Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Grievers
    The Grievers
    The Grievers
    Ebook195 pages3 hours

    The Grievers

    By Marc Schuster

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Grievers is a darkly comic coming of age novel for a generation that's still struggling to come of age.

    When Charley Schwartz learns that an old high school pal has killed himself, he agrees to help his alma mater organize a memorial service to honor his fallen comrade. Soon, however, devestation turns to disgust as Charley discovers that his friend's passing means less to the school than the bottom line. As the memorial service quickly degenerates into a fundraising fiasco, Charley must also deal with a host of other quandaries including a dead-end job as an anthropomorphic dollar sign, his best firned's imminent move to Maryland, an intervention with a drug-addled megalomaniac, and his own ongoing crusade to enforce the proper use of apostrophes among the proprietors of local dining establishments.

    Desperate to set the world right and keep his own life from spiraling out of control, Charley rages through his days and nights, plotting all the while the ultimate eulogy for his deceased friend and a scathing indictment of a world gone wrong.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Permanent Press
    Release dateMay 15, 2012
    ISBN9781579622633
    The Grievers
    Author

    Marc Schuster

    Marc Schuster teaches English at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Don DeLillo, Jean Baudrillard, and the Consumer Conundrum (Cambria 2008), The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl (The Permanent Press 2011), The Grievers (The Permanent Press 2012) and, with Tom Powers, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who (McFarland 2007). He records and performs music under the name Zapatero.

    Related to The Grievers

    Related ebooks

    Psychological Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letter to My Son

      Jul 4, 2015

      Letter to My Son
      30 min read

    • Article

      Mother Courage

      May 20, 2020

      Mother Courage
      8 min read

    • Article

      Mother Courage

      Apr 22, 2020

      Mother Courage
      8 min read

    • Article

      Notes on Etiquette

      Mar 1, 2019

      Notes on Etiquette
      10 min read

    • Article

      I Never Called Her Momma

      Sep 13, 2023

      I Never Called Her Momma
      39 min read

    • Article

      The Lives of Bryan

      Jun 1, 2023

      The Lives of Bryan
      19 min read

    • Article

      Losing The Plot

      Jun 19, 2022

      Our bathroom had dark-blue wallpaper with birds and flowers on it, like the wallpaper in an English country house. The paintwork was putty-coloured, with a putty-coloured bath shelf that Dad had built for Mum. As well as room for Mum’s mug of Nescafé

      9 min read

    • Article

      In America

      Aug 8, 2019

      In America
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Death of Tyler Clementi

      Sep 1, 2021

      The Death of Tyler Clementi
      7 min read

    • Article

      100 Years Of Time

      Mar 3, 2023

      100 Years Of Time
      13 min read

    • Article

      One Word: Avuncular

      Mar 19, 2019

      In our column One Word, writers expound on their favorite words.  Man with beer, artist unknown, c. 1920 My uncle Henry has killed a lot of people. In spite of his dark past, and because of it, he’s my favorite American uncle. Since I cherish bilingu

      3 min read

    • Article

      Chanel Miller Says 'Know My Name,' As She Reflects On Her Assault By Brock Turner

      Sep 23, 2019

      At points, it is hard to read Miller's devastating, immersive memoir and breathe at the same time. Miller is an extraordinary writer, with her sharpest moments focusing on her family and their grief.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jul 1, 2023

      I The teenaged girl is searching for a placethat goes through, the holeto put the tampon inside. When she finds itshe asks her mother, Is this where the penis would go?Yes, her mother explains.Then I will never have sex. II Sweltering New York City.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Fourteen FROM DARK TO LIGHT

      Apr 8, 2020

      Fourteen FROM DARK TO LIGHT
      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Dane

      Oct 23, 2022

      Great Dane
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Shape Of A Person

