Congratulations On Everything

by Nathan Whitlock

Jeremy has bought into the teachings of an empowerment and success guru, hook, line and sinker. A Toronto service industry lifer, he's risen through the ranks until he finally takes the keys to his destiny and opens his own place, The Ice Shack. Everyone assumes Ice Shack daytime waitress Charlene is innocent and empathetic, but in reality she's desperately unhappy and looking for a way out of her marriage to her high-school sweetheart. A drunken encounter between Charlene and her boss Jeremy sends them both careening.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 2016

About the author

Nathan Whitlock’s award-winning fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, Toronto Life, Report on Business, Flare, Fashion, Geist, Maisonneuve, and Best Canadian Essays, and he has appeared on radio and television discussing books and culture. Heather O’Neill called A Week of This, Whitlock’s first novel, “a portrait of people in a small town so intimate that it feels like you are under the covers with them.” He is a contributing editor for Quill & Quire. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeremy owns a bar in Toronto ...( he has his own keys) , and takes his job serious. He's worked hard to transition from bar-man to BOSS.
He bought a house with hopes of moving forward his relationship with a woman. His visions of painting the house, then kicking back with a beer didn't manifest.
He convinced himself that no relationship lasted long because he was busy
keeping "The Ice Shack" going.

Charlene was the daytime waitress.
Her husband, Kyle wasn't exactly a joking man. "He was fundamentally incapable of shooting the shit".
Charlene was a little quiet, (maybe with good reason), and was a great listener. There were only a few things Charlene could remember wanting to be. When she was 7 or 8 years of age, she wanted to be "Wonder Woman". After that an African tribeswoman leading children down to a river. In high school, she wanted to be a doctor....yet she hated science.
She decided that 'empathy' was the greater part of medicine ---( the unteachable
part), that she became the most empathetic person around). The one thing Charlene
could never be fully certain about was wanting to marry Kyle.

At some point rumors about Charlene and Jeremy started spreading at "The Ice Shack". She wasn't having an affair ...but was worried word would get back to Kyle.
Jeremy told her not to worry...who was going to tell him, the bus boy? Charlene
still had reasons to worry.

Jeremy was a worry-wart about other things. He wasn't old, but felt he was losing his fight to stay young. He watched his parents experiment with different types of
life extending diets. He didn't know why be was so obsessed with getting older and
dying...but he was. He was no longer a smoker. And he was cutting down on alcohol.
....sticking to beer...but this did not stop his obsessive aging & death thoughts.

There are several other characters at "The Ice Shack"...[Patty, Brian, Marie, Glenn, Phil], talk about 'Uncle Roger'....etc. They each grapple with their own shortcomings.
Twists, turns and accidents for the employees at "The Ice Shack".

One of the wise messages that came from the gang at 'The Shack"...was simple:
"everyone had to forgive everyone". Just like that -- a one-time all encompassing
round of forgiveness to wipe the slate clean".
But is forgiveness that easy?

This novel reminded me of "cheers" ... The famous TV show with Ted Danson and
Kirstie...different characters, situations and relationships...,but the intimacy in the bar was the same.

Nathan Whitlock's wry prose allowed for moments of understanding. Possibility
ideal for readers who enjoy Tom Wolfe, Nick Hornby, and Tom Perrotta.
I thought Whitlock's depiction of the character, Jeremy, was simultaneously
sympathetic and accurate as the young suburban white young business owner
trying to get ahead and prove himself.

Thank You ECW Press, Netgalley, and Nathan Whitlock for the opportunity to be
an early reader.

[Carole (Carole's Random Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/

I liked this book. I am always looking for something different and this sounded like it might fit the bill. It was an interesting enough story and it held my attention but I wouldn’t say that I was ever completely taken by the story. I am glad that I finally decided to give this book a try.

This is a meandering story of a man who owns his own bar, The Ice Shack. Jeremy has his own keys and everything. This story takes us on a tour illustrating some of the things that happen during the operation of this establishment. I am not going to lie, I didn’t like Jeremy much, and the decisions that he makes often left me cringing. We do get to know several of the regulars and staff, Charlene more than most. Charlene is in a marriage that isn’t working for her anymore. I can’t say that I liked her character much either. I will say that many of the characters, while unlikeable, felt authentic.

