A Calling for Charlie Barnes

4.5 stars. From the Booker Prize shortlist, [b:A Calling for Charlie Barnes|56620813|A Calling for Charlie Barnes|Joshua Ferris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627324196l/56620813._SY75_.jpg|87729868] is a great metafiction of the Midwest, of a family and a father-son relationship, a character study of an adoring buffoon of a dad and his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the author's fond rewrite of Charlie's life to reflect success as the father would have envisioned it.
The reader wonders often which parts are real: the diagnosis, the preposterous inventions, the financial gimmicks, the five wives, the four children and no less than forty jobs, constant debt, and bankruptcies. Then, of course, show more the story is told by his stepson, Jake Barnes (a la [b:The Sun Also Rises|3876|The Sun Also Rises|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509802323l/3876._SY75_.jpg|589497], the damaged unreliable narrator writer-author and his apologetic coda. The book is divided into Farce and Fiction and The Facts: Jake, the novelist, is telling the story of Charlie, the fabricator or Ferris is telling of his own father. The prose is dazzling and parts of it are hilarious, but what is true? It doesn't matter, it's such a good, moving story. show less

Damn… when you’re an aspiring author, as I claim to be, there’s a tendency to categorize books into two buckets: the “how did this thing ever get published” bucket, and the “damn, this author is at a level I’ll never achieve” bucket. Joshua Ferris is operating at another level. This book is nothing short of brilliant—moving effortlessly from a heart-felt tribute to a fractured family, to a self-effacing quasi-memoir, to a child’s revelations of a parent’s shortcomings, to a meta-commentary about how we see ourselves and the power of controlling the narrative. There’s just so much going on here, so artfully rendered, I want to read it again immediately after finishing it.

Given the fact that I didn’t love an earlier book penned by Ferris (“The Unnamed”), my literary bar was set a bit low as I started “A Calling for Charlie Barnes.” I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this twist-filled portrait of a fascinating character — and how much I laughed despite the sobering topics that are woven through this narrative. Life-threatening illness. A string of failed marriages. Infidelity. Dysfunctional families. Financial struggles. I must admit it was an effort to keep the storyline straight in the final chapters. But the confusing twists are by design. I found the book hilarious, touching and insightful.

4.5 stars. From the Booker Prize shortlist, [b:A Calling for Charlie Barnes|56620813|A Calling for Charlie Barnes|Joshua Ferris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627324196l/56620813._SY75_.jpg|87729868] is a great metafiction of the Midwest, of a family and a father-son relationship, a character study of an adoring buffoon of a dad and his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the author's fond rewrite of Charlie's life to reflect success as the father would have envisioned it.
The reader wonders often which parts are real: the diagnosis, the preposterous inventions, the financial gimmicks, the five wives, the four children and no less than forty jobs, constant debt, and bankruptcies. Then, of course, show more the story is told by his stepson, Jake Barnes (a la [b:The Sun Also Rises|3876|The Sun Also Rises|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509802323l/3876._SY75_.jpg|589497], the damaged unreliable narrator writer-author and his apologetic coda. The book is divided into Farce and Fiction and The Facts: Jake, the novelist, is telling the story of Charlie, the fabricator or Ferris is telling of his own father. The prose is dazzling and parts of it are hilarious, but what is true? It doesn't matter, it's such a good, moving story. show less

Top o' the Meta-polis to ya! Is this fiction, biography, a combination, or none of the above? Is author Joshua Ferris truly the adopted son of the titular Charlie Barnes? Does it matter? Yes, it does, and for a reader who refuses to look at book flaps or reviews, it's unfair! There are major hints, in the quote from Jeanette Walls from her autobiography Glass Castles, thanking her siblings, and in the last section, called "The Facts". The main character, a schlub and serial failed entrepreneur, divorced husband to four women (two named Barbara), has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a sure death sentence. Charlie wishes to just have one big success before his life is over. His current happy marriage to Barbara #2 estranges him from show more his children Jerry, Jake (narrator with a secret, along with Charlie himself), Marcy, and the mysterious Karen. But Charlie, a/k/a Chuck, a/k/a/ Steady Boy, seems to survive both Whipple surgery and his deadly cancer, and his final business idea, of a pre-GoFundMe called "Chippin' In", brings financial success and reconciliation with his children - or does it? With chapters labeled "Farce" and "Fiction", it should be clear what's what, and maybe I should just trust that the writer is telling me with those words which is which - but everyone in this entire novel is unreliable. The writing is probing and clever, but the plot is just disconcerting. I don't enjoy having to have other reviewers tell me what THEY believe to be true, or find out in an interview that Ferris revealed it all somewhere, because the truth should be self-evident! Or I'm just not smart enough, a distinct possibility. How frustrating!

Quotes: "Ordinarily, in a work of fiction, one is free to move a character around at will, to swap the cat in the window for a dog at his feet, outfit him with a cardigan or blink away the cardigan while dampening the pits of his buttondown..."

"I was presently hostage to a dull mauve waiting room that drained the human soul of its magnificent contents and replaced them with seven generic watercolors and six rows of chairs." show less

I have read Ferris's previous 3 novels and his book of short stories. He is one of my favorite authors. His book topics are specifically unique yet touch on universal themes. He is also very funny and writes great prose. This book deals with Charlie Barnes who is a 68 year old man who ultimately discovers he has pancreatic cancer(a sure death sentence). The narrator turns out to be his son who is a writer. Charlie's life has been of failure in business with him always looking for the big idea(a clown service, a frisbee like flying toupee). He is also on his 5th marriage. The book goes through his life and it is filled with humor and pathos. Characters come in and out, flashbacks and time moves back and forth. By the end we are not sure show more what was real but we know that we had a great ride along the way. If you have never read Ferris, I strongly recommend this 340 page book. All of his books are worthwhile. show less

Disappointing. [b:Then We Came to the End|97782|Then We Came to the End|Joshua Ferris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442800496l/97782._SY75_.jpg|2926759] is one of the more memorable books I have ever read, but this one was just another Updike-ian story about a crappy white guy who cheated on all of his wives and chased one grand dream after another. Yes there were some meta touches and a surprising ending (that really wasn't much of a surprise). But altogether, I wish Joshua Ferris had written this as a journal for himself to process his relationship with his late father instead of inflicting him on the rest of the world.