, the only thing I could say was "Huh".
This should come with a warning: AVOID!
June 27, 2019
I saw a review of this book and was intrigued by the summary of its plot of having a philosophy professor plucked from his safe if boring life and pushed into the world of drug-runners. It seemed to have possibilities. Moreover, it was another debut novel and my recent experience with first novels has been very good so I was ready to give another one a chance.
Oscar Boatwright is the professor - actually assistant professor making barely $20,000 a year - of philosophy in question. His school is never actually named but is somewhere on the West Coast. He teaches introductory classes as well as some more advanced ones. He seems to be sleepwalking through his existence until one day he is shocked into wakefulness by a phone call. He is told that his mother has died on an airplane flight from Hawaii. He had no idea his parents were in Hawaii. After all, they lived in Indiana.
Oscar learns that his mother, who had suffered from lifelong clinical depression, had fallen under the sway of a self-help guru named Paul St. Germaine. She had watched all of his tapes assiduously and had followed that up by attending his seminars in Hawaii. All of this seemed to be helping her and so her husband, Lee, went along with it. They were returning from one of the seminars in Hawaii when she died.
As Oscar absorbs all of this new information about his parents, he also learns from his father that the seminars and other accoutrements of St. Germaine's "self-help" program have taken all his parents' savings and, in fact, they are now $20,000 in debt to him. When he calls his sister in Indiana to inform her of their mother's death, she is devastated, not only by the death but also by the fact that she had hoped to get some financial help from her parents. She is divorcing her successful businessman husband.
To drown his sorrows, Oscar goes out drinking with friends and meets a young woman whom he ends up taking home and to bed. When he wakes up the next morning, she is gone. Later, he is appalled when he recognizes her sitting in one of his intro classes. She is one of his students! His liaison with her could cost him his job if it becomes known.
Although he attempts to extricate himself from the situation, he finds himself inextricably drawn to the young woman whose name is Dawn. He seems unable to resist the continuing sexual relationship. Then the bill comes due.
Dawn explains that she needs his help in bringing "a shipment" in from the border. If he refuses, she will expose their relationship to the university administration.
His mother is dead, his parents' money is all gone, his sister is in the middle of a divorce, and his meager earnings do not permit him to help anyone, hardly even himself. He is promised a big payoff if he will simply pick up a package and deliver it. How can he say no?
Of course, the pick-up and delivery do not turn out to be as simple as advertised. There are bad guys who also want that package and are willing to kill to get it. The odds of Oscar ever making it home again do not seem promising.
As Oscar's odds declined, so did the novel's. It started out promisingly enough, but by midway through, the plot was becoming a bit unraveled. Character development was minimal at best. I never really got to know what motivated Oscar. Philosophy? A belief in free will? He just seemed a sad-sack with no real passions. Dawn was just a cipher. Who knows who she really was or what she wanted? And the same was true of the father and sister. I was disappointed in it all. After all that, the ending was really just a hot mess. It was unsatisfying and didn't resolve anything.
My conclusion is that the idea for the novel was intriguing and definitely had possibilities, but the execution did not do it justice.
Oscar Boatwright is the professor - actually assistant professor making barely $20,000 a year - of philosophy in question. His school is never actually named but is somewhere on the West Coast. He teaches introductory classes as well as some more advanced ones. He seems to be sleepwalking through his existence until one day he is shocked into wakefulness by a phone call. He is told that his mother has died on an airplane flight from Hawaii. He had no idea his parents were in Hawaii. After all, they lived in Indiana.
Oscar learns that his mother, who had suffered from lifelong clinical depression, had fallen under the sway of a self-help guru named Paul St. Germaine. She had watched all of his tapes assiduously and had followed that up by attending his seminars in Hawaii. All of this seemed to be helping her and so her husband, Lee, went along with it. They were returning from one of the seminars in Hawaii when she died.
As Oscar absorbs all of this new information about his parents, he also learns from his father that the seminars and other accoutrements of St. Germaine's "self-help" program have taken all his parents' savings and, in fact, they are now $20,000 in debt to him. When he calls his sister in Indiana to inform her of their mother's death, she is devastated, not only by the death but also by the fact that she had hoped to get some financial help from her parents. She is divorcing her successful businessman husband.
To drown his sorrows, Oscar goes out drinking with friends and meets a young woman whom he ends up taking home and to bed. When he wakes up the next morning, she is gone. Later, he is appalled when he recognizes her sitting in one of his intro classes. She is one of his students! His liaison with her could cost him his job if it becomes known.
Although he attempts to extricate himself from the situation, he finds himself inextricably drawn to the young woman whose name is Dawn. He seems unable to resist the continuing sexual relationship. Then the bill comes due.
Dawn explains that she needs his help in bringing "a shipment" in from the border. If he refuses, she will expose their relationship to the university administration.
His mother is dead, his parents' money is all gone, his sister is in the middle of a divorce, and his meager earnings do not permit him to help anyone, hardly even himself. He is promised a big payoff if he will simply pick up a package and deliver it. How can he say no?
Of course, the pick-up and delivery do not turn out to be as simple as advertised. There are bad guys who also want that package and are willing to kill to get it. The odds of Oscar ever making it home again do not seem promising.