I believe that this is the first time that I have listened to Braden Wright’s narration and I thought that he did a great job with this audiobook. He did a great job with the various character voices and had a very pleasant voice. I found his narration easy to listen to and had no trouble listening to this book for hours at a time. I believe that his narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I found this to be a realistic story that took a closer look at the people connected to a small establishment as they went through their life. They don’t always make the best decisions and go through a lot of ups and downs over the course e of the story. This book wasn’t a favorite but I did enjoy it.

I received a digital review copy of this book from ECW Press and borrowed a copy of the audiobook.

Initial Thoughts
This was okay. There were parts that I liked and other parts where the story just felt old. This is a meandering story of a man who owns his own bar, Jeremy. He really makes some poor decisions in the managing of this business and I often found myself cringing at some of his actions. I can't say that I liked Jeremy. We also see the staff, bar regulars, and other people around Jeremy whose lives have the expected ups and downs of any population. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did a good job with the story.

[Glenn Sumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Nathan Whitlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Congratulations on Everything is a wonderfully complicated story about small but big ambitions, full of surprising, bittersweet twists. It’ll worm its way into your heart with its beautifully damaged characters and unexpected triumphs over the most hopeless adversities. Expect some great laughs. Do yourself a favour: Get this book!” — Jowita Bydlowska, author of Drunk Mom: A Memoir

“Packed with the kind of charmingly odd, broken characters that crowd every decent bar, Whitlock’s fast and funny novel explores lives that may look small from the outside but are vast and infinitely redeemable.” — Katrina Onstad, author of Everybody Has Everything

“Possibly the most entertaining book ever written about a decent guy committing self-sabotage. Reminds me of Russell Banks at his best.” — Cary Fagan, author of Bird’s Eye and My Life Among the Apes

“A funny, sad guided tour of the private hell that is owning a bar or restaurant. Nathan Whitlock has an ear for authentic dialogue and the constant negotiation and disappointment that is adult life. The best novel I’ve read all year. (Though I could do without so many curse words.)” — Corey Mintz, author of How to Host a Dinner Party

[Laura.125Pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on www.125pages.com Congratulations on Everything by Nathan Whitlock is a read I saw similar to an updated Cheers. A bar, the Ice Shack, is the heart of the story and those who work and drink in it are featured. The tale focused on Jeremy the bar's good guy owner and Charlene one of the waitresses with an army of side characters filling in the gaps. While touted as humorous, the book seemed more of a cautionary tale to me, of what happens when you fill your sense of self with a thing or an idea and not with people.

The plot of Congratulations on Everything is interesting but not deep. A bar owner who wants to prove that he is a good guy at the heart of everything. The writing of Nathan Whitlock was good, but he tended to ramble a bit in his narrations and I would get lost sometimes in the dense barrage. The pacing had some issues as time sometimes skipped forward when it felt like the section before had not been finished. The world built was sparse but worked. Almost the entire book revolved around the bar, so that was the only thing that really needed to be showcased. This was not an emotion heavy book. The characters created their own issues and while I could feel for them, I never felt with them. Charlene as a secondary min character never clicked with me, and I think if Jeremy had been the primary focus I would have enjoyed it more.

While Congratulations on Everything is categorized as a dark humor book on Amazon and in the synopsis it states that it is a dark and comic novel, I found Nathan Whitlock's tale to be more sad than funny. Jeremy is a character that I sympathized with and understood, however he was at the root of all of his own issues. His need to be seen as successful and a good ole boy hampered everything he did. I understand that was the heart of the message, but I just can't click with a read where there is no attempt at character growth. I did enjoy a good portion of Whitlock's writing, I just think the subject matter hampered my enthusiasm.

Favorite lines - Inviting strangers into your place was an act of faith. He had never struggled with that faith, never had any real sense of doubt, until he got a place of his own. With the Shack, he’d been tested, but he’d also been rewarded.

Biggest cliché - Must ensure I appear happy at all times.

 Have you read Congratulations on Everything, or added it to your TBR?This book was most likely received free from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Bryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley.

This is a book in which not much happens, at least in the traditional sense. Our main character, Jeremy, owns a bar. His life has complications and struggles, as do the lives of the people around him. That's as much plot as you'll find here, but it's not entirely a bad thing. Plenty of stories in plenty of mediums have made a low-key, realistic style like this work. Whitlock has an ear for dialogue, and he writes believable characters, but I never once found myself actually invested in anything that happened to them.

