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Books

The man who loathed emoticons - especially :)) as it reminded him of his double chin

A review of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, by Joshua Ferris, a novel as engrossing as it is uproarious

21 June 2014

8:00 AM

21 June 2014

8:00 AM

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Joshua Ferris

Viking, pp.337, £16.99, ISBN: 9780670917730

Paul O’Rourke, the narrator of Joshua Ferris’s third novel, is a dentist who spends his days staring into the murky recesses of his patients’ mouths. Despite encouraging them to floss, he is himself a man of curiously ingrained habits. Averse to the digital age and oddly superstitious, he stockpiles VHS recorders and watches the Boston Red Sox with a plate of bland chicken and rice, always careful to avert his eyes from the sixth innings.

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