Expectations were high, but I can confidently say that I started out this year's reading list with a winner.
"The Unnamed" is Joshua Ferris' second novel and it is the story of a man with a condition that compels him to walk...and walk and walk and walk. His walks take him away from his home, his job as a partner in a law firm, his wife and his daughter. Eventually, his walks become his entire life and, in the process, he is transformed into a hobo, wandering from state to state and living out of a backpack (albeit with a seemingly endless supply of money). Facing the elements, but unable to stop walking, he loses fingers, toes, and, eventually, his sanity.
Though heartbreaking on so many levels, I had a really hard time putting this book down. At the very core is a relationship between husband and wife (and parent and child) that literally caused my heart to hurt at times. And, as I knew it would, it came to a beautiful, tragic end. Much like Tom surrenders to his condition and lets it take him over, it's impossible not to acquiesce to the love story that is at times as painful as it is enduring.
I highly, highly recommend this book, as well as Ferris' first, "And then we came to the end." Both are available through your favourite (local, please) bookseller or (if you must) online.
Title: The Unnamed
Author: Joshua Ferris
Genre: fiction
Number of pages: 320 pages (trade paperback)
Good for: women & men
Sex, coarse language, violence: yes, yes, no
Rating: better than popcorn
Rating: better than popcorn
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