Congratulations on Everything is a competently-written and fairly enjoyable novel, but it all felt like a setup for something more interesting (and this isn't the first time I've had this complaint about a book). Your mileage may vary, and I'm more interested in seeing what the author will write next. Hopefully a story with a bit more substance and focus.

[Rhoddi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, loved this! Enjoyable writing, even if it was a little choppy at times, and characters of beautiful depth which grab at your heart. Mr. Whitlock, I cannot wait for your next book.

[Doug Lewars · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** Possible Spoilers ***

This book was classified as humerous but I think that was quite a stretch. There were a few things capable of bringing a smile to my face but precious few. The pacing was quite slow and the plot, in so far as there was one, pretty basic.

Readers looking for humour, or fast paced excitement will need to look further. Basically the book reminded me of sitting around of a summer's evening very long ago with parents and neighbours. Someone would say something like, "You remember old Joe Marches, you know, worked at the bank around the corner as assistant manager. Well, anyway ..." and there would follow an anecdote. Then someone else would refer to someone, possibly the same person and another anecdote would follow. There wasn't any logical thread to these stories. They were just a way to pass some time. This book reminds me of that. Here we have one person, a bar owner and the incidents related to his business, but beyond that they're just anecdotes, sometimes interesting, sometimes less so. This isn't a bad book if you get it in audio format because you can do stuff and have the narrator rattle on the the background keeping you company but if you want to really get into a story you may want to take a pass.

[Alex Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think it's as easy as it looks to write a concise, everyday epic that includes characters, dialogue and events that feel quite real even as insights are slipped into a straightforward narrative (Simply put, a character opens a bar and meets assorted people along the way). Whitlock provides the occasional sublime line, but the reader gets the sense he prefers a straightforward style, and story. In fact, overlong and overdone novels get a jab at one point, when a character is reading one: "It was the size of a small briefcase, and so heavy it made her wrists ache when she read it."

I suspect Whitlock likes everyday people and quiet heroes. Stalin gets a mention, but only because a character is reading a plump biography of him. For once, the historic personalities are in orbit of the everyday people living their lives, trying to carve out a bit of space to be happy while the clock ticks, aware they only have a certain amount of time: "Their father didn't like to talk about getting old. Getting old was getting old -- what alternative was there? It was as pointless as trying to imagine the forms life might take at the far end of the universe. We'll know when we know."

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a piece of casual fiction, meant to be read for enjoyment and distraction from life's headiness, I think this novel is quite successful. It uses a limited cast and a restrained setting pretty well. That's judging it as it is, and for what it is meant to do. It's about as good as I had expected, and not as good as I had hoped. Many books are like that.

Sometimes the writing is less than effective, the characters are not always well-drawn, but the general goings-on are quite believable and the plot (though meandering at times) progresses to a relatively satisfying denouement. I found the conclusion relatively weak, but compelling in that 'true slice of life' style.

Still, if you're going to go through the trouble of writing a novel just to end it like a short story, you might as well have written something else.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy some good Canadian humor sometimes. And a good Canadian narrator with a good Canadian accent. This book has all three. And the worlds giantest ring of keys. Check it out.

[Steve Roby]

On Canada Day, Kobo had a lot of Canadian novels on sale cheap. I bought half a dozen, and this was one of them.

Nathan Whitlock, apparently, is part of the modern Canadian literary establishment, having published a couple of novels, written for a variety of magazines, and worked at Quill & Quire, the news magazine of the Canadian publishing industry. So this is emphatically not genre fiction. Fortunately, it’s not old school CanLit, either. It’s set in Rob Ford’s Toronto, not some small town. Avoiding one of the usual cliches of literary fiction as genre, the book doesn’t feature a writer or academic as its protagonist, either.

Basically, this is the occasionally funny minor tragedy of a schmo. Jeremy is an unpretentious and not terribly bright guy whose great goal in a life guided by the aphorisms of his favourite self-help writer is to own and run a bar. He’s always worked in the service industry, including a spell in a chain pub, and finally manages to get his own. It should come as no surprise that, eventually, he screws everything up — not least because Whitlock tells you at the end of the first chapter that everything will go to hell for Jeremy.