As Oscar's odds declined, so did the novel's. It started out promisingly enough, but by midway through, the plot was becoming a bit unraveled. Character development was minimal at best. I never really got to know what motivated Oscar. Philosophy? A belief in free will? He just seemed a sad-sack with no real passions. Dawn was just a cipher. Who knows who she really was or what she wanted? And the same was true of the father and sister. I was disappointed in it all. After all that, the ending was really just a hot mess. It was unsatisfying and didn't resolve anything.
My conclusion is that the idea for the novel was intriguing and definitely had possibilities, but the execution did not do it justice.
June 22, 2019
***3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars ***
Publication: June 18th, 2019
Oscar Boatwright is a philosophy professor at a university finds out that his mother passes away during a flight to Hawaii, a flight he didn't even know she was taking. Turns out his family was in significant debt and as Oscar is mourning he mistakenly sleeps with one of his students from a bar, Dawn. Dawn blackmails Oscar and wants his help smuggling drugs for her and a drug lord in exchange for her silence. This book has SO much potential. I was so hooked from the beginning but then it became a little unbelievable and far fetched for me. I did a couple eye rolls here and there but I still enjoyed the story for what it was. Overall, I think this is a high quality debut novel and I look forward to reading more from Nicholas Mancusi in the future.
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Hanover Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Publication: June 18th, 2019
Oscar Boatwright is a philosophy professor at a university finds out that his mother passes away during a flight to Hawaii, a flight he didn't even know she was taking. Turns out his family was in significant debt and as Oscar is mourning he mistakenly sleeps with one of his students from a bar, Dawn. Dawn blackmails Oscar and wants his help smuggling drugs for her and a drug lord in exchange for her silence. This book has SO much potential. I was so hooked from the beginning but then it became a little unbelievable and far fetched for me. I did a couple eye rolls here and there but I still enjoyed the story for what it was. Overall, I think this is a high quality debut novel and I look forward to reading more from Nicholas Mancusi in the future.
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Hanover Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2019
Oscar Boatwright is shocked when he receives a call that his mother died on a flight from Hawaii to California. His parents live in Indiana, and he had no idea that they were coming to visit him, much less that they’d been in Hawaii. Soon, he learns the purpose behind their trip. His mother, Delia, suffering lifelong depression, had fallen under the spell of self-help guru Paul St. Germaine. Starting slow, she watched all of his video seminars, then started attending seminars in Hawaii, and finally paid extra for special session with St. Germaine himself. Because this seemed to help Delia, Lee consented.
However, these expensive sessions have not only stripped the elder Boatwrights of their entire savings; they also owe over $20,000. An assistant professor of philosophy who barely makes over $20,000 a year before taxes, Oscar isn’t in much of a position to help his father. He hoped his older sister Grace, married to a wealthy businessman, might contribute, but at the funeral, he learns that she is getting divorced and planned to ask her parents for help with her legal bills.
Oscar illegally downloads St. Germaine’s video lectures and learns that his lessons revolve around embracing insignificance and rejecting free will. Not only is he angry with this man who he felt cheated his parents out of their money; he is offended that St. Germaine is perverting his field, philosophy, with conclusions based on false premises and faulty evidence.
Meanwhile, the term has begun and Oscar revs up to teach his Intro to Philosophy class and grade the many papers his students submit. In his free time, when not watching St. Germaine’s lectures, he spends time with his one friend, Sundeep, another professor in his department. Sundeep convinces him to attend a guest lecture, and the lecturer enjoys the graduate school groupies so insists on dinner at a bar instead of a restaurant. Oscar drinks heavily, and early that morning wakes up with a young woman in his bed.
The next day, he is mortified to learn that that the young woman, Dawn, is a student in one of his classes. Although he tries to extricate himself from the entanglement to protect his career, he is undeniably drawn to her and unsuccessful in cutting personal ties. Their relationship becomes even more complicated when she tells him that she is a drug dealer and needs him to make a pick-up for him. He’ll earn a large sum, but if he refuses, she might report their sexual encounters.
Oscar knows that he shouldn’t agree, but he fears the consequences of refusing, he’s tempted by the money, and he’s seduced by the danger. Once he picks up the package, though, the danger is greater than he imagined, and his training as a philosophy instructor certainly is insufficient when confronting rival drug dealers and partners he can’t trust.
Although Oscar had adamantly rejected St. Germaine’s message, his trajectory since his mother died questioned the very foundations of his life philosophy. Was he in control of his behavior, making decisions that led him from point to point? Or was his free will a myth, his path established long ago and out of his control?
Setting a philosophy professor against a self-help guru offered a new and interesting take on the concept of free will, but A Philosophy of Ruin did not take full use of the opportunity. The kind of questions I would expect Oscar to ask due to his academic training were missing. The dialectic between free will and determinism formed the overarching theme of the novel, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t addressed in this way.
At times, Oscar was a sympathetic character, and Mancusi’s prose to describe his inner dialogue was so spot on, I thought he was describing my own thoughts. As Oscar descended deeper into ruin, though, he was less fathomable, though I suppose that’s the point.
As a character, though she had potential, Dawn never fully came together for me since it was never quite clear what her motives were and if she was being sincere or manipulative. She did show, however, that she was willing to make sacrifices for her partners.
