Up Yours! by Howard Rosenberg Published by Self-Published on November 15, 2013
Genres/Lists: Fiction
Pages: 414
Read synopsis on Goodreads
I received this book for free from Closed the Cover Tour.
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)
When I first agreed to read this book for Closed the Cover, I was a little skeptical because the title was so odd. Plus, it was self-published. Then I learned that the book was written by a Pulitzer Prize winner and decided to take a second look. As it turns out, Up Yours! far surpassed my expectation and I really enjoyed it. The story follows a retired obituary writer named Ted Milo who inadvertently gets roped into the role of de facto private investigator looking into the death of a very vanilla pharmacist. Living in a Pleasantville’esque town where there’s only one homeless person, the pharmacists’s mysterious death is a first for the Friendly Lake community. Despite official reports that the death was a suicide, Ted follows his gut and investigates it as a murder. His foray in to PI work is hilarious as he stumbles through “interrogations” alongside his wife. But as he digs deeper, Ted realizes that not all is at it seems in this quiet town and discovers the seedy underbelly of people’s private lives.
I loved the relationship between Ted and his wife because it reminds me of my own marriage. Ted and his “tomato” are practical, funny, and know that they can rely on each other. Plus, each of them finds the other’s quirks endearing. Their solid relationship helps to propel the investigation forward in a hilarious and matter-of-fact way. Their’s isn’t the only relationship I enjoyed while reading Up Yours! but it was definitely the most stable. There was also the relationship between the run-of-the-mill pharmacist and his younger, bombshell wife. Not to mention boring proctologist and his own money-loving wife.
A satirical commentary on suburban life, I read this book at a fairly quick pace. Though the storyline is fantastic, the driving force behind its success is the characters themselves. From the protagonist to the suspects, each character is quirky, somewhat lovable, and very real. I could easily envision each and every person in this book and their actions were true to their personalities. The book is peppered with some crude humor, so I give you fair warning if you don’t find butt jokes funny, but I highly recommend it.