Whitlock is a good writer, and he creates believably flawed characters. But there’s not really much plot here. It’s the slow motion unraveling of Jeremy’s plans, almost always through his own oblivious cluelessness or drunkenness (or, to be fair, the occasional well-meaning gesture), that gives a little suspense to the book. And even then things really only go to heck, not hell. Jeremy’s still around. Though when everything hits the fan, we don’t really see how it hits him directly. Instead, the story switches perspective to another character for the last few pages. Time’s passed and we get only an outside view of where Jeremy is now.

Still, for the small stakes and scale of the book, I enjoyed it. Some of the supporting characters manage to be surprising once in a while. And while you may wish you could reach into the book and give Jeremy a good shake or a whack upside the head every so often, he’s generally an amiable enough dolt.

If you want to think of this as lit for lads, well, it’s a lot more palatable than a lot of what Nick Hornby’s turned out after High Fidelity. It also reminds me (being more a genre fan than a literary fiction fan, for the most part) of Philip K. Dick’s mainstream novels. He had a series of books no publisher would touch until he died, tales of losers trying to keep their struggling businesses and struggling relationships from going down the tubes. His protagonists were the authors of their own misfortunes as much as Jeremy is here, but they’re frequently less pleasant people. Whitlock’s female characters are a lot more real and likeable, too. The women in the book are capable of making their own share of bad decisions but at least some of them have their heads screwed on tighter than many of the male characters.

Worth the time and money I spent on it, certainly.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Struggled how to rate this one. It went from a three to a one, the one mostly emerging from the lousy last chapter. I didn't like any of the characters, which I didn't mind at first but began to wear on me as the narrative progressed. If I could have sympathized with Jeremy I might have liked it better, but I found him unlikable, and most of the other characters, besides Charlene were very one-dimensional, often blatantly drawn to be unsympathetic.

I started to turn on the book when Phil and Glenn were introduced, and we listened to them and Jeremy banter. I found it very depressing. And I found that things never picked up from there. I didn't like how Jeremy was trying to scam everybody to keep his bar running. I didn't get where he was coming from, or why we should sympathize with his efforts. He just seemed like a jerk. And I think we were supposed to like Charlene, but again, I didn't feel there was much there to feel one way or another about. She was just there - not someone to like, not someone to hate. Just there.

It's very rare that I like a book where I hate the characters. Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned is the only one that really stands out to me. I've had people recommend A Confederacy of Dunces to me, but hated it because I didn't like the protagonist. I didn't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off because I thought he was kind of a snot-nosed kid and felt bad for the adults that he was mistreating, even though I was a teen when it came out and could have identified with him. Similarly, despite the fact that Whitlock paints all the characters that Jeremy takes advantage of as unlikable, I still thought Jeremy's actions were wrong and my sympathies were all with those he was ripping off.

I'm sure some people will like this book. It was very readable. But I didn't like the characters, and I ultimately found there to be very little of interest in the plot. I liked the cover, though, and that was probably my first mistake.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading and supporting local writers. It goes without saying that I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The story’s backdrop is a bar named Ice Shack and it depicts the bar owner, Jeremy and his fellow waitress Charlene. It talks about a scandalous event that changes both their lives. The first few chapters were entertaining and gritty. At first I liked Jeremy, his work ethic and overall optimism. I didn’t like Charlene too much – she’s in a marriage with a man she doesn’t like, and doesn’t want a full confrontation. Their eventual affair is a toxic one derived from loneliness and desperation. Suddenly, it turns from an entertaining read to an aggravating one. As a reader, it’s hard to bear witness to the characters’ bad decisions. Does it make it a bad book? Not at all. It’s the characters I don’t like, not the writing. If that was Whitlock’s intent all along, he succeeded!

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[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't actually finish this book, that's how much I disliked it. I struggled through about 150 pages (half the book) before finally admitting that I really didn't care about any of the characters or what the future might have in store for them. I found the dialogue to be extremely painful, or else the characters were extremely awkward, because I cringed at a lot of what they said. For me this just wasn't engaging at all.

[MELISSIA LENOX · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proper review to follow.

[Pangaea Pangaea · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will enjoy this novel if you have ever worked in a bar or hung out on the other side. Farcical and crafty train of thoughts dominate the agenda. A fun quick read on the beach.

[Kerry Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book— smart, funny and true to life.

[Gail Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius! What a fantastic piece of writing! A truly enjoyable read. Funny, poignant with characters that I got to know and love.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Very strong, relateable characters. Took place in Toronto with lots of local references.