Though his foray into drug dealing might be the biggest danger he faces, Oscar’s largest challenge is coming to terms with St. Germaine and his ideas, and his final accounting as well as the ending of the book, including his father’s role, were unsatisfying to me.
That said, A Philosophy of Ruin, a quick read, offers a portrait of an ordinary and even boring man whose life quickly diverges into an otherworldly disaster provoking the question: at what point can personal tragedy be averted?
Thanks to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for providing an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
...aka darzy... | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
However, these expensive sessions have not only stripped the elder Boatwrights of their entire savings; they also owe over $20,000. An assistant professor of philosophy who barely makes over $20,000 a year before taxes, Oscar isn’t in much of a position to help his father. He hoped his older sister Grace, married to a wealthy businessman, might contribute, but at the funeral, he learns that she is getting divorced and planned to ask her parents for help with her legal bills.
Oscar illegally downloads St. Germaine’s video lectures and learns that his lessons revolve around embracing insignificance and rejecting free will. Not only is he angry with this man who he felt cheated his parents out of their money; he is offended that St. Germaine is perverting his field, philosophy, with conclusions based on false premises and faulty evidence.
Meanwhile, the term has begun and Oscar revs up to teach his Intro to Philosophy class and grade the many papers his students submit. In his free time, when not watching St. Germaine’s lectures, he spends time with his one friend, Sundeep, another professor in his department. Sundeep convinces him to attend a guest lecture, and the lecturer enjoys the graduate school groupies so insists on dinner at a bar instead of a restaurant. Oscar drinks heavily, and early that morning wakes up with a young woman in his bed.
The next day, he is mortified to learn that that the young woman, Dawn, is a student in one of his classes. Although he tries to extricate himself from the entanglement to protect his career, he is undeniably drawn to her and unsuccessful in cutting personal ties. Their relationship becomes even more complicated when she tells him that she is a drug dealer and needs him to make a pick-up for him. He’ll earn a large sum, but if he refuses, she might report their sexual encounters.
Oscar knows that he shouldn’t agree, but he fears the consequences of refusing, he’s tempted by the money, and he’s seduced by the danger. Once he picks up the package, though, the danger is greater than he imagined, and his training as a philosophy instructor certainly is insufficient when confronting rival drug dealers and partners he can’t trust.
Although Oscar had adamantly rejected St. Germaine’s message, his trajectory since his mother died questioned the very foundations of his life philosophy. Was he in control of his behavior, making decisions that led him from point to point? Or was his free will a myth, his path established long ago and out of his control?
Setting a philosophy professor against a self-help guru offered a new and interesting take on the concept of free will, but A Philosophy of Ruin did not take full use of the opportunity. The kind of questions I would expect Oscar to ask due to his academic training were missing. The dialectic between free will and determinism formed the overarching theme of the novel, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t addressed in this way.
At times, Oscar was a sympathetic character, and Mancusi’s prose to describe his inner dialogue was so spot on, I thought he was describing my own thoughts. As Oscar descended deeper into ruin, though, he was less fathomable, though I suppose that’s the point.
As a character, though she had potential, Dawn never fully came together for me since it was never quite clear what her motives were and if she was being sincere or manipulative. She did show, however, that she was willing to make sacrifices for her partners.
Though his foray into drug dealing might be the biggest danger he faces, Oscar’s largest challenge is coming to terms with St. Germaine and his ideas, and his final accounting as well as the ending of the book, including his father’s role, were unsatisfying to me.
That said, A Philosophy of Ruin, a quick read, offers a portrait of an ordinary and even boring man whose life quickly diverges into an otherworldly disaster provoking the question: at what point can personal tragedy be averted?
Thanks to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for providing an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
...aka darzy... | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
December 5, 2018
"Oscar Boatwright’s mother had died in her seat during a f light from Hawaii to California, and his father had been made to sit for three hours in the same aircraft as her cooling body."
Great 1st sentence! I always adore when a book gets off to a start like this. Good job author Nicholas Mancusi.
I find the rest of this review difficult to write. There were parts I enjoyed very much, the "thriller" aspects if you will. Also, the primary characters were nicely developed, if a tad unbelievable.
However, for me, there was just way too much "rambling", the "philosophy" segments could have been tightened. I know, the title is Philosophy of Ruin, so of course philosophy has to play a big part, but I really think it could have been tightened and the reader would have still gotten the point without having to endure so much rambling.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for this opportunity.
Great 1st sentence! I always adore when a book gets off to a start like this. Good job author Nicholas Mancusi.
I find the rest of this review difficult to write. There were parts I enjoyed very much, the "thriller" aspects if you will. Also, the primary characters were nicely developed, if a tad unbelievable.
However, for me, there was just way too much "rambling", the "philosophy" segments could have been tightened. I know, the title is Philosophy of Ruin, so of course philosophy has to play a big part, but I really think it could have been tightened and the reader would have still gotten the point without having to endure so much rambling.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for this opportunity.
July 31, 2019
A Philosophy of Ruin had a great beginning, an okay middle, and a less than impressive ending. I actually reread the end of the book, hoping that I missed something; The something that gave the book meaning but I didn't ...
January 3, 2019
An absolutely thrilling debut that had me hooked from the first page.
March 15, 2020
.
