This Is the End of Something But It's Not the End of You

by Adam Gnade

Adam Gnade's third novel is held up by a Springsteenian sense of hope and a desire for redemption, of finding glory and escape, friendship and love in hard times. Like Dickens' David Copperfield, Ferrante's Neapolitan tetralogy, and Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series, this is the story of a human life, kindergarten to adulthood, ratty beach apartment to bohemian party house, feverish basement to ramshackle farmhouse. Through the eyes of Gnade's protagonist, James Jackson Bozic, we see how life scars you, changes you as you fight to find a safe place for yourself. It is, in turn, a murder mystery, a love story, and a vast, sweeping, panoramic look at America on the edge of collapse. It's a story of displacement, strange shores, new mornings. As James says in the book, "I thought of how sometimes in the midst of survival, life will jerk you away from your home, how it will push you out across the map, away from the people you love, or into the path of others." This Is the End... is about scratching and clawing for a better, safer, more satisfying life, even as the sky comes crashing down. 

Genres: Fiction

225 pages, Paperback

Published February 14, 2020

About the author

Adam Gnade’s (guh nah dee) work is released as a series of books and "talking songs" that share characters and themes; the fiction writing continuing plot-lines left open by the self-described “talking songs” in an attempt to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life. His books and "talking records" are released by Bread & Roses Press and Three One G.

Reviews

[joolbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a big hug where the narrator tells you directly and poetically and figuratively that despite going through hardships in life, seeing those you love go through hardships, and seeing relationships change, evolve, start, and end, everything is going to be okay and life has countless little moments that are truly beautiful. The storyline is simply James' coming-of-age experiences from childhood to middle-aged adulthood, with layers of family history and love stories and tragedies, and Adam Gnade's writing is so observant and descriptive and makes me want to cherish relationships and remember every little interaction and finishing this book made my heart ache!!!!!!!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam's writing is always moving and profound, and I was thrilled to have an opportunity to blurb this book: "Adam Gnade cuts through the clutter of late capitalism’s excess, exposing the raw, pulsing core of American loneliness and heartbreak. Read this book."

[Benno Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I’ve read in 2019.

[Alejandra San · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It started a bit slow, but the story is very relatable and makes you feel you're not alone in feelings of isolation, nostalgia, fear and happiness ( and everything in between) a good read when you need something philosophically

[Michael]

My favorite Gnade yet. This one feels like his most focused work, but still has that loose style that comes off as having been written fast and wild but with great care. It's like all of my favorite Springsteen songs.

[Shawna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Gnade’s writing always has this way of picking my crumpled heart out of the trash can and smoothing it out—this book is no exception. I loved every bit of it.

[John Dishwasher John Dishwasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are shown in this novel the impotence of most human relationships. How they promise something they rarely deliver – which is a transcendent connection, or complete identification – and how this failed promise is one of the cruelties of the human condition. Our inner walls protect, but also they exclude. We are always in tension between a need for companionship and a need for solitude. Gnade shows us the reluctant emotional distances this leads to, and brave battlings with them, and occasional overcomings.

This is a very vulnerable novel. Gnade keeps nothing from the reader, neither the protagonist’s tears nor the unprovoked aggressions of life that lead to them. This is perilous territory for any writer of serious prose, but he walks a tightrope of tone that allows full disclosure without becoming mawkish.

In its most unbridled sections, this (mostly) road novel is absolutely kaleidoscopic. A feast for anyone who enjoys wanderlust lit. And there are places where the rhythm of his rich prose is just mesmerizing. The structure is loose but always feels deliberate.

[Houlcroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pondering of friends loved and friends lost told through Gnade’s beautifully somber yet tender prose
At one point our narrator, James, says “If you love someone, you owe it to them to keep them here after they're gone" and this seems sum up the novel perfectly. It is an externalising of memory, a means to keep the people Gnade loves and has loved alive in one form or another.
The threads of food and friendship run deep throughout the novel, conversations over meals and drinks, reminiscing and building new moments and memories, and this is definitely the strength and something Gnade pushes further in the phenomenal follow-up, After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different.

My only complaint of that I need more Vance Johnson. There's such love in the way he's described and it felt like he was gone so soon yet I guess this is what some people steer like in our lives, here quickly but powerfully.

Best paired with some real Mexican food, none of this Tex-Mex shit, a few shots of Patrón and a quiet moment on a farm reflecting on a dream of an old friend.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adam Gnade’s James Bozic has his myopic eye perpetually turned inward. The latter half of the plot is carried by dialogue that is self-referential, self-aggrandizing, that constitutes “deep thought” as opposed to reflecting true character development.

The bits about childhood were strong, but they gave way to an adult who is as certain in his uncertainty at age 20 as he is at age 30.

It felt to me too much of a memoir, fictionalized to justify its existence, because a memoir of normal, pained life is just not interesting.

[Bob Comparda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I use to believe the most important thing was to survive, but when you start looking at your life as a war you inherit the bad traits of a soldier. I don't want to settle for survival anymore. What I want is to find the healthiest, safest, most rewarding life I can while taking the rough days as they come."

This novel had it all. The narrator moves through various friendships experiencing the best and worst in people, love, loss, heartbreak and burritos. Filled with lines that will fill you up with hope and the desire to live a fuller life.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of Gnade's novels that I've read. I've enjoyed the "DIY Guide..." series and read them all a few times. That stuff is in here. Gnade is all about observing the events of life and finding the awe in them. Even a few times in this book when I was wondering like "Why is this conversation about tortillas in going on?" Gnade uses it to make this point.

[Scott Waterhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Gnade has a great voice. This is the third book of his I’ve read. Such a strong energy in his writing. There’s something welcoming and encouraging about him.
This was a short epic. I dunno. Not that short I suppose. No superfluous words though.
Highly recommend

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The part of me that bought this book a while back has been fighting to get through past the part of me that wasn't reading it... and feels really thankful to have gotten to finally read it now when I needed it and could relate and understand more 💛

[Devon DeRaad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The *indie* great American novel. Simply stunning

[Charlotte Round · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful piece of literature, that I cannot fault.

[Ryan Bradford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning novel of earnestness and vulnerability. I love Gnade's worldview: sad yet optimistic. This book gave me hope in humanity.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dogeared a few pages of brilliance and overall it was an enjoyable read Knausgaard’s My Struggle. Especially liked the Portland scenes.

[Joseph Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful, sad, funny, moving, its all drunk nostalgia and its amazing

[Snem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to double check if this was a novel or a memoir because it’s written in a very relatable manner. The search for belonging after things fall apart is explored well here. Some incredible lines of writing in here and then a very fun conversation about burritos that tickled me.

It’s a confusing book. Kinda felt like I was floating above it while reading, grasping not quite gripping. But the moments I did grab hold of were moving. Not much plot or character.

You are kinda hither and dither along for the ride with this book. Do I recommend it? Not really, but it captures a moment and that’s nice.

[Bart Schaneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for those of us who barely made it out of childhood alive. Those of us who survived the slings and arrows of growing up only to be cast into an adult world of equally sharp sticks and stones. We survived and emerged stronger in the scarred places. Gnade knows this rebirth by pain and fire as well as anyone. A poignant piece of writing. Heartbreaking. Powerful. You'll feel buoyed by the resonance.