Of the titles going on sale this week, Joshua Ferris’s much-anticipated second novel, The Unnamed, has the most buzz. The tale of how a wealthy New York lawyer and his family cope with his mysterious illness is the #1 Indie Pick for January. Libraries are showing modest holds on modest ordering in the libraries we checked.

Reviews are mixed:

• Newsweek and the Wall St. Journal have already praised the book, though both reviewers struggle with the metaphorical meaning of the protagonist’s illness.
• The Los Angeles Times is most positive, calling The Unnamed “accomplished and daring” and describing it as  “lay[ing] bare the fabric of families, the lengths people will go for the ones they love and the lack of value we place on the simple ability to pause, to stop and to reconsider all the steps we’ve made.
• Entertainment Weekly is less sanguine, and gives it a B- for wandering aimlessely.

What’s your take?  Are the reviews fair? Will your patrons enjoy this one?

The Unnamed Joshua Ferris Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books – (2010-01-18) ISBN / EAN: 0316034010 / 9780316034012

Audio from Hachette Audio:

• CD: $34.98; ISBN 9781600248771

Large Print from Regan Arthur Books:

• $24.99; ISBN 9780316074001

Also coming this week:

• Wolf at the Door (Sean Dillon Series #17) by Jack Higgins, Putnam: hold ratios as high as 5:1
• The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes, Viking: holds of about 2:1 or more.
• Kisser by Stuart Woods, Putnam: holds as high as 9:1 in one of the libraries we checked
• The Burning Land (Saxon Tales) by Bernard Cornwell, Harper: Holds up to 5:1

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 4:05 pm and is filed under 2010/11 - Winter/Spring, New Title Radar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.