A Philosophy of Ruin
• by Nicholas Mancusi (published 2019, under 300 pages)
OVERVIEW:
A young philosophy professor (29-year-old Oscar Boatwright) finds himself in the middle of a drug-running operation after his personal life derails in this taut, white-knuckle debut for fans of Breaking Bad
Oscar..., a disenchanted (assistant) philosophy professor (at a northern California College), receives terrible news. His mother (Delia), on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father (Lee), has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land.
Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn (age 22) becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord.
To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru (Paul St. Germaine) who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run.... (edited)
.
It was a lot to take in for Oscar. Mom's chronic depression had improved using the guru's self-help DVD series and by attending the many obscenely pricey seminars in Hawaii. Dad could see the happy changes in his wife and so, accepts having spent their nest egg. He owns his house (the family home in Indiana), but there's still a huge bill owed to Guru Germaine.
Mom is dead and Oscar fears he may have inherited her depression. His big sister Gracie, a mother-of-three, is divorcing and needs money for legal fees. She was counting on her parent's aid. As an assistant professor Oscar doesn't make much and still has a huge student loan debt from grad school. While drowning his woes in booze Oscar pours out his soul to a young woman at the bar and so that's how Dawn ended up going home with him.
It seems Dawn needed a long-distance driver to transport drugs. He fears the college's policy on professors bedding their students and Dawn threatens blackmail if he doesn't agree to work for her--plus the family needs money. So with the promise of stacks of cash for a weekend drive to the Mexican border, Oscar for the first time in his life, sets out to commit a serious, life-altering crime.
Dawn gives him a Range Rover to use (he doesn't own a car), the destination 10 hours away is already programmed into the GPS.
The self-help guru Paul St Germaine (a self styled philosopher) has made Oscar indignant. He downloads the video series that so sucked in his mom and secretly fears it may have some appeal--addressing Oscar's own misery. The self-help series is supposed to unlock the potential of the mind and seems to promote Determinism and Nihilism while disputing Choice and Free Will, etcetera. Oscar contacts the con man by email, being especially motivated by the loss of Mom and Dad's money (all of their retirement savings) now lining the charlatan's pockets.
In a remote area down near the border Oscar picks up the drugs with no trouble at all. A guy on an ATV drove out of the desert, handed him a backpack containing 4 kilos of cocaine and drove off. At first Oscar doesn't know there's a tracking device in one of the cocaine bricks. Yes, a rival group is after the drugs--stealing them once they've crossed the border. Matadamas seems to be a minor drug lord, killer and he's incompetent. Oscar is able to wrestle Matadamas' .38 revolver away from him and order him out of the car (he should have shot him dead).
Back home Oscar, Dawn and her drug-dealer partner Ramos have a run-in with Matadamas and his gang. They get away, but Oscar is gut-shot. No sooner is he patched up when he gets an urgent call from his sister. Their dad and his rifle are missing. He's headed for an address in New Mexico, so says the letter dad left on the table for them. Ignoring the pleading cries of his girlfriend and lover Dawn, Oscar heads out after his dad. In New Mexico Oscar is in bad shape. His wound is bleeding and he's hallucinating, but he does find Dad at the house of Paul St Germaine, the creepy Guru.
(Okay this is a little odd, at the beginning of the story dad defended the guru because he had been such a help to his wife. Now he seems to have flipped out and irrationally blames the guru for his wife's death).
The 84-year-old St Germaine is gagged and duct taped to a chair when Oscar enters the house. His dad confesses he's gone too far and claims he came to talk things over with St Germaine, well yes and to kill him. At this point Oscar is in bad shape and seems to believe he has died. Are his actions predetermined--he asks of the guru, aiming the .38 revolver at St Germaine's head. Inadvertently he pulls the trigger. Click, it's empty.
There was the sound of a rifle shot out back. Dad is in misery without his wife and now in remorse over his actions--did he end it? Oscar doesn't see his body in the expanse of desert behind the house. Sirens are approaching and Oscar heads out into the desert, in his delirium, time and distance are slipping by. Soon the house is out of sight and he ends up collapsing in the rocky dust--staring up at the stars.
.
Well done and tragic all around.
Like Breaking Bad which was mentioned in the overview, what could be wrong with making some fast cash to help your family? As Walter White and his loved ones discovered and those in this story also learned, there are a great many things that can go tragically wrong when one enters the drug world.
..
A Philosophy of Ruin
• by Nicholas Mancusi (published 2019, under 300 pages)
OVERVIEW:
A young philosophy professor (29-year-old Oscar Boatwright) finds himself in the middle of a drug-running operation after his personal life derails in this taut, white-knuckle debut for fans of Breaking Bad
Oscar..., a disenchanted (assistant) philosophy professor (at a northern California College), receives terrible news. His mother (Delia), on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father (Lee), has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land.
Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn (age 22) becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord.
To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru (Paul St. Germaine) who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run.... (edited)
.
It was a lot to take in for Oscar. Mom's chronic depression had improved using the guru's self-help DVD series and by attending the many obscenely pricey seminars in Hawaii. Dad could see the happy changes in his wife and so, accepts having spent their nest egg. He owns his house (the family home in Indiana), but there's still a huge bill owed to Guru Germaine.
