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Indecision
A Novel
by Benjamin Kunkel


6.8

based on 21 reviews
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based on 6 votes
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An unhappy 28-year-old tech support worker tries an experimental new prescription drug in an attempt to cure his chronic indecision in this comedic debut novel from Benjamin Kunkel.

Random House, 256 pages
08/30/2005
$21.95

ISBN: 1400063450

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

The New York Times Book Review Jay McInerney

Kunkel manages, just barely, to preserve the superb comic tone of the novel, even as he gestures, like some literary voice in the wilderness, toward a hazy new frontier of hip sincerity, of irony subordinated to a higher calling.

Los Angeles Times Mark Rozzo

What often makes "Indecision" itself indecisive--those pointy- headed tangents on globalization, erotic transference and Teutonic philosophy--is precisely what makes this wise and clownish enterprise work so well. [18 Sep 2005, p.R10]

New York Observer Anna Shapiro

I’d be happy to take [Dwight] on as a wavering on-again, off-again boyfriend... if I can’t have the guy, I’ll settle for the book. Decisively. [29 Aug 2005, p.18]

New York Review Of Books Joyce Carol Oates

Very likely, Kunkel intends his protagonist to be a satiric portrait at times, and at other times a sympathetic portrait, but it's an uneasy mix. The novel's unvarying tone is one of wry self-deprecation, lacking the detachment and savagery requisite for effective satire.

LA Weekly Claire Messud

Kunkel is clearly smart enough, and courageous enough as a writer, to go farther.

London Review Of Books Daniel Soar

[A] very serious and very funny novel.

The Guardian Todd McEwen

The charm and surprise of Indecision make it eminently worth reading. There are a few too many tired-sounding jokes and some straining for effect of the writing-school variety, but any lapses are made up for by fresh insights and observations, scathing and tender.

The Onion A.V. Club Scott Tobias

Rarely do novels so readily take the form of their protagonist: Behind that seemingly transparent veneer of slacker charm, the kid has some potential after all.

Village Voice Joy Press

Kunkel... manages to whip up a cerebral novel that doesn't feel overly, uh, cerebral.

Washington Post John McNally

Because he's young and uses big words, Kunkel may unfairly be compared to David Foster Wallace or Rick Moody, but unlike them he has succeeded in writing a novel that's clever without being self-conscious.

San Francisco Chronicle Oscar Villalon

Lounging among all of [the] slangy "dudes," "likes," "bust a moves" and "mans," and stepping gingerly around paragraphs strewn with explosive packets of wit, is a grown-up crowd of intriguing ideas.

Slate Michael Agger

Beneath all the wit, Indecision suffers, in its second half, from the kind of speechifying one might find in an [Ayn] Rand novel, and I wonder if their writerly aspirations are all that far apart.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

Old Dwight's book really knocked me out.

The Independent Nicholas Royle

Although happy endings cannot be taken for granted, the book delivers an uplifting message in dark times.

Daily Telegraph Christopher Cleave

It takes a rare courage to write a book about things that matter, and a great talent to make it lovable. This novel is an enjoyable, unflinching, deeply politically-engaged invitation to a happier world.

Daily Telegraph Sam Leith

Benjamin Kunkel has written a book much like its protagonist: diverting, clever, hapless, immature, confused, frequently funny and extremely genial. It leaves you with the impression that he probably has the equipment to write a first-rate novel; but that this isn't it.

Boston Globe Jay Atkinson

Kunkel's debut novel is a brief, witty, occasionally insightful but ultimately vapid take of a spoiled young man adrift in a world of privilege and comfort.

The New Yorker

The book, for all its crisp prose, can’t escape the staleness of its conceit.

The Independent Tim Martin

Despite occasional delights, Indecision remains more of a placebo than a wonder drug.

The Nation Mark Lotto

Benjamin Kunkel may become a serious novelist, but Indecision is not a serious novel.

Entertainment Weekly Gilbert Cruz

Benjamin Kunkel has succeeded in crafting a voice of singular originality--one that you want to punch in the mouth.

The average user rating for this book is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

earnest p gave it an8:
Funny, recognisable. End a bit sloppy

Gene C gave it a6:
Starts out good, but crashes at the end, becoming a preachy political lecture rather than a novel.

Jane H gave it a1:
This book is a bore. Either it was published entirely because of the connections of the author, or it was just a dreadful mistake. There is no spirit in this book. It's all witticisms, which fail because the story is like a film set -- just the façade without the interior.

Michael K gave it a9:
This book is a scream! It seems somehow related to books like Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and maybe even more to The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, although where Franzen's novel is about family, Kunkel's is more about romantic relationships and a few other things. But all are brainy novels which seem to share a similar fascination with pharmacological humor. In The Corrections, the malady anhedonia is curable by Corecktall, but here the affliction abulia is treatable with Abulinix, however, in the time it takes for the drug to kick in, our hero is off to South America to see an old girlfriend. Or so he thinks. But Dwight Wilmerding has got to be one of the most original comic characters I've ever come across. Loved it!

dan b. gave it a7:
Indecision is the first novel in a long while that I've read and enjoyed yet felt upon finishing it absolutely no desire to have written it. ...It's not amazing but it's kind-hearted and graceful in its prose; it's often clever and not infrequently funny and, perhaps best of all, it's short. For brevity alone I would maybe give the author a medal and, despite him being a man and me not really being bi-curious, I'd kiss him.

Craigan U. gave it a10:
I really dig this book. It packs a decade (late high school to late 20's) worth of adolescent angst, trying to develop a worthwhile life philosophy, career-goals into a two week stretch of the protagonist's life. Admittedly, its a chance for the author to show us how intelligent he is (and I am impressed)--so part of this book is just a big narcissistic stroke. But it says a lot about the placebo effect nd our search for the radical cure, this time in the form of "Abulinix". That it passes for a coming of age novel these days (the lead character is 10 years Holden Caufield's senior) in a society where 25 is the new 15 is disturbing, but enlightening...but I digress. In short, I HIGHLY recommend this read.

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Indecision A Novel by Benjamin Kunkel

Indecision
A Novel
by Benjamin Kunkel