★ 05/04/2015
Mohr’s poignant and darkly funny fifth novel (after 2013’s Fight Song) weaves together the stories of seven protagonists whose lives are all touched by a bizarre mass suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge. Paul and his 14-year-old son, Jake, witness the event firsthand as Jake films the jumpers hurling themselves into the water. He finds solace in uploading the video to the Web and watching its number of views rise. Noah, who (unbeknownst to Jake) is a brother to one of the suicides, corresponds with Jake via the comments section of the video. During his many hours online, Jake also watches a sex tape featuring Sara, a 19-year-old from Traurig, a small town in Nevada, after Sara’s ex-boyfriend posts it on a porn site. The clip goes viral and ruins Sara’s reputation in Traurig. After everyone turns their back on her, Sara realizes that her childhood sweetheart, Rodney, who once had an accident that damaged his ability to speak, still cares for her. She embraces Rodney’s suggestion that they drive to San Francisco to find the mom who abandoned him shortly after his accident. That mom, Kathleen, is fighting demons, and Rodney’s 18th birthday comes and goes. Guilt and regret build to a crescendo, and the book’s momentous climax takes the characters back to the Golden Gate Bridge. Mohr’s narrative is by turns heartrending and humorous, with never a dull moment. Readers will love this cast of characters. (July)
All This Life: A Novel
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
Joshua MohrUnabridged — 8 hours, 58 minutes
All This Life: A Novel
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
Joshua MohrUnabridged — 8 hours, 58 minutes
Overview
Morning rush hour on the Golden Gate Bridge. Amid the river of metal and glass, a shocking event occurs, leaving those who witnessed it desperately looking for answers, most notably one man and his son, Jake, who captured the event and uploaded it to the Internet for all the world to experience. As the media swarms over the story, Jake will face the ramifications of his actions as he learns the perils of our modern disconnect between the real world and the world we create online.
In landlocked Nevada, as the entire country learns of the event, Sara views Jake's video just before witnessing a horrible event of her own: her boyfriend's posting of their intimate sex tape. As word of the tape leaks out, making her an instant pariah, Sara needs to escape the small town's persecution of her careless action. Along with Rodney, an old boyfriend injured long ago in a freak accident that destroyed his parents' marriage, she must run faster than the Internet trolls seeking to punish her for her indiscretions. Sara and Rodney will reunite with his estranged mother, Kat, now in danger from a new man in her life who may not be who he-or his online profiles-claim to be, a dangerous avatar in human form.
With a wide cast of characters and an exciting pace that mimics the speed of our modern, all-too-connected lives, All This Life examines the dangerous intersection of reality and the imaginary, where coding and technology seek to highlight and augment our already flawed human connections. Using his trademark talent for creating memorable characters, with a deep insight into language and how it can be twisted to alter reality, Joshua Mohr returns with his most contemporary and insightful novel yet.
Editorial Reviews
All This Life shifts deftly between dark comedy and pathos, often holding both within a single moment. The ingeniousness of the book is that its form follows its content: The novel is structured on the big and small connections between people, just like the social networks it discusses... Rendered with a colorful intricacy and subversive spirit, “All This Life” shows us San Francisco as it vanishes under the spell of social media. Mohr is a perceptive chronicler of how we live, feel — and avoid feeling — this very minute.—San Francisco Chronicle
"As Mohr’s memorable characters converge, All This Life raises profound questions about the growing influence online reality has on our lives." —BBC.com
"The book takes itself seriously, ably balancing its many story lines while it builds to a breathless climax. The characters’ strong emotions provide a current of barely contained anguish that threatens to overtake their lives as it pushes them forward....Mohr delivers a solid look at the distinction between our offline and online lives and the danger that lurks when the lines between them are blurred. Thoughtful crossover fiction of interest to adult and YA audiences."—Booklist
"Mohr’s narrative is by turns heartrending and humorous, with never a dull moment. Readers will love this cast of characters."—Publishers Weekly, boxed review
"Mohr's portrayal of a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco rings true....Mohr's novel builds slowly, and his empathy for the majority of his characters shines through, allowing for a genuinely felt conclusion."—Kirkus
"Mr. Mohr has found a way to articulate our disconnectedness for all of us. Highly recommended." —Sensitive Skin
"Joshua Mohr is a rabble-rouser whose first four novels have earned him a near cultish following. Now, with All This Life, Mohr wades into the dark territory of cyber voyeurism, internet shaming, tweets, Youtube, and streaming anger. Trouble spreads like wildfire in this compelling novel, and with brutal honesty, and empathy for his diverse cast of characters, Mohr refuses to flinch." —Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
