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A Philosophy of Ruin
A Philosophy of Ruin: A Novel | Nicholas Mancusi
7 posts | 5 read | 4 to read
"An unforgettable debut. Mancusi is a writer to watch."-Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel A young philosophy professor finds himself in the middle of a drug-running operation after his personal life derails in this taut, white-knuckle debut for fans of Breaking Bad Oscar Boatwright, a disenchanted philosophy professor, receives terrible news. His mother, on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father, has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land. Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord. To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run. A Philosophy of Ruin rumbles with brooding nihilism, then it cracks like a whip, hurtling Oscar and Dawn toward a terrifying threat on the road. Can Oscar halt the acceleration of chaos? Or was his fate never in his control? Taut, ferocious and blazingly intelligent, A Philosophy of Ruin is a heart-pounding thrill ride into the darkest corners of human geography, and a philosophical reckoning with the forces that determine our destiny.
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review
TheLibrarian
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Mehso-so

After the unexpected loss of his mother, a young philosophy professor‘s life starts to spin out of control.

Philosophy + Breaking Bad should make for a good combo but there was nothing spectacular about A Philosophy of Ruin. Don‘t get me wrong, it had its entertaining parts but certain sections had me bored and skimming.

#NetGalley

valeriegeary Cool cover though 5y
81 likes1 comment
review
cookreadsleep
Mehso-so

I received an ARC of this book, and am grateful for that. I probably wouldn‘t have read it otherwise. It is an interesting story, but it is so nihilist that the whole time you‘re feeling like it‘s pointless to go on. There is a Breaking Bad vibe to it, but that‘s only about 25% of the story. It‘s short, so you won‘t waste much time on it if you read it.

TheLibrarian Great review. I felt the same and started to skim parts of it. 5y
cookreadsleep Glad I‘m not alone on this one! 5y
1 like2 comments
blurb
TheLibrarian
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1. Tagged and almost finished
2 Riverdale
3. Good Omens

#weekendreads

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kyraleseberg
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Pickpick

Oscar unknowingly sleeps with his student who is also a campus drug dealer and ends up taking part in a drug run that spirals out of control while also dealing with his mom's sudden death. This could be compared to the show Breaking Bad because it's similar in tone and execution (and obviously the whole drug thing).
While the ending wasn't really satisfying, it was still a read that held my full attention from beginning to end.

review
Misanthropester
Panpan

Unsatisfying. Bulk of the novel attempts to mirror pulp tv drama & does so poorly with far too much purple prose

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Misanthropester
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What began as a strong narrative beginning to wrestle with grief has now turned into a cliche male-fantasy & it's kinda pissing me off

blurb
Misanthropester
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So far this novel is deeply depressing but quite good