Mom is dead and Oscar fears he may have inherited her depression. His big sister Gracie, a mother-of-three, is divorcing and needs money for legal fees. She was counting on her parent's aid. As an assistant professor Oscar doesn't make much and still has a huge student loan debt from grad school. While drowning his woes in booze Oscar pours out his soul to a young woman at the bar and so that's how Dawn ended up going home with him.
It seems Dawn needed a long-distance driver to transport drugs. He fears the college's policy on professors bedding their students and Dawn threatens blackmail if he doesn't agree to work for her--plus the family needs money. So with the promise of stacks of cash for a weekend drive to the Mexican border, Oscar for the first time in his life, sets out to commit a serious, life-altering crime.
Dawn gives him a Range Rover to use (he doesn't own a car), the destination 10 hours away is already programmed into the GPS.
The self-help guru Paul St Germaine (a self styled philosopher) has made Oscar indignant. He downloads the video series that so sucked in his mom and secretly fears it may have some appeal--addressing Oscar's own misery. The self-help series is supposed to unlock the potential of the mind and seems to promote Determinism and Nihilism while disputing Choice and Free Will, etcetera. Oscar contacts the con man by email, being especially motivated by the loss of Mom and Dad's money (all of their retirement savings) now lining the charlatan's pockets.
In a remote area down near the border Oscar picks up the drugs with no trouble at all. A guy on an ATV drove out of the desert, handed him a backpack containing 4 kilos of cocaine and drove off. At first Oscar doesn't know there's a tracking device in one of the cocaine bricks. Yes, a rival group is after the drugs--stealing them once they've crossed the border. Matadamas seems to be a minor drug lord, killer and he's incompetent. Oscar is able to wrestle Matadamas' .38 revolver away from him and order him out of the car (he should have shot him dead).
Back home Oscar, Dawn and her drug-dealer partner Ramos have a run-in with Matadamas and his gang. They get away, but Oscar is gut-shot. No sooner is he patched up when he gets an urgent call from his sister. Their dad and his rifle are missing. He's headed for an address in New Mexico, so says the letter dad left on the table for them. Ignoring the pleading cries of his girlfriend and lover Dawn, Oscar heads out after his dad. In New Mexico Oscar is in bad shape. His wound is bleeding and he's hallucinating, but he does find Dad at the house of Paul St Germaine, the creepy Guru.
(Okay this is a little odd, at the beginning of the story dad defended the guru because he had been such a help to his wife. Now he seems to have flipped out and irrationally blames the guru for his wife's death).
The 84-year-old St Germaine is gagged and duct taped to a chair when Oscar enters the house. His dad confesses he's gone too far and claims he came to talk things over with St Germaine, well yes and to kill him. At this point Oscar is in bad shape and seems to believe he has died. Are his actions predetermined--he asks of the guru, aiming the .38 revolver at St Germaine's head. Inadvertently he pulls the trigger. Click, it's empty.
There was the sound of a rifle shot out back. Dad is in misery without his wife and now in remorse over his actions--did he end it? Oscar doesn't see his body in the expanse of desert behind the house. Sirens are approaching and Oscar heads out into the desert, in his delirium, time and distance are slipping by. Soon the house is out of sight and he ends up collapsing in the rocky dust--staring up at the stars.
.
Well done and tragic all around.
Like Breaking Bad which was mentioned in the overview, what could be wrong with making some fast cash to help your family? As Walter White and his loved ones discovered and those in this story also learned, there are a great many things that can go tragically wrong when one enters the drug world.
..
March 2, 2020
3.5 rounded up.
I loved this until I just kind of liked it and it had to do with the turn the book takes. It has all the trappings of grit lit: guy has a one night stand with a girl who ends up being his student/a drug dealer and ends up making a drug run (is that a thing?) and messing his whole life up.
But it's not super gritty? It's kind of funny and tragic?
Said guy is a philosophy professor whose mom just died after being in thrall to a charismatic multi-level marketing self-help quack. And said guy has this deeply sad and also hilarious view of life that I just really got.
Actually maybe I did love this all the way through because I'm smiling thinking back on it and its strangely unpretentious nihilism. Because yeah, the story takes a real turn, but as our protagonist is so fond of saying, what's so special about this guy's life that it couldn't happen this way?
I loved this until I just kind of liked it and it had to do with the turn the book takes. It has all the trappings of grit lit: guy has a one night stand with a girl who ends up being his student/a drug dealer and ends up making a drug run (is that a thing?) and messing his whole life up.
But it's not super gritty? It's kind of funny and tragic?
Said guy is a philosophy professor whose mom just died after being in thrall to a charismatic multi-level marketing self-help quack. And said guy has this deeply sad and also hilarious view of life that I just really got.
Actually maybe I did love this all the way through because I'm smiling thinking back on it and its strangely unpretentious nihilism. Because yeah, the story takes a real turn, but as our protagonist is so fond of saying, what's so special about this guy's life that it couldn't happen this way?
September 18, 2019
When I finished this book, I felt like flipping it over and shaking it out, like, there must be more in there? Where's the rest? You know, like when a box of cereal provides less than you thought it would. You shake the box and look inside it like wtf, this isn't going to fill me up. And then the phrase "absurd nihilism" came to me and I wondered if that was a real thing, so I googled it and fell down the rabbit hole reading about existentialism, nihilism, and absurdism. And now I'm going to the grocery store to buy some Cheerios.
