Generica [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

An emotional balancing act of Herculean proportions, Will Ferguson's debut novel is somehow both caustically cynical and touchingly humane. Its message: there is no happiness without sadness. The pursuit of happiness is all--actually attaining it, if that were even possible, would be death. When Edwin de Valu, an editor at Panderic Press, finds What I Learned on the Mountain, a self-help book by an unknown author, Tupak Soiree, on his slush pile and publishes it, suddenly millions of people believe that pursuit is over. "Apocalypse Nice" has arrived, and Edwin's cynical side goes into high gear trying to save the world from itself. On this hysterical (in every sense of the word) quest, Edwin receives little help from his credulous wife, his plump co-worker (and sometime lover) May, or his ponytailed baby-boomer boss, Mr. Mead.

This wacky, lightweight novel mixes elements from Dilbert, Woody Allen, grainy art films, and P.J. O'Rourke. While Ferguson lines up a number of easy targets and can be way too obvious ("The Name of the Tulip" echoes a certain highbrow mystery), he can also write with flair, as in describing Edwin's city: "Here, in a miasma of fumes, trains rattle-bang on an endless Möbius strip of work, sweat, salt and grubby lucre. A merry-go-round where the horses have emphysema." --Mark Frutkin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

In this audiobook of his satirical, fast-paced novel, Will Ferguson skewers society’s obsession with self-improvement. Generica is the story of Edwin de Valu, a beleaguered junior editor at Panderic Press. In desperate need of a new self-help author, Panderic decides to publish a rambling 1000-page manuscript by an obscure author named Tupak Soirée. What I Learned on the Mountain is different from any self-help book before it in one respect — it works! The book quickly becomes the best selling book ever. Suddenly, everyone CAN be happy, CAN lose weight and stop smoking, and CAN get rich quick. Edwin fears that the bliss he has unleashed on the world may indeed be a curse. One by one his friends and family take up the cult of “Happiness” (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). Soon Edwin begins to see that any system of blind acceptance is ultimately destructive. He realizes that he is the unlikely champion that fate has chosen to fight the menace of Happiness™.

Edwin de Valu, an overworked and underpaid editor at New York’s Panderic Press, is in trouble. He needs a hit for the coming season. In desperation he stakes his flagging career on a rambling self-help manuscript that promises its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss and everlasting happiness. To Edwin’s surprise, Tupak Soiree’s magnum opus not only becomes a runaway bestseller but ushers in the global cult of “Happiness” (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). It’s up to Edwin to save American from Tupak (the “Stalin of the New Age”) and his “neutron bomb of love.”

Will Ferguson was born in Fort Vermillion, Alberta. His debut book Why I Hate Canadians was a national bestseller. Recently, he published the bestselling Bastards and Boneheads and Canadian History For Dummies. Ferguson is also the author of the critically acclaimed travel narrative Hokkaido Highway Blues, as well as the budget traveller’s favourite, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Japan.

GENERICA, by Canadian author Will Ferguson, is a saitrical novel in the tradition of Carl Hiaasen. Edwin de Valu is an editor at a midsized house that decides to publish the most comprehensive self-help book of all time. It sells millions and launches a revolution of what appears to be happiness, but is actually unthinking complacency. While the novel can be genuinely funny, it's peopled by caricatures rather than characters, and this flaw is magnified by Ron Halder's narration. He ascribes throaty, whiny, or otherwise irritating voices to all of them, and he struggles so hard to keep them all straight that he's insensitive to what little nuance there is in the dialogue. D.B. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine