The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris

A brilliantly observed collection of short stories on the absurdity of modern life by one of America's best satirists.

'He reflected in future retrospect on the evening and foretold every gesture, every word. "I can't do it," he said. "I can predict everything that will happen from the moment they arrive to the little kiss on the cheek goodbye and I just can't goddamn do it."'

The Dinner Party immerses us in the comic and strange realities of modern life, as we journey through the lives of the unlovable, the unloved, and those who love too much: Jack, who nervously tries to befriend the surly removal man by buying him a latte and a croissant; Sarah, who endlessly imagines how her evening would have been better had she only chosen a different restaurant; Joe, who spends a night alone at the office and surreptitiously starts to rearrange his colleagues' belongings.

These are stories about the infinite possibilities of a person's life, from an agonizingly funny and original writer.

Joshua Ferris

Reviews

“ A magnificent black carnival of discord and delusion. Rich with novelistic density, Ferris' stories make The Dinner Party a full-fledged feast ”

New York Times Book Review

“ An addictively accurate and darkly comic depiction of modern American life. Like F Scott Fitzgerald before him, Ferris shines an unforgiving light on the jittery pursuit of happiness ”

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

“ Constructed with great care, combining beady-eyed observation with farce, black comedy and moments of lyricism. Thoughtful, mordant and funny ”

Guardian

“ A darkly comic writer who feels like the novelist equivalent of the filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen ”

Washington Post

Paperback

9780241979983

April 16, 2018

Viking

232 pages

RRP $19.99
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Hardback

9780241297032

July 15, 2017

Viking

256 pages

RRP $32.99
Online retailers
Or

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The Dinner Party

Joshua Ferris

EBook

9780241979976

June 29, 2017

Penguin eBooks
Online retailers