      Oct 20, 2022

      The Shape Of A Person
      25 min read

    • Article

      Locals

      Jun 11, 2021

      Locals
      26 min read

    • Article

      Love Your Brother

      Mar 23, 2022

      Love Your Brother
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Grievers

    3/5

    27 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This was a quick but fun read. Charley Schwartz, a 30-something graduate of Saint Leonard's Academy (a private school in Philadelphia) has gotten through his life so far by doing as little as possible and never really finishing any projects (including his dissertation for his doctorate). At the beginning of the book, Charley learns that a classmate, whom Charley knew a little bit, from the Academy has committed suicide. The remainder of the book covers his reaction to Billy's death, interactions with his friends (all of them are from the Academy) and the memorial for Billy. It is accurately described as a "coming of age" book, except that this is for middle-aged people. Funny in parts (the dollar sign costume and the musicals for example), difficult to read in other parts (I didn't really care for Charley for most of the book) but a very fun read.
    • 2/5
      I requested this book because it was supposed to be darkly comic. Perhaps the novel is meant to mirror main character Charley's lack of Marx Brothers knowledge, because I constantly felt like there was something meant to be humorous that I just couldn't get. It wasn't funny. It was uneven and choppy and sometimes overwrought, and it tried to be comical but never quite made it. Charley is the quintessential "man child" who, for some unknown reason, managed to marry an intelligent and competent woman. He's a grad school failure with a dead-end job and plenty of disinterest in his marriage and friends. Don't worry: at the end of the book, he'll magically and incomprehensibly learn his lesson. But the track getting there drags on a whole lot for such a short book. Schuster isn't a bad writer, but I felt like I was perpetually "out" of some ironic joke. I could never get into the story. I liked Karen and Neil; I wasn't sure why they liked Charley. Maybe they got the joke I didn't.
    • 3/5
      This short novel is of the same song, different verse variety for this reader. The main character, Charlie, is a man child who, sadly, reflects a culture of entitled 20-almost 30-somethings. Mildly humorous moments popped up here and there, but the flow of the story was uneven. The transformation happened so quickly at the end that it was unauthentic. Character development is probably the best part of Schuster's work, but these well-developed characters are still annoying. I wanted to like this book, but it left me flat.
    • 4/5
      Awkward, poignant, and darkly humorous, The Grievers is a short novel that will resonate particularly with certain readers in their late 20s and 30s. At age 28, protagonist Charley Schwartz is ostensibly an adult--he has a wife, a house, and a languishing dissertation--but in a lot of ways, he hasn't come very far from his high school days, which he spent at an elite prep school nicknamed "The Bastard Factory." When one of Charley's high school friends commits suicide, he struggles to find a way to appropriately memorialize him--and, in doing so, realizes just how much growing up he still has to do, and how much people have--or haven't--changed since they were kids. Charley essentially has a good heart, and I mostly found him sympathetic, but a lot of his behavior is cringe-worthy. As I said, his story may resonate with you--but you might be kind of mortified that it does. The summary on the front flap describes the book as a "coming of age novel for a generation that's still struggling to come of age," and I think that's a very apt way of putting it. If you're a technical grown-up who still doesn't have his/her sh*t together, you will (like me) relate to Charley.(Although that's still better than seeing yourself in some of his friends, who seem to be coping with adulthood even less well than Charley.)As a content note, there are some extended descriptions of a high school biology class in which they dissect a cat. There is ultimately a point to mentioning it, but it still didn't sit well with me, and I would have enjoyed the book more without it.
    • 2/5
      Charley, the protangonist, is an adult child. He is one of those men who has yet to grow up despite the fact that in generations past people his age have fought for their country, begun comjpanies, written dissertations, etc. He just has not grown up. He is definitely a victim of "Peter Pan Syndrome." I read where someone described this as a "coming of age" novel. Really? Nah, this is a "not-yet coming of age" tale. I would recommend this for the college age reader only. Character development done well, but sad to think there are people out there like this. As a mature reader, I did not enjoy this.
    • 3/5
      Loved the book until the last few chapters. I find it hard to believe that the slacker main character could change so much in just a chapter. I enjoyed the first portion of the book in its Seinfeld-esque cast of characters.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't the biggest fan of the book - the protagonist just annoyed me too much, the situations were too unlikely and one character was a revamp of Ignatius J. Reilly (just not as a main character). Although situations were ludicrous, I didn't really find them laugh-out-loud funny. Fortunately, the main character had a moment of being just barely real enough by the end to help redeem the book for me.
    • 4/5
      A fun quirky book about a bunch of old high schools classmates in their late twenties. Following the suicide of one of his former classmates Charley reassesses where he is in his life and tries to do something to remember his lost friend. This turns into a mess of an attempted fundraiser and look back at how much or little they have done in the past decade since graduation. The characters are a mess and the dialogue and situations were hilarious. Being the same age as the characters it definitely left me feeling better about where I have managed to get in my life since and grateful I never had to dress in a character costume.
    • 4/5
      "The Grievers" is about Charley Schwartz and a group of his friends who decide to put together a memorial service for their friend Billy, who recently died due to a suicide. Charley contacts their old prep. school to help out but soon realizes that the schools only interest is their bottom line. As time goes on the memorial service goes from small and private to a fiasco of a epic fundraising event. These changes cause Charley to deal with a lot personal issues that have been building up over time such as he has never finished his dissertation, his crappy job as a mascot (a sparkly dollar sign) at a bank and that his best friend Neil is moving out of state." The Grievers" seems like it would be a very sad book but to my surprise it was not, it was filled with humorous moments and funny lines. The author did a fantastic job of blending humor and sadness together but I felt that some of the Character were a little bland and not fully rounded enough to fit into the story. To me it just felt like something was missing but I can't exactly place it. I enjoyed "The Grievers" and will recommend it to others.
    • 4/5
      Charley Schwartz is theoretically supposed to be a mature adult, but the best approximation he can manage is a job standing outside a bank wearing a giant dollar sign costume, a doctoral dissertation he never actually works on, and some dysfunctional friendships with people he met in prep school. When he learns that one of those fellow alumni has committed suicide, he takes it rather badly despite, or perhaps because of the fact that he never really knew the guy very well. Determined to do at least one decent thing with his life, he decides to set up a memorial fund to donate to the school in the dead man's name, but the whole thing ends up getting away from him and turning into something of a circus.Despite the subject matter, this is actually humorous as much as it is anything else, and I was a bit impressed by its ability to combine some mildly goofy elements -- the dollar sign costume, the fact that Charley's alma mater's mascot is the Raging Donkeys, the ridiculous eccentricities of some of his friends -- with some very real-feeling characterization and emotional responses. True, the "no-longer-quite-young man has trouble learning to deal with adulthood" theme is almost a little over-familiar, plus some of the main character's emotional revelations aren't terribly subtle, and, at 175 pages, it's all maybe a bit slight. But on the whole, it worked for me. I laughed in most of the right places, I felt sympathy and understanding for the protagonist, and I felt at the end like it had said a few things worth saying.
    • 5/5
      Charley Schwartz, the man inside the dollar bill costume, has nothing going for him at all when he receives the sad news that an old school friend has committed suicide. He, along with his best friend, decides to have a memorial service for Billy at their alma mater. Things get out of control when the school decides that such an event would be perfect for their own fundraising. Billy’s death proves to be a catalyst for Charley to see his own failings and to try to set them right before they get out of hand.First of all, these characters are amazing. Their quirks and mannerisms were unique and made me laugh. The plot may not be original but it’s the side stories that makes this a really good read. The prose was almost as amazing as the characters. The sentences flowed well and there was not any confusion even though there were some sub stories happening. I enjoy irony, especially when it comedic, so that was another big plus on a personal level. I really have no complaints about this one. I have already been telling people about it, so yes, I will recommend it.