January 1, 2019
From the first line of this book, I was intrigued. This debut novel, was great- with a combination of action, emotion, and philosophical examination. It checked boxes, I didn't even know I wanted checked in a novel.
I felt that some parts were a bit too wordy and could have been cut down.
Overall, great read!
**I received a copy of this book from Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins, in exchange for an honest review**
I felt that some parts were a bit too wordy and could have been cut down.
Overall, great read!
**I received a copy of this book from Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins, in exchange for an honest review**
November 2, 2018
A thrilling debut novel about how little examining a life has to do with living it
June 6, 2019
This book was incredible. For a debut novel it was short and to the point but not overly simplified as some new novelists seem to do. Although I think that Mancusi is still developing his voice, I think there is the possibility for longevity there.
The novel was dated 2009 but there wasn’t any present day action so it didn’t make sense for it to be dated. There were other ways it could’ve been done, mainly by pop culture references. The fact that Oscar‘s mom died so early on in the book, basically in the very first sentence, was I think a little bit of lazy writing. We didn’t get a introduction to the way that Oscar dealt with day-to-day life before the death of his mother so we weren’t able to observe a difference so we’re just assuming that everything was fine before Oscar’s mom died and we don’t know that for sure.
We are also told 4 separate times that there are not a lot of Boatwrights; when Lee, Oscar’s father is making calls informing friends that Delia, the mom, has passed away, when Oscar comes back to his childhood home, we are told again “The Boatwrights had very little family”, at the funeral -- Oscar is surprised at the turn out, despite the “lack of Boatwrights”, after the funeral when they are at the kitchen table, they are referred to as the “Three remaining Boatwrights”. Mancusi is trying to drive home that there is no one else to turn to now that the family is bankrupt. Those are just the times I caught it, but 4 times in 9 chapters is a bit excessive. Especially when it could have been shown, not told.
I think there was a chance to flesh out some of the characters and we are told about them instead of shown. Like in the case of Sundeep, we are told that Oscar is jealous of him and he would hate him if he wasn’t such a nice person. But that and of itself usually doesn’t stop resentment so that didn’t really make any sense. Sundeep could have been in the middle of writing another paper and then Oscar could remark that it would be Sundeep’s ninth or something.
It would’ve been nice to see Dawn being more than a manic Pixie dream girl foil for Oscar. All the things we find out about her are very jarring but I suppose it makes sense in regards to Oscars POV. She teaches him to be brave, takes him out of his comfort zone. He is lurched into action because he has a chance to make some money, Manscui gives way too many reasons as to why Oscar would do this drug run. Is it to pay his student loans off? Help out his OLDER sister with her divorce fees? Take care of his dad? I guess there usually isn’t anything singular about the things we do, so maybe that was the point?
Just as an aside, what kind of name is Oscar? I am not saying it’s not a good name but if you are trying to sell me that this is a white upper middle class man, Oscar doesn’t really scream that to me. So I was really confused up until the halfway point when Dawn and Ramos ask him to be a drug runner because he is white.
Let’s talk about the writing itself. It was really really good. It reminded me of a comprehensible David Foster Wallace; there were new phrases that were created that I have never read before. There were single sentences that enraptured my imagination.
”He tried to converse with his inner monologue but found it to be basically an unending scream.” - Amazing sensory impact.
sodium poles - a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife “the salt pillar”. These show up as he is riding through the college.
internet patois - a classier word for slang
epistemic horizon - a better word for validation
It’s been a while since I have been challenged in this way. And I loved it.
What I noticed that was really unique about this book was the mention of God. You can’t have a book about philosophy and not talk about God. I also find it interesting that this is the first book that I have read in 2019 that talks of God, or at least mentions him, and it isn’t met with derision. I can appreciate that because it’s real. Lots of people go to church and pray and it’s refreshing that Mancusi doesn’t shy away from that. It’s a part of life and he is writing about life so he wrote about that.
Look, this book comes out on June 18th. Get it, read it, buy in. Mancusi is only going to get better and better.
4.5 stars.
Thanks to Hanover Square Press for the advanced copy of this book.
2019 POPSugar Reading Challenge - A book that's published in 2019
2019 ATY Challenge - A book set in a school or university
The novel was dated 2009 but there wasn’t any present day action so it didn’t make sense for it to be dated. There were other ways it could’ve been done, mainly by pop culture references. The fact that Oscar‘s mom died so early on in the book, basically in the very first sentence, was I think a little bit of lazy writing. We didn’t get a introduction to the way that Oscar dealt with day-to-day life before the death of his mother so we weren’t able to observe a difference so we’re just assuming that everything was fine before Oscar’s mom died and we don’t know that for sure.
We are also told 4 separate times that there are not a lot of Boatwrights; when Lee, Oscar’s father is making calls informing friends that Delia, the mom, has passed away, when Oscar comes back to his childhood home, we are told again “The Boatwrights had very little family”, at the funeral -- Oscar is surprised at the turn out, despite the “lack of Boatwrights”, after the funeral when they are at the kitchen table, they are referred to as the “Three remaining Boatwrights”. Mancusi is trying to drive home that there is no one else to turn to now that the family is bankrupt. Those are just the times I caught it, but 4 times in 9 chapters is a bit excessive. Especially when it could have been shown, not told.
