Eat When You Feel Sad

By Zachary German

Robert was born in 1980s America. He feeds a cat, watches television and drinks beer. He gets mustard on his clothes, rides a bicycle and talks on gmail chat. Eat When You Feel Sad takes place in cars, houses and apartments, a school, a community centre and several Chinese restaurants. It is a selection of scenes from life. A novella that captures the reality, humour and hope of youth.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933633859
• ISBN13: 9781933633855
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Melville House Publishing
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

so hot

this book is good. after reading this book i feel less like committing suicide and more like preparing a meal with kale. this book actually inspired me to write a novel in the exact same style, which i then deleted, feeling satisfied. this book has mad readability. i sat down and read it in one day. some parts i read during lectures when i got bored. i never felt bored when reading the scenes. strong pacing and movement. a true 'page-turner.' this book has funny references, strong moments of dialogue, good music, powerful interactions, and a completely original, endearing, and pacifying style. one of the more emotional books i've read lately.

Positive Review

This book gave me the sense that I could do more things that I like doing. This book did not make me want to change who I am. This book is important due to its philosophical weight and its position amongst contemporary independently published fiction. Critical success seems to be coming for this book. German's character, Robert, is a self-aware caricature of an organism set starkly against a world of penetrating and evasive emotional crisis. The story of Robert is told with a metaphysical exactness that exists on its own, strangely divided from the surface of its language. German's effort is swift and has the mark of an early genius struck by natural talent. I feel that his work to follow will have little chance of disappointing anyone. Should his process not be as unaffected as it seems for EWYFS, few people will notice it as fault, and, in fact, might increase his ranking as one of America's up-and-coming sensations.

An exciting and thoroughly satisfying debut novel

Reading this felt really good. I felt really good reading this. Charmingly irreverent yet always emotionally resonant, EAT WHEN YOU FEEL SAD displayed, to me, a degree of awareness about life that is unlike almost any book I can think of. A freewheeling display of mindfulness in regard to the life of a young man in a style that is almost hypnotic, creating, to me, a trance-like effect. A refreshing and invigorating novel that I am sure to enjoy many more times.

++

In EWYFS, Zachary German 'executes' a style/philosophy which I feel others have wanted and tried to execute but either did not or could not maintain the consistency necessary to do so. The content, like the style, is also consistent. I enjoy what is included and what is excluded, description-wise and content-wise, and the relationship between the two. By leaving the the style and content only descriptive (minimally so) and without any explanation (except for what might be inferred), the book is all the more active, affecting, and disconnecting. Zachary German has like, 'a talent' or 'good eye' for the meaningless, honest, and sympathetic. The result is that EWYFS is unique and also, somehow, stunning. There were passages during which I could feel my heart vaguely in my chest and wet or something. EWYFS is also as stupid and boring as it should be, if that makes sense. Maybe a better description is that in EWYFS nothing means more than it should or more than any other thing. Everything being treated equally in this way creates a strong sense of loneliness, confusion, humor, and despair that distinguishes EWYFS from most books.

exciting debut from a promising young author

I enjoyed reading this book. I liked Robert, a stand in for German himself, and felt an almost tingling sympathy for him during some of the more dramatic scenes. I laughed out loud during some of the solo scenes. What German is doing feels concentrated, timely, and true. I look forward to reading more of his writing in the future, especially his poetry.