“A place belongs forever to the person who claims it the hardest, wrote Joan Didion, about herself, and California, and with All This Life, Joshua Mohr solidifies his claim on the San Francisco of right this minute, a city he loves so much it hurts. Fearless, not only in its willingness to penetrate our real and virtual desperation, but also in its insistence on the tender tenacity of hope, this Tilt-a-Whirl of a novel spins along at cyber-speed to its profound and utterly human finale.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted
04/01/2016
As he commutes with his father into San Francisco, 14-year-old Jake captures a shocking scene on the Golden Gate Bridge on his iPhone. He posts it online, as part of his online persona, and it quickly goes viral. Because of this attention, Jake knows that his worth as an online personality has now reached its peak, and he wants to claim the fame that he is sure is his. His actions spark the events that bring together the novel's large cast of characters: 18-year-old Sara, living in nowhere Nevada, who learns that a sex tape made with her (now ex) boyfriend Nate has gone viral and can't wait to get away from the humiliation and anger it brings; Rodney, Sara's longtime friend, sidelined by a stupid prank that left him speech impaired and ready to get answers from the mother who left him after the accident; Rodney's mother, Kathleen, now living in San Francisco as a caricature artist and three years sober, who longs to reconnect with her son but can't take that first step; and Noah911, who has seen Jake's video and recognizes his connection with the action on the bridge. How these characters intersect becomes a satisfying tale of redemption and forgiveness. Mature teens who recognize the dark irony that threads this story—that the connections made online are not necessarily reliable—will enjoy this work. VERDICT A suspenseful read for older teens.—Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA.
2015-04-16
A tragic event on the Golden Gate Bridge brings together a bunch of disparate people, several of whom are reeling from earlier trauma. After a surreal prelude in which a possibly unhinged character discusses the concept of "existential mathematics," this novel segues to an event in San Francisco that leaves several people dead. Witnessing this with his father is Jake, a teenager whose recording quickly goes viral. Meanwhile, in Nevada, a young woman named Sara discovers that a sex tape she made with her boyfriend has also been made public. Sara and Jake are among the wounded characters populating Mohr's novel, many of whom are dealing with the fallout of their actions and the actions of others. Kathleen, a caricaturist, observes early on that "we are defined by our worst features. We are those mistakes." It's an observation that both sums up the online world that gradually plays a larger role in the different characters' movements and describes the situations many in the book are seeking to overcome. Kathleen's son, Rodney, has difficulty communicating verbally as a result of an accident; it's a larger-scale version of what nearly everyone present must grapple with over the course of the novel. There's one morally dubious character in the mix whose story seems less well-developed than the rest; while cloaking him in mystery is understandable, he at times seems more plot device than character, especially in contrast to the more realistically flawed people he shares pages with. Mohr's portrayal of a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco rings true: a bartender responds to one lament with, "We all ruin the neighborhood when we first come in." And there's a fine gag involving Google Glass to boot. Mohr's novel builds slowly, and his empathy for the majority of his characters shines through, allowing for a genuinely felt conclusion.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169721188 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 07/14/2015 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
It’s another brittle day, all of them inching over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco, their typical trek to cluttered desks, schlepping with their hangovers, their NPR, carpools and podcasts, prescription pills and nicotine patches, their high-def depressions, Lasik so they can see all their designer disaffections, lipstick inadvertently smeared on bleached teeth, bags under their eyes or Botox time machines, bald spots or slick dye jobs, bellies wedging in pants or carved Pilates bodies, their urges to call in sick, their woulda coulda shouldas.
More rationalizations and regrets running through the air than cell signals.
No one wants to get to work. Even those claiming to enjoy their jobs still bristle at the idea of oozing into ergonomic chairs, reviving computer screens, feeling the day’s flickering chaos erupt on their faces.
A couple extra hours of sleep. A half-day. Telecommuting. Something other than the full slog. The particulars of their jobs don’t even matter because all the variables lead to one delicate plea: please, give us a day off. A day to ourselves. A day to feel free. To be alive.
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