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Nov 29, 2010derekwolfgram rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Joshua Ferris has a gift for describing the absurdity of modern life in a way that is funny, touching, and disturbing all at once. He took on office culture in his very enjoyable debut novel Then We Came to the End. In The Unnamed, he has a little more to say about the workplace, but the focus is much more on family relationships. Tim Farnsworth is an attorney with a rare affliction - he has a compulsion to get up and walk until he collapses. Never knowing when it will strike, he carries a backpack of supplies with him at all times - his walks end up with him falling asleep at random locations outdoors: under a tree, near a dumpster, on the side of the road. Despite being a successful lawyer with a wife and teenage daughter, he lives a semi-homeless lifestyle because of his illness. His wife goes to great lengths to care for him, follow him, pick him up, and bring him back home, but her sacrifice eventually drives them further apart as she becomes frustrated with the intensity of his disease and he feels guilty about his inability to control his walking. Funny, beautiful, and tragic, The Unnamed is an absolutely compelling story told with a keen eye for detail in description of the scenery, development of the characters, insight into the human mind, and observations about our culture.