I think there was a chance to flesh out some of the characters and we are told about them instead of shown. Like in the case of Sundeep, we are told that Oscar is jealous of him and he would hate him if he wasn’t such a nice person. But that and of itself usually doesn’t stop resentment so that didn’t really make any sense. Sundeep could have been in the middle of writing another paper and then Oscar could remark that it would be Sundeep’s ninth or something.
It would’ve been nice to see Dawn being more than a manic Pixie dream girl foil for Oscar. All the things we find out about her are very jarring but I suppose it makes sense in regards to Oscars POV. She teaches him to be brave, takes him out of his comfort zone. He is lurched into action because he has a chance to make some money, Manscui gives way too many reasons as to why Oscar would do this drug run. Is it to pay his student loans off? Help out his OLDER sister with her divorce fees? Take care of his dad? I guess there usually isn’t anything singular about the things we do, so maybe that was the point?
Just as an aside, what kind of name is Oscar? I am not saying it’s not a good name but if you are trying to sell me that this is a white upper middle class man, Oscar doesn’t really scream that to me. So I was really confused up until the halfway point when Dawn and Ramos ask him to be a drug runner because he is white.
Let’s talk about the writing itself. It was really really good. It reminded me of a comprehensible David Foster Wallace; there were new phrases that were created that I have never read before. There were single sentences that enraptured my imagination.
”He tried to converse with his inner monologue but found it to be basically an unending scream.” - Amazing sensory impact.
sodium poles - a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife “the salt pillar”. These show up as he is riding through the college.
internet patois - a classier word for slang
epistemic horizon - a better word for validation
It’s been a while since I have been challenged in this way. And I loved it.
What I noticed that was really unique about this book was the mention of God. You can’t have a book about philosophy and not talk about God. I also find it interesting that this is the first book that I have read in 2019 that talks of God, or at least mentions him, and it isn’t met with derision. I can appreciate that because it’s real. Lots of people go to church and pray and it’s refreshing that Mancusi doesn’t shy away from that. It’s a part of life and he is writing about life so he wrote about that.
Look, this book comes out on June 18th. Get it, read it, buy in. Mancusi is only going to get better and better.
4.5 stars.
Thanks to Hanover Square Press for the advanced copy of this book.
2019 POPSugar Reading Challenge - A book that's published in 2019
2019 ATY Challenge - A book set in a school or university
June 30, 2019
This is an excellent novel which treats serious subjects with a lightly humorous touch despite things being really, really bad that I had to keep reading. Oscar, a young philosophy professor, finds his life going into a tailspin when his mother suddenly dies on an airplane. Then he finds out his parents' money has been spent on a self-help guru which just rubs him wrong - philosophically as well as financially. As it turns out, Oscar's philosophical specialty involves compatibilism which means there can be both free will and determinism. I didn't look it up to see exactly how that would work as I
assume it's addressed as the story unfolds for Oscar finds himself doing things he never expected especially after he meets a young woman who maneuvers him into doing a drug run. One doesn't even have to understand compatibilism to find this entertaining. I have to admit I was a disappointed in the ending. Perhaps here I do need to understand more. Having gotten so vested in Oscar, I was hoping for more, but it doesn't detract from my 5 star rating as this book is funny, smart, and has a surprising amount of action.
assume it's addressed as the story unfolds for Oscar finds himself doing things he never expected especially after he meets a young woman who maneuvers him into doing a drug run. One doesn't even have to understand compatibilism to find this entertaining. I have to admit I was a disappointed in the ending. Perhaps here I do need to understand more. Having gotten so vested in Oscar, I was hoping for more, but it doesn't detract from my 5 star rating as this book is funny, smart, and has a surprising amount of action.
August 5, 2019
What a fascinating departure from crime fiction that typically involves police investigators. In this fast-paced story of brutal drug smuggling, Mancuisi interweaves a riveting philosophical journey. I loved the wit and humor of the professor, and the strategies that he devised to escape the pursuing drug lord. I only wish the ending was different because I would like to see this protagonist in more situations. it could make a great series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2020
What...just...happened?!!!! You've got to be kidding?!!!!! I can't believe it ended like this!!! WTF!!!!!!
You know when you've been dating your soul mate for a good six months and you're singing and dancing and having a blast but then suddenly out of the blue, he or she says, it's over, we're done.Bye. No explanation. That's what this book is!!! WTF!!!!
This is a beautifully written book; I was pleasantly surprised within 5 minutes of reading it that I couldn't stop. Half way in, I actually STOPPED reading it because I DID NOT WANT IT TO END! And I was right to do so!! :(
There are parts of this book that are pure poetry. Picture beauty in written form and that is what Mancusi does. Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of humor in this book. Tons of action. Realistic scenarios that make you question your own life. I don't know where Mancusi came from or where he's been but I'm glad he's arrived and I can't wait for more!
Characters: Loved Oscar - others - ok so overall 8/10
Plot: 8/10 for keeping me interested
Readability: 10/10
Action: High
WTFjust happened?: 10/10
Emotion: 9/10 you're crying and laughing at the same time; then you're crying, then you're in shock, then youre mad, then laughing on the next page.
re-Readability: 10/10 I WILL read this again.
