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Among the Ten Thousand Things: A Novel by…
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Among the Ten Thousand Things: A Novel (original 2015; edition 2015)

by Julia Pierpont (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5578043,024 (2.88)37
Fiction. Literature. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE AND THE HUFFINGTON POST ? Features an exclusive conversation between Julia Pierpont and Lena Dunham
For fans of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, Lorrie Moore, and Curtis Sittenfeld, Among the Ten Thousand Things is a dazzling first novel, a portrait of an American family on the cusp of irrevocable change, and a startlingly original story of love and time lost.
Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist, charming and vain, who doesn??t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack??s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it??s delivered into the wrong hands: her children??s.
With this vertiginous opening begins a debut that is by turns funny, wise, and indescribably moving. As the Shanleys spin apart into separate orbits, leaving New York in an attempt to regain their bearings, fifteen-year-old Simon feels the allure of adult freedoms for the first time, while eleven-year-old Kay wanders precariously into a grown-up world she can??t possibly understand. Writing with extraordinary precision, humor, and beauty, Julia Pierpont has crafted a timeless, hugely enjoyable novel about the bonds of family life??their brittleness, and their resilience.
Praise for Among the Ten Thousand Things
??A luscious, smart summer novel . . . by a blazingly talented young author.???The New York Times Book Review
 
??This book is one of the funniest, and most emotionally honest, I??ve read in a long time.???Jonathan Safran Foer
 
??Obsessively compelling . . . emotionally sophisticated . . . Among the Ten Thousand Things rises above [other novels] for its imagined structure, sentence-by-sentence punch, and pure humanity.???Vanity Fair
 
??Gripping . . . Pierpont brings this family of four to life in sharply observed detail. . . . An acute observer of social comedy, Ms. Pierpont has a keen eye for the absurd.???The Wall Street Journal
 
??Pierpont??s language is heart-stopping. . . . Between Pierpont??s literary finesse and her captivating characters, [Among the Ten Thousand Things] reads like a page-turner.???Entertainment Weekly (grade: A)
 
??A twisty, gripping story??that packs an emotional wallop.???O: The Oprah Magazine
??There are going to be as many ingenious twists and turns in this literary novel as there are in a top-notch work of suspense like Gone Girl.???Maureen Corrigan, NPR??s Fresh Air
??Tender, delicately perceptive . . . Pierpont??s voice is wry and confident, and she is a fine anthropologist of New York life.???The Washington Post
??Pierpont displays a precocious gift for language and observation. . . . She captures the minutiae of lon
… (more)
Member:JenniferHarmon
Title:Among the Ten Thousand Things: A Novel
Authors:Julia Pierpont (Author)
Info:Random House (2015), Edition: 1st, 336 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:to-read

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Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont (2015)

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» See also 37 mentions

English (80)  French (1)  All languages (80)
Showing 1-5 of 79 (next | show all)
This just didn't engage me. ( )
  a2slbailey | Dec 29, 2021 |
adult fiction; dysfunctional family drama. This was OK but I lost interest 80 pages in. ( )
  reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 |
Interesting and, in many aspects, painfully honest account of human behavior, of lives spiraling downward. Or forward, following an improbable act. Sit back, buckle up and be ready for some crazy stuff here. This book and these characters will resonate with you for a long time afterwards. ( )
  ChetBowers | Mar 10, 2021 |
One of the blurbs on the cover calls this book "funny" but I saw it more as tragic. It has the 21st century satirical detachment that notes the absurdity of situations, but still it read more sad than anything. Deb's marriage to artist Jack Shanley is falling apart. He has cheated on her, again, but the evidence is so glaring and literally in her face, that she can't ignore it this time. The mistress has sent Deb a letter and a whole box full ($87 worth!) of email printouts of their smutty correspondence and torrid details of their time together. Sadly, this falls into the hands of her 11 year old daughter, Kay, and 15 year old son, Simon before it makes it to Deb. While it is nice to see Jack get his comeuppance, it is hard to like anyone in the story. Deb (former ballet dancer) was Jack's mistress before she was his wife, so it's a shame she didn't see the writing on the wall. The book is well-written though and part of its uniqueness is its use of time. Part 1 summarizes the affair's discovery in excruciating detail. Part 2 summarizes subsequent years that pass in the blink of an eye with future outcomes for many of the characters. Part 3 returns to the present and the weeks right after the affair blows up the family -- Jack is good at blowing things up -- part of his artistic drama, and part 4 wraps everything up nicely. ( )
  CarrieWuj | Oct 24, 2020 |
Nice writing, though at times the prose felt like it was trying too hard. The story felt unfinished to me, but all in all I enjoyed reading it. ( )
  Katie_Roscher | Jan 18, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 79 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
Little sleep's-head sprouting hair in the moonlight,
when I come back
we will go out together,
we will walk out together among
the ten thousand things,
each scratched too late with such knowledge, the wages
of dying is love.


     - Galway Kinnell
Dedication
For my parents,

  as a matter of course
First words
Dear Deborah,
Do you go by Deborah?
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Fiction. Literature. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE AND THE HUFFINGTON POST ? Features an exclusive conversation between Julia Pierpont and Lena Dunham
For fans of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, Lorrie Moore, and Curtis Sittenfeld, Among the Ten Thousand Things is a dazzling first novel, a portrait of an American family on the cusp of irrevocable change, and a startlingly original story of love and time lost.
Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist, charming and vain, who doesn??t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack??s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it??s delivered into the wrong hands: her children??s.
With this vertiginous opening begins a debut that is by turns funny, wise, and indescribably moving. As the Shanleys spin apart into separate orbits, leaving New York in an attempt to regain their bearings, fifteen-year-old Simon feels the allure of adult freedoms for the first time, while eleven-year-old Kay wanders precariously into a grown-up world she can??t possibly understand. Writing with extraordinary precision, humor, and beauty, Julia Pierpont has crafted a timeless, hugely enjoyable novel about the bonds of family life??their brittleness, and their resilience.
Praise for Among the Ten Thousand Things
??A luscious, smart summer novel . . . by a blazingly talented young author.???The New York Times Book Review
 
??This book is one of the funniest, and most emotionally honest, I??ve read in a long time.???Jonathan Safran Foer
 
??Obsessively compelling . . . emotionally sophisticated . . . Among the Ten Thousand Things rises above [other novels] for its imagined structure, sentence-by-sentence punch, and pure humanity.???Vanity Fair
 
??Gripping . . . Pierpont brings this family of four to life in sharply observed detail. . . . An acute observer of social comedy, Ms. Pierpont has a keen eye for the absurd.???The Wall Street Journal
 
??Pierpont??s language is heart-stopping. . . . Between Pierpont??s literary finesse and her captivating characters, [Among the Ten Thousand Things] reads like a page-turner.???Entertainment Weekly (grade: A)
 
??A twisty, gripping story??that packs an emotional wallop.???O: The Oprah Magazine
??There are going to be as many ingenious twists and turns in this literary novel as there are in a top-notch work of suspense like Gone Girl.???Maureen Corrigan, NPR??s Fresh Air
??Tender, delicately perceptive . . . Pierpont??s voice is wry and confident, and she is a fine anthropologist of New York life.???The Washington Post
??Pierpont displays a precocious gift for language and observation. . . . She captures the minutiae of lon

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