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Title: Couch
Author: Benjamin Parzybok
Narrator: Gregg Margarite
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-01-11
Publisher: Iambik Audio Inc
Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Couch. A novel. An odyssey. An epic furniture removal. A road trip. An exuberant and hilarious debut in which an episode of furniture moving gone awry becomes an impromptu quest of self-discovery, secret histories, and unexpected revelations.
Thom is a computer geek whose hacking of a certain Washington-based software giant has won him a little fame but few job prospects. Erik is a smalltime con man, a fast-talker who is never quite quick enough on his feet. Their roommate, Tree, is a confused clairvoyant whose dreams and prophecies may not be completely off base.After a freak accident floods their apartment, the three are evictedbut they have to take their couch with them. The real problem? The couchhuge and orangewont let them put it down. Soon the roommates are off on a cross-country trek along back roads, byways, and rail lines, heading far out of Portland and deep into one very weird corner of the American dream.
Critic Reviews:
"Beyond the good old-fashioned story, Couch meditates on heroism and history, but above all, its an argument for shifting your life around every now and then, for getting off the couch and making something happen. (The L Magazine)
Delightfully lighthearted writing. . . . Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the enthusiastic prose carries readers through sporadic dark moments . . . Parzyboks quirky humor recalls the flaws and successes of early Douglas Adams." (Publishers Weekly)
What I like about the novel is its epic scope and the constant, unapologetic insistence that there is something magical about this inanimate piece of furniture. (Andrew McCarthy)
Members Reviews:
Bizarre. Absolutely Bizarre.
I came across this title when browsing the "New Releases" section. I read the summary and thought it sounded really different and original. I downloaded it and dove right in.
The first thing to strike me was the strange way the narrator was speaking. He has a really strange way of stressing random words, and it makes it very difficult to understand what he's saying. I had to back up several times in the beginning to make out the words. There were several times I honestly thought it was computer generated, and then something would be said that sounded more human, and I'd change my mind back...until the next strange sentence.
The summary on the book is inaccurate. It's not that these three fellows can't put the couch down, it's just that they decide not to. Reading the summary I got the impression perhaps their hands were magically stuck to it, but that's not the case.
If you disregarded the strange reading voice, the beginning of the book was actually quite interesting. About half way through however, things started to unravel. The plot seemed on hold while strange monologues and tangents were given the lead. These detours seemed like maybe they were trying to suggest a deeper meaning or moral to the story, but were still dancing around it, leaving me with nothing.
I was so nonplussed by the (non) direction the book had taken, that I thought maybe I was to blame. I went so far as to put the story on hold, while I Googled interviews with the author, to try to get some sort of insight to what his goal had been, so I could listen with fresh ears and try to appreciate it more.
