The Cry of the Sloth

Written by Sam Savage

Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Set in middle America during the economic hard times of the Nixon era, this tragicomic, epistolary masterpiece chronicles everything Andrew Whittaker—literary journal editor, negligent landlord, and aspiring novelist—commits to paper over the course of four critical months.

From his letters, diary entries, and fragments of fiction, to grocery lists and posted signs, we find our hero hounded by tenants and creditors, harassed by a loathsome local arts group, tormented by his ex-wife, and living on a diet of fried Spam, cupcakes, and Southern Comfort. Determined to redeem his failures and eviscerate his enemies, Whittaker hatches a grand plan. But as winter nears, his difficulties accumulate, and the disorder of his life threatens to overwhelm him.

A send-up of the literary life and the loneliness and madness that accompanies it, Sam Savage proves that all the evidence is in the writing, that all the world is, indeed, a stage, and that escape from the mind’s prison requires a command performance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Apr 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094416595

Sam Savage

Sam Savage is the best-selling author of Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, The Cry of the Sloth, Glass, and The Way of the Dog. A native of South Carolina, Savage holds a PhD in philosophy from Yale University. He was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the PEN L.L. Winship Award, and the Society of Midland Authors Award. Savage resides in Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews for The Cry of the Sloth

[lee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The never ending supply of adjectives, parables, metaphores, greasing the wheels of this tale. Pulling the reader back again and again as the narrative unfolds.
Happy, sad, cheeky, bad
the main player seldom at a loss as he threads his way through, basting together each seam one at a time.

[Karen Chandler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finally finally
Finished. This book. I fountain myself, nodding off to sleep.enjoy

[Vijay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining at time but just never seemed like it was going much of anywhere.

[LorrainJaeger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book had its own unique humor. It was written in a very clever way that sometimes had me laughing out loud. I think we can all relate to Andy’s character in one way or another- a friend, uncle, brother, neighbor, or perhaps ourselves.

[Mary Schwietert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So very touching and sad. I recommend if you are not sad, though.

[Dax · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A rare treat offering quality writing. Took me 20 tries slogging through mediocre pablum to find this welcome listen.

[Leah Barton Tew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like “A Confederacy of Dunces” you will love this book. Arthur is such a well-written character - annoying, gross, sad, and conceited all at the same time. It takes skill to pull that off!

[Grace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an easy, intriguing, and absolutely hysterical read. Great way to entertain the mind and enter what feels an entirely different world seen by the lense of the sad and humorous andrew

[kristie lange · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Humorous letters were entertaining and the narrator did a perfect job capturing the personality of Andy.

[grandpahobo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A little slow at the beginning but it gets much better as it goes.

[luli81_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four months of letters are more than enough to picture Andrew Whittaker's life in amazingly accurate detail , what it was, what it is and what it'll be when the last letter is sent. As the editor of a little literary magazine which is about to disappear, he starts writing depressive letters to all his acquaintances and his family but in such a witty way that I found myself smiling in spite of the sad situation. Left by his wife, broken, and with no self esteem left, Andy´s world starts to crumble and we witness his fast downfall to nowhere.Sad, poignant and sarcastic, this is a seemingly light story which is finally charged with tones of existentialism , similar to Pessoa's Book of Disquiet. Awesome surprise, insightful and intelligent reading."Lying, sycophantic, stupid.The ingratiating phrases. How can I be so loathsome?""I'm convinced their happines is illusory. That is something I think you should know about me.""I have unpacked my soul and there is nothing in it"

[gaskella_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Savage, whose delightful and quirky first novel, Firmin: Adventures Of A Metropolitan Lowlife was published at the age of 67, has done it again with The Cry Of The Sloth, upping the quirk quotient considerably in this bizarrely funny, yet sad story.Subtitled, ‘The Mostly Tragic Story of Andrew Whittaker being his Collected, Final, and Absolutely Complete Writings’, the story is told through his myriad letters and occasional writings. Andrew produces and edits a small-time and mediocre literary magazine for local writers and poets called Soap. It loses rather than makes money, but he spends every hour he has on this labour of love. He finances his life as landlord of several rather dilapidated apartments, but he’s not really interested in them, he’d rather brood about his ex, Jolie – and write letters.At the beginning of the novel, he has to write letters to some of his tenants to ask for the rent. The requests start off being reasonable, but it soon becomes clear that they are beginning to withhold the rent as the apartments need repairs – increasingly major ones. Andrew gets many submissions to Soap, but rarely agrees to publish any of them – instead he writes rejection letters, initially reasonable again, but they get more verbose, argumentative and quite rude as time goes on. He also writes many letters to Jolie, telling her why he misses her and why he can’t afford the maintenance with increasingly wild excuses. His diminishing income leads him to start to make savings all around, he no longer goes out, he doesn’t bother dressing, he stops going shopping, his mental stability suffers more and more. His life is disintegrating all around him, yet he still believes that he will be able to plan and pull off the great literary festival that is his dream. The letters are interspersed with hilarious notices to his tenants, shopping lists, and his own awfully hackneyed attempts at writing his own novel of the great American Dream.Whittaker’s is a mid-life crisis and a half, and he compares himself and his life to that of a sloth he finds in a book of mammals while sorting out his basement…"It moves so slowly and hangs out (literally) in such damp leafy places that green algae grows on its fur. As has happened to me during the current monsoon, or so it seems. There is mildew on everything, and I myself am feeling quite mossy in spots. As for inactivity, I don’t think I’ve moved two hundred yards in the past two days."This portrait of a bitter and twisted weed of a man is really unsympathetic! He is reminiscent of another unlikeable character – Ignatius P Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces. But Andrew Whittaker is much sadder than the piece of work that is Reilly, and because of that we do end up sympathising with him – just a little, (while we’re laughing behind our hands).This is a highly original take on the epistolary novel. Like We Need To Talk About Kevin (Five Star Paperback), we only hear one side of the story – the only words are those of Whittaker’s. Whereas in the former I’d have like to hear a little of the other side of the story, from Kevin’s Dad say, here – I think it would dismiss any slight hint of compassion we have for Whittaker. The novel does sag slightly in the third quarter, but picks up enough by the end to make this a compelling read.

[riverwillow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm a big fan of the epistolary novel and was pleased to discover this modern offering in my local independent bookshop. It didn't disappoint. Like the best satire it is sometimes really hard to read as Savage unrelentingly exposes every facet of Andrew Whittaker's life through his writing - from letters to his ex-wife, mother, friends, notes left for his, seemingly badly behaved tenants, shopping lists and extracts from his novel, which is the worst piece of writing its ever been my misfortune to read. Although Andrew Whittaker is never described to the reader, Savage's prose is such that I have a very clear idea of what I think he looks like and, much as I dislike the character as any redeeming features are buried deep, he is one of the most vivid characters I've read about recently. If you like biting satire this is the book for you.

[nicx27 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

After reading and enjoying Firmin by this author, I was pleased to be offered The Cry of the Sloth on Amazon Vine. Unfortunately, it left a lot to be desired for me. The book consists almost entirely of letters, which are satirical but unfortunately largely unfunny. The book centres around Andrew Whitaker, the editor of a literary magazine called Soap. He sends a series of letters, including rejections of submissions to the magazine, letters to his mother and sister, to his estranged wife, and to various other people.The book didn't make me laugh, and for me it just didn't work.