The Fuck Up

The Village Voice [A] terrific novel....The charm and grit of Nersesian's voice is immediately enveloping, as the down-and-out but oddly up narrator...slinks through Alphabet City and guttural utterances of love. Paper Nersesian creates a charming everyman whose candor and sure-footed description of his physical surroundings and emotional framework help his tale flow naturally and therefore believably. Hal Sirowitz author of Mother Said A Trainspotting without drugs, New York style. Time Out For those who remember that the eighties were as much about destitute grit as they were about the decadent glitz described in the novels of Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney, this book will come as a fast-paced reminder. Smug Magazine Touted as the bottled essence of early eighties East Village living, The Fuck-Up is, refreshingly, nothing nearly so limited....A cult favorite, I'd say it's ready to become a legitimate religion. Jennifer Belle author of Going Down Having "grown to tolerate all of New York's degradations," Arthur Nersesian's main character is irresistibly charming, funny, and real. Nersesian's writing, reminding me at times of John Patrick Shanley and Gogol, is beautiful, especially when it is about women and love. The Fuck-Up is a terrific success. Grid Magazine Not since The Catcher in the Rye, or John Knowles' A Separate Peace, have I read such a beautifully written book.... Nersesian's powerful, sure-footed narrative alone is so believably human in its poignancy... Nersesian mixes "F" trains, lumpy couches, SoHo lofts, dive bars, lonely divorcees, porn theaters, posh brownstones, embezzling employers, ritzy Hard Rock Cafe parties, deceitful, would-be kept starlets, bathroom-stall poetry, free Mercedes-Benzes, and even Mormons. Whew! I couldn't put this book down. Flipside Fantastically alluring! I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Arthur Nersesian is an American novelist, playwright, and poet. He has written eight novels including The Fuck-Up, Chinese Takeout, Manhattan Loverboy, Suicide Casanova, Dogrun, and Unlubricated. He lives in New York City.