The only thing Shane cares about is leaving. Usually on a Greyhound bus, right before his life falls apart again. Just like he planned. But this time it's complicated: there's a sadistic corporate climber who thinks she's his girlfriend, a rent-subsidized affair with his landlord's wife, and the bizarrely appealing deaf assistant to Shane's cosmically unstable dentist. When one of the women is murdered, and Shane is the only suspect who doesn't care enough to act like he didn't do it, the question becomes just how he'll clear the good name he never had and doesn't particularly want: his own.
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Product Description
About the Author
PAUL NEILAN recently left his mind-numbing job at an insurance company in Portland, Oregon, where he spent most of his time hiding in the bathroom and weeping. Born of this and many, many other humiliations, Apathy and Other Small Victories is his first novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant comedy, perfect for the passive aggresive stuck in a job they hate. (Like me)
2 Jun 2007
By P. Thomas
Format:Hardcover
If your feeling somewhat despondent with the world, and your office job really isn't making you feel as though your achieving all the things you were promised in your childhood, this is a perfect evening's release.
The book is incredably sharp, the wit is fantastic and as others have mentioned it is literally laugh-out-loud funny. The main character is someone you feel a great connection with as he acts out all the different things that you wish you could do in your office job (feel asleep during work, cut people down with comments, not care about anything generally). The plot, characters, dialgoue and pace all compliment each other in creating a cynical and cutting view of everything around.
The comedy within the book is memorable, particularly the one liners that suprise you in their delivery that makes the you burst out laughing when you least expect.
You will be using lines and ideas from this to amuse people around you who are unfortunate enough not to have read this book for a long time!
The book is incredably sharp, the wit is fantastic and as others have mentioned it is literally laugh-out-loud funny. The main character is someone you feel a great connection with as he acts out all the different things that you wish you could do in your office job (feel asleep during work, cut people down with comments, not care about anything generally). The plot, characters, dialgoue and pace all compliment each other in creating a cynical and cutting view of everything around.
The comedy within the book is memorable, particularly the one liners that suprise you in their delivery that makes the you burst out laughing when you least expect.
You will be using lines and ideas from this to amuse people around you who are unfortunate enough not to have read this book for a long time!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Xanthas
Format:Paperback
Apathy is, of course, a hysterically funny book, and I can honestly say that I laughed at least once a page; Neilan's wit is razor sharp and, given that both the author and the protagonist have a pervasive (wait for it) apathy about essentially everything, his ability to keep every page fresh is little short of astounding.
Saying that the plot is thin is, to some extent, missing the point; the main idea behind the book is that nothing of any interest ever happens, ever, and so with a character who is fundamentally disinterested in ever doing anything, we shouldn't be surprised if it isn't filled with car chases and explosions (although death and sex play a fairly heavy part, even though Shane doesn't care about either of them). The charm of the book, aside from Shane's constant disaffected narration, is the quality of the characters. Words like "quirky" and "neurotic" get bandied about an awful lot in a positive and endearing sense, but every one of them is so deeply flawed that it's little wonder that everything collapses around Shane as he tries desperately to avoid making a connection with them.
Ultimately, however, the success of the book is to create a strong sense of empathy with Shane's situation. When we consider his surroundings of self-absorbed and self-deceiving people living in a world based on lies and desperation, Shane emerges as the only one with the right response to it. His constant rejection and disinterest, when viewed against the world he's expected to be a part of, isn't, in the end, really that surprising. If you think that's charming, then buy the book. If you don't, then buy it anyway, because it's nothing short of amazing.
Saying that the plot is thin is, to some extent, missing the point; the main idea behind the book is that nothing of any interest ever happens, ever, and so with a character who is fundamentally disinterested in ever doing anything, we shouldn't be surprised if it isn't filled with car chases and explosions (although death and sex play a fairly heavy part, even though Shane doesn't care about either of them). The charm of the book, aside from Shane's constant disaffected narration, is the quality of the characters. Words like "quirky" and "neurotic" get bandied about an awful lot in a positive and endearing sense, but every one of them is so deeply flawed that it's little wonder that everything collapses around Shane as he tries desperately to avoid making a connection with them.
Ultimately, however, the success of the book is to create a strong sense of empathy with Shane's situation. When we consider his surroundings of self-absorbed and self-deceiving people living in a world based on lies and desperation, Shane emerges as the only one with the right response to it. His constant rejection and disinterest, when viewed against the world he's expected to be a part of, isn't, in the end, really that surprising. If you think that's charming, then buy the book. If you don't, then buy it anyway, because it's nothing short of amazing.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Anon Name
Format:Hardcover
"I was stealing saltshakers again. Ten, sometimes twelve a night, shoving them in my pockets, hiding them up my sleeves, smuggling them out of bars and diners and anywhere else I could find them. In the morning, wherever I woke up, I was always covered in salt. I was cured meat. I had become beef jerky. Even as a small, small child, I knew it would one day come to this..."
And that just the first paragraph - this book will make you laugh out loud. Do not read on the Tube unless you want people staring at you.
And that just the first paragraph - this book will make you laugh out loud. Do not read on the Tube unless you want people staring at you.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read
Very funny and smart writing - can't wait for more books from this Author. Perhaps not for the easily offended however.
Published 28 days ago by Peter J. Freeman
5.0 out of 5 stars
fab book,
this book came up as a recommendation for me on amazon.. when i read the synopsis i thought it sounded fine so ordered it.... Read more
Published 1 month ago by KurlyKarma:)
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only really interesting at the beginning and the end
This novel is only really interesting at the beginning and the end. Some "jokes" made we laugh out loud, but some whole pages were just irritating. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ransen Owen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this
For me, this book was like looking in a mirror, and it revealed to me that I am a narcissist. I will probably never read it again.
Published 4 months ago by philscotted
3.0 out of 5 stars
I dare say it'll be a small victory if you remember this book in a...
I bought this book whilst at uni, an amusing title and a blurb that promises a laugh out loud journey. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Elizabeth Mounger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant.
Such a refreshing narrative style. A quick read with no waffle. Often there are pages you may wish to re-read immediately. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Amsterdam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and Funny!
This is dark, funny and screwed up! My favourite kind of book!! Anyone know anymore like this?
As this is simlilar to how I often think and if people were honest it's... Read more
As this is simlilar to how I often think and if people were honest it's... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Blake Robson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chimes with the times
There's something amusingly cathartic about reading the outpouring of nihilistic bile in Peter Neilan's debut novel. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Luke Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome!
It's one of the funniest, cleverest books I've read in a long time. In one of the praises of the cover, it is compared with "A confederacy of dunces" and I think that, although... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Daniel from the River
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarre, witty and highly recommendable
Shane's not too keen on his job, nor much else in life for that matter. He opts instead to indulge in his twin obsessions of stealing salt shakers and drinking pitchers of beer. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Book Republik
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