Harry, Revised

by Mark Sarvas

Book Overview

"Self loathing was never so funny, and Sarvas's depiction of his downward-spiraling anti-hero is spot-on."-- Los Angeles Magazine In this critically acclaimed novel, Harry Rent finds himself single... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596914629
• ISBN13: 9781596914629
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 265 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

What a book!

At first, I just wanted to slap the narrator. But the dry humor that pervades every page of this book slowly infuses itself into the plot, and before I knew it, I couldn't wait to see what he would do next. A surprisingly funny, and sad, book about marriage, and sense of self.

Love this book!

I've always been a fan of Mark Sarvas-- I have his blog bookmarked-- so I knew he could write. But I wasn't prepared for the fantastic energy, detail and characterizations in his debut novel. It's psychological astute, surprising and ultimately very moving. I anxiously await his next novel.

Harry Revised deservedly in the running for the Tournament of Books award

I had just finished reading Harry Revised and I must say, it is definitely as 'witty, erudite, and outrageous as Waugh' as quoted by Andrew Sean Greer (author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli). Reminds me a little of Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim as well. (By the way Nat Waugh - you should get Alex to read this book).

sarvas puts his money where his mouth is and delivers

Mark Sarvas the critic had every reason to be frightened of the reception that might greet Harry, Revised. Seriously. The dude's got balls. I can't help but think of Peter Bogdanovich, who, like Sarvas was known to level his share of withering criticism before ever stepping into the ring. But like Bogdanovich, Sarvas has stepped up and delivered with his debut. What's more, in Harry, Revised, Sarvas has deftly dealt with subject matter that in lesser hands, might well have walked a banal line-- American male mid-life crisis and all its attending pitfalls. Where Sarvas shines is in the details. And the humor. And the depth. In short, in all the right places. Harry Rent, in all his flawed, disquieting, awkward sub-glory, is achingly alive, and very memorable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever had the wheels fall of their cart.

Man with all his flaws, growing

As a regular reader of Mark Sarvas's litblog, I snapped this up as soon as it came out but was afraid to let me expectations rise too much. A first novel can be a tricky thing, and reading someone's voice in fiction for the first time is nothing like reading his essays. But by the end of the first chapter, I was very optimistic--though still a bit cautious. Harry, a forty-something widower lusting after a young waitress, was perfectly drawn to be just the right combination of pathetic and dirty-minded, charming and neurotic, and relatable. The third-person narrator has access to much of Harry's internal monologue, which is smart, funny, and somewhat depressing--a microcosm of the novel as a whole, really. In less talented hands, the characters could easily have become unbearable. A young, sexy, full-of-herself grad student/waitress with a bad boyfriend could have ruined a story single-handedly, with no help from an exercise-addicted, über-motivated career woman (the dead wife), but instead we completely understand why Harry loves these women and accept him with all his flaws. Too often I am left wondering in vain at the inexplicable actions of a character who has "grown" emotionally in the course of a novel, but the changes Harry goes through felt genuine and understandable. His resolution, though as imperfect and open-ended as reality demands, was still comprehensible and satisfying. I have not been this excited about a book by an author not previously known as "safe" since I can remember, and I can only hope that Mr. Sarvas has more of the same waiting in the wings.