Do I want to purchase? Yes for sure
Recommend to: Everyone because stories about "bad things" in life happening TO everyone should be read BY everyone :)
You know when you've been dating your soul mate for a good six months and you're singing and dancing and having a blast but then suddenly out of the blue, he or she says, it's over, we're done.Bye. No explanation. That's what this book is!!! WTF!!!!
This is a beautifully written book; I was pleasantly surprised within 5 minutes of reading it that I couldn't stop. Half way in, I actually STOPPED reading it because I DID NOT WANT IT TO END! And I was right to do so!! :(
There are parts of this book that are pure poetry. Picture beauty in written form and that is what Mancusi does. Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of humor in this book. Tons of action. Realistic scenarios that make you question your own life. I don't know where Mancusi came from or where he's been but I'm glad he's arrived and I can't wait for more!
Characters: Loved Oscar - others - ok so overall 8/10
Plot: 8/10 for keeping me interested
Readability: 10/10
Action: High
WTFjust happened?: 10/10
Emotion: 9/10 you're crying and laughing at the same time; then you're crying, then you're in shock, then youre mad, then laughing on the next page.
re-Readability: 10/10 I WILL read this again.
Do I want to purchase? Yes for sure
Recommend to: Everyone because stories about "bad things" in life happening TO everyone should be read BY everyone :)
July 13, 2021
I found that I was rather frustrated with the book but at the same time really enjoyed the quick read. The authors description and language really appealed to me though I found some of the characters to be rather one-dimensional.
The book started off quite well grounded (though did lack some more pertinent background of the characters) but kind of descended into something more unbelievable.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure how I felt about the ending. On one hand, I found it to be quite suited to the story overall and much is left to be imagined and interpreted by the reader, but perhaps in this case it is too large of a responsibility to be left to the reader as almost every end is left as a loose end.
In general, the reading experience was enjoyable and it was an intriguing story to follow, aided by great writing so I would look forward to reading more books by the same author.
I feel like I want to give the book more of a 3.5 but I did really find myself enthralled so I rounded up instead of down.
The book started off quite well grounded (though did lack some more pertinent background of the characters) but kind of descended into something more unbelievable.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure how I felt about the ending. On one hand, I found it to be quite suited to the story overall and much is left to be imagined and interpreted by the reader, but perhaps in this case it is too large of a responsibility to be left to the reader as almost every end is left as a loose end.
In general, the reading experience was enjoyable and it was an intriguing story to follow, aided by great writing so I would look forward to reading more books by the same author.
I feel like I want to give the book more of a 3.5 but I did really find myself enthralled so I rounded up instead of down.
September 18, 2019
Rounding up to 3.5 on this one. It started out very well, and it kept me very interested in the story, however, in the last quarter of it, I felt like it lost it meaning, and became this cheap thriller that a mystery writer who had had his/her prime years ago was just tired and wanted to rush their story and just end it. In the beginning and for a great portion of the book, I felt for the characters, and I bought in to the narrative. In the end, it became weird and I stopped caring.
January 20, 2020
Parts of this book were interesting, while parts where just a philosophical treatise. I tend to finish books that I start reading although this one was a struggle. I'm sure those who enjoy the more esoteric would love this.
July 24, 2022
Very rushed ending but funny at times
July 30, 2019
Great premise, well executed.
June 18, 2019
3.5/5
A solid debut novel about a life derailed by depression and grief.
Full review at: http://bit.ly/31HFr0z
A solid debut novel about a life derailed by depression and grief.
Full review at: http://bit.ly/31HFr0z
July 23, 2019
This is somewhere between a 3 and a 4. Fast read, strong enough pacing and writing. But then it ended, and in the ten minutes that followed I wondered if the plot was a little unnecessarily jumpy and distracted, characters not fully flushed out, etc. But still a one-day book, and while reading it I was excited to see where it would go next.
December 31, 2020
A very well written book that will suck you right in.
July 4, 2019
Strange book with good plot that went nowhere. Did not understand the point.
June 30, 2019
I could see Tarantino making a movie out of this, although he would probably violence it up some. It was ok, I didn't like how the last "loose end" was dealt with in the end, not to give anything away.
November 2, 2018
A very interesting book by an author I had not previously read. It starts with death of the mother of the main character, Oscar and the book takes off from there. He finds his father is involved with a spiritual guru who they have given all their money to over the past few years trying to comfort the mother. He is desperate for money and gets involved in drug running. It seems that as a teacher of philosophy, he would not be involved in anything illegal but money does things to people. Oscar finds that he only starting living after the tragedy of his mother's passing. A good read.
Thank you Nicholas Mancusi, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada), Hanover Square Press and Netgalley for the ARC for my review
Thank you Nicholas Mancusi, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada), Hanover Square Press and Netgalley for the ARC for my review
July 23, 2019
Oscar what have you done! You have died and in your moment of this passing on to a place that you do not believe in you are trying to tell us the meaning of life? Get a job! You could not even have a normal relationship with your "local drug dealer". A drug dealer that needed to be strangled to reach sexual climax and you, a professor of philosophy, obliging! The narco that was chasing you and the drugs had more to say, philosophy wise! The con man that you held responsible for the death of your mother had a better grasp of the world around us. A "F" on this paper. Later. Keep Reading. p.s. The factory of Philosophy is hiring. Get a job!
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