    Book preview

    The Grievers - Marc Schuster

    1^book_preview_excerpt.html[rF=7u̬g͠dɤǷj j=#2/s2 n؍٢ظdK:|>nc(;.>wvI?嫏P?3i؈a xm/B7uhl?ȭۏ8)KgieCH~_cti/E ~zvZ<mx(L췏[ў܍:|F*A>xѵPԛl44g |%G%Orч)5 Mڼok40Sgc: !7!oWI NEnة⩰T;ǡ4Se/ZUc,|>偪[{HDzܘqjGoX~c!pɏ] x~{8NCT!9vBwVx}lzxH]NͿ D;̰KF:~A\؊7;[6&Ge{c{ډ"Dpc:WXd;S[ƶq}jxK`L 4pm(8j(.e a(c%4C :OwrjF1O1 ߋTnOgr*@BdKu7>ǒ"RU5T?P[w pĎ.`'ԗ(l)L#|qEߏ?D,|ko?쁢/ߛ6gFkj ڐږPPۛEpQ 9-3K|@> pL<7x"0k!(MSӪq8hiňQ: RѿocEgUcei\uNn+؈:7{ [D&©Ԩ'M=S"*p{5LѶUw!B8$HCA9w{Ю+Dª |.yG~gvnXJdxdTxx'r j[|o?FrqRH{學z>6GBF}8O%*/euﯢ؄.b F5.p"h6թh?1NQp:Ԉ[FFZjWH@ >aFҸS 1ÔM lySa|IJ aA<{;{-2 S7N%O&%Uݙԑԫ[`.bZy ǧ?Ia8y FI@e S;Dba΁_!򔂢5YIt7؈D %KNYZ;4xmn̓/8!NO0eh-MP6.b2OtZXN]fՉ4G[F?\eW7xBu62$ } iX `v"DKlm.+OJ8+uڨ\+MQԵCr*~J6Nzzbx;DBUG}9umac VE`YA~U<&e1r2Xrd4l?̎]t˳430XDvq`"|Wv'+:ƵOl` EUZu-Ҫ^4c$CZkN9-hSJUΤJPQ9!QVB$c&Q8'u7YO ?TJZ?jT">)V4_&8ѠeX:*iq5(` kQ>۲"WP'Efjf"~Lc eiOB'ZG$զ#Sf=H.yfss6몢9)C8dxnD-.i,JWznfǙ@Ǭ  4D 5f9;z# NK^ݜﷵc ˙8|d[dI C[z2ߦxG/I~+3#gJ8Vd--ؒ$ HF8ͻ 8rC4$7B0vOXrb?/+Y)[*e2M患2#>gNo~UZ>ÿIXA v\ O 0/1L?MQ .6|xvˌ[k?JYw*j`}|dv nJse~Gvڞg4<"Ǯ$*'$OCtܙb$0E☥xqaf ^fƪsjLß@%b-0#Joҵ}pm`X+~{drPvJ3:PFU0/tأ^@nH0Q8a"_!H IԦ9UZքS6A_/2̇A,h: xm-Ii9jRjVe4}mqm,Y͚PU9];'@0r0PEupd\MplٙH8sE=NG5ˤ@ގڮൎ{Zqkb9 ^وM=+G,c emb@uu,)8"PȼIt*&(Af %r=|5Њ_iGԀpd$cf?jp^u=K1D4l0@vUU(DӦ~J]}|"x^9`n+S1vPO?nz޽#v7}kxiY 76W%-\>J9I(vb~VSvʬjv#=>D>?ɬK:\/^7Vx?H){Y˜9eg?#/UwUt@4qtnV 섂1/12tЌমPz!d` hҦqFQm%B6}rhsH`fw(cg<E8I^-o{Iq29A$c9NU95RgCBǜ8œ\j<\[JdxX|#Dڇ0ֆ`Yeū6hTy@ G%S-CݴbkE;*Z Q;6ke-.ބ֖KŠJX.I?= #S7Nh&b)Ž){R, ^] I-e q,4q [k-B\sGVх*q3n[;u^=6d9U[dh= /]Cn5ʎVMnJ%(80 ̥INyUNysDxtd5-a78EĥKeEZ[I!?V}.MLa3 J>*=qO+F84},#쥜=%*O rEB-=51\ "!h/K$K0.)NG_]*;zKJ,8!$֩<~L KE;&1cZFB\B.Ҳ{4bOh>JVD G~-;jIOd~N~#{ ~UolG.ㆫ .&^;!m++~+"R͒C#ͫKS_QxJwb^1v.4D3,@t93{ %BB1@ /"(crG5&66Q`5U_TQh˵wToA'\,1{Ǣ=%$?h~=fW7 nNF-s:1(Ө%NV3GW\fsn6UݺXMO1>IoS9 MQߩv:D Bu>ggumNCrͳ QS| 7掤/o?ej9 YurIFe~Oi/G12bZv.&i5 \Ywkرfeذ[ e!~?_|u([]o5Ww&Fl@"ֆfM-ԉI6VOy?xTtҟ]v5%2yvtVzț5LBڟr庍]:ke7Bg/'g6^2$X8(K;'|K'O?Ҽ~1_εښ e,V]T#t28yCCNկ +~FyPu)Æg<+rJuy+#Nf$s`2NIk!wz-J"k]T+M)2Kѥ]ne؅EWq7"ĵ[cr[pՅ\E|zDl W %GU8^Sjuզl47ƹ?B $&9ΤízI_~݋ep+-:J{rz++Cdr&Iv`?<3rvҕcrgȜ c4K%G>FBl ]mR|>ŇǐJVu&_2/u:2*8S_I}۳Z(B{{å%i.wC.gkJn e#-7Iګ6E"|ZlMmF#b_ ,_́uC/6fc)@odLgߒiGS|z\2U^/[O: BLpΉnuezJVqPs$mH`>MP7qa0qr/#ʫhU\)SU]l,0-<%w i%6/]. k;F&9קi.5&lG"ǂGzQ"~s0$rR n~oۜ.v;EbԬE26yç 4Dଂd=%`=/4nFpn_p37D6Sr=@gZK:[xj,3No9Lv꼫#5`YY7-7NvâOg [}1uGyEZ?qW)"HEfSswzћX fK7 MP^2˴YI ׶g<-֠7j*,'mvs~?/ӱI=
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1