Indecision

by Benjamin Kunkel

Book Overview

Dwight B. Wilmerding is only twenty-eight, but he's having a midlife crisis. He lives a dissolute existence in a tiny apartment with three (sometimes four) slacker roommates, holds a mind-numbing job at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and has a chronic inability to make up his mind. Encouraged by one of his roommates to try an experimental drug meant to banish indecision, Dwight jumps at the chance (not without some vacillation about the hazards...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812973755
• ISBN13: 9780812973754
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wow.... Haters! :)

Full disclosure: I felt compelled to write a review in defense of this book-I-stayed-up-all-night-to-finish-because-I-couldn't-put-it-down from the haters who have posted thus far. I loved this book. I think there is plenty of validity in some of the qualms others have expressed. (Yes, Brigid was not a terribly fleshed-out character; yes, the socialism argument was facile; yes, the protagonist was at times annoying as hell; yes, the "revelation" at the very end was as obvious as they come.) But who cares?? What measuring stick are we using here, people? Does a novel have to be perfect in every way, or does it just need to make you FEEL something? Make you THINK something? I doubt that many red-blooded, red-stated Americans will, upon reading Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel, run out of their McMansions screaming "Democratic Socialism For All!" For me, the book was more self-affirming than revelatory. I related to the main character in so many mundane ways (hairy back, age 28, arachnophobe) and some more legitimate (maleprivilegedwhite, grappling with new words like neoliberalism). The point I'd like to make, though, is that this novel is likely to be thoughtful and thought-provoking, especially if you're a Millenial trying to make sense of this crazy, messed-up world. Mr. Kunkel may indeed have an agenda here, but if that agenda is to make people unable to ever look at a can of Folgers or a Bank of America ATM the same way again, it's hard for this reviewer to do anything but applaud him.

Read it in a few hours (spoilers)

I'm reading through the reviews for this book and can't believe all the bad ones. I picked this book up in a book store because the title "Indecision" grabbed me. I had never heard of the book or author before and the cover art didn't strike me as a book I would enjoy. The summary on the back interested me, though, since I'm 26 and definitely struggling with indecision in my life. I sat down with the book and started to read and at first didn't like the long, zaggy, confusing sentences, but the voice grabbed me enough to keep reading and so I did. At page 45 I decided to buy the book. I'm glad I did. I also thought of "Catcher in the Rye" more than once during this story. It had a similar feel. I could relate with Dwight's indecision and conflicts (even though I didn't go to prep school and am a woman). I'd say the thing that really impressed me was Dwight's unique way of looking at life and philosophizing and also the sense of humor. I laughed out loud more than once. I liked quotes such as: "...on our nights together I was usually awake like this for an hour or so while Vaneetha slept and breathed beside me. Sometimes she'd twitch like a dreaming dog, and in part due to my intense feeling for dogs, shared by my entire family, this would induce a shiver of tenderness in me." (p. 15). While I thought it was a great book, and will probably reread it, I didn't particularly enjoy the ending, it veered off after Dwight sleeps with Brigid. I do have respect for what the author was doing, though, and although the book was scattered, I thought it was overall very effective. I devoured the book and totally enjoyed it, although maybe because there was no hype in my case. I would recommend it to other 20-somethings but don't expect some What-I-should-do-with-my-life manual. Just expect to read about another 20-something who doesn't have the answers either and is just trying to figure a few things out and making some witty and unique observations while he's doing it. Read it for yourself and make up your own mind.

One of the the funniest books I've ever read

I believe it was Charlie Chaplin who said comedy is tragedy in a long shot. Indecision proves his point. Rife with cuttingly accurate observations of contemporary post-college existence, it penetrates to the tragic heart of the maladies (among them, indecision) that afflict the privileged directionless young American. What emerges is one of the funniest books I've ever read. A classic (or at-least destined to become classic) alcohol-soaked scene between the protagonist Dwight and his father is absolutely one of the most masterful balancing acts between tragedy and comedy I have ever read. You will be endlessly amused by Indecision-I guarantee you. (Unless, perhaps, the book hits a bit too close to home prompting the entirely disingenuous protest that no one in his late 20s is like that, especially not me!) But this book is so much more than a great read. I read it in two days-I was enjoying myself too much to stop reading or to fully contemplate the book's stealth intelligence. For the last couple of weeks, I have found myself continuing to think about Indecision's various observations, phrases, characters, and the way in which the book weaves together, and it has progressively dawned on me how remarkably smart this book is. Dwight's adventure ultimately draws a strong line between the economic travesties of our global economic system and the problems of a goofy and confused American guy. This case is profoundly convincing. The book tenderly and wryly embraces the absurdity of Dwight's grandiose diagnosis of himself and his world and asks its reader to do the same. Indeed, Dwight has bit off a little more than he can chew, but shouldn't we all? Given the choice between respectable miniscule lives and striving to do and understand a little more than we are capable of even at the risk of delicious absurdity, isn't the latter the obvious choice? Indecision diagnoses a generation with shocking accuracy and great humor. If you are under 40, you are going to laugh with recognition. If you're older and want to understand what your son (or grandson's) problem is-and enjoy yourself at the same time-this is the book for you.

Decidedly a pleasurable read

Though I was immediately drawn to Kunkel's novel in that it chronicles a disorder that I myself have too many symptoms of, I was concerned that like so many male narrators, Dwight, would leave me in the cold. To my delight and to the bemusement of anyone sitting around me when I read and laughed through the novel from start to finish in one sitting, I found Dwight immeasurably charming, wonderfully nuanced, and universally relatable. While Dwight may be more of a slacker than anyone should rightfully be at 28, I cannot imagine that any reader in search of a fine literary snack will have trouble sympathizing with this young man's genuine perplexedness or falling in love with him. Kunkel creates a character as significant as Wilkie in Saul Bellow's "Seize the Day" without the loathsomeness of the latter. Aside from my obvious affection for Dwight, I enjoyed Indecision for its wonderful and resonating turns of phrase and its distinctive spin on cosmopolitan kid dysfunctionalism. Indecision has parts wistful and parts silly, and I look forward to reading them again next chance I get. I most certainly recommend this novel to audiences of both gender and I look forward to more work from Benjamin Kunkel, whose stories in n+1 I have also enjoyed much.

Clichés are no longer clichés if you take them seriously,

and this book bursts with enough ideas and wit to force the reader to take its very deliberate clichés very seriously. The unforgettable voice of the main character is only the entry point to a world of David-Foster-Wallace-type multilevel idea-connectedness. I can't say that I came away from it feeling as if I had been filled with wisdom, but I can say that it is a book to be treasured and reread, and one which may cause unexpected inspiration.