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    Amy Falls Down: A Novel
    Amy Falls Down: A Novel
    Amy Falls Down: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Amy Falls Down: A Novel

    Written by Jincy Willett

    Narrated by Amy McFadden

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Amy Gallup is an aging novelist and writing instructor living in Escondido, California, with her dog, Alphonse. Since recent unsettling events, she has made some progress. While she still has writer’s block, she doesn’t suffer from it. She’s still a hermit, but she has allowed some of her class members into her life. She is no longer numb, angry, and sardonic: she is merely numb and bemused, which is as close to happy as she plans to get. Amy is calm.

    So, when on New Year’s morning she shuffles out to her backyard garden to plant a Norfolk pine, she is wholly unprepared for what happens next.

    Amy falls down.

    A simple accident, as a result of which something happens, and then something else, and then a number of different things, all as unpredictable as an eight-ball break. At first the changes are small, but as these small events carom off one another, Amy’s life changes in ways that range from ridiculous to frightening to profound.

    This most reluctant of adventurers is dragged and propelled by train, plane, and automobile through an outlandish series of antic media events on her way to becoming—to her horror—a kind of celebrity. And along the way, as the numbness begins to wear off, she comes up against something she has avoided all her life: her future, that “sleeping monster, not to be poked.”

    Amy Falls Down explores, through the experience of one character, the role that accident plays in all our lives. “You turn a corner and beasts break into arias, gunfire erupts, waking a hundred families, starting a hundred different conversations. You crack your head open and three thousand miles away a stranger with Asperger’s jump-starts your career.”

    We are all like Amy. We are all wholly unprepared for what happens next.

    Also, there’s a basset hound.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 9, 2013
    ISBN9781469293455
    Amy Falls Down: A Novel
    Author

    Jincy Willett

    Jincy Willett is the author of Jenny and the Jaws of Life, Winner of the National Book Award, and The Writing Class, which have been translated and sold internationally. Her stories have been published in Cosmopolitan, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and other magazines. She frequently reviews for The New York Times Book Review. A resident of Escondido, California, Willett spends her days parsing the sentences of total strangers and her nights teaching and writing.

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    Reviews for Amy Falls Down

    4/5

    72 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      adult fiction - humor (after a series of accidents, washed-up writer/hermit has a high-publicity adventure and learns to take down walls between herself and her would-be friends).
      There are some laugh-out-loud moments here, and a lot of did-she-just-say-that? moments. It's refreshing to hear what a character will say when she truly doesn't care what people think of herself. Other times the story dribbles a bit, but overall it's a fun, flippant read.
    • 3/5
      There were things I liked about this book but so many things I didn't. Found myself constantly questioning if the author of this book wasn't actually doing what Amy was against. Sort of sums up everything I really dislike about the world right now - including my ability to write a review. Opinions are like a**holes - everyone has one but perhaps they shouldn't be exposed for everyone to see. I waffled between giving this 2 or 3 stars, opted for 3 since I did finish though found I was starting to skim at the end.
    • 4/5
      Middle-aged, chubby ex-author falls down and hits her head. Misunderstandings lead to her getting back in the spotlight. On camera or being interviewed, she's perfectly honest, doesn't care what others think about what she says. All this is charming to the media and leads to her getting out of her hermit-like existence. A good read that I could relate to.
    • 5/5
      At least one guaranteed chortle of delight every 25 pages! I found this book and author in the Brown U magazine and what a discovery! Seems very roman a clef - Amy is a forgotten, formerly acclaimed writer of short stories and novels living in a peaceful California backwater. Amy is still numb from the death of her gay husband/best friend and engages only with her basset hound Alphonse and a few students in a workshop she teaches. Then she takes a tumble in her backyard, hits her head on a birdbath, gives an outrageously confused interview, and we're off to the social media races! A lot of parody of writers, TV personalities, bloggers, etc, but most engaging. Many stories document the climb from nowhere to success. This one winds from oblivion to top of the world, at Amy's pace and style. Hilarious redemption and I can't wait to read her other books!
    • 5/5
      Jincy Willett has written a humorous and somewhat profound story about fictional author Amy Gallup. Amy lived her life as if in a cocoon, fearing many things. She basically had writer's block for years and produced nothing after her original post-college flurry of work. A lengthy marriage to a gay man provided a sense of security for her that crumbled after he died, resulting in a hurried marriage to someone incompatible with her. That marriage ended in divorce. Then on New Year's Day, Amy fell down while carrying a Norfolk pine through her garden and hit her head on her birdbath. Her brain waves were slightly scrambled, and she when she gave an already-scheduled interview to a reporter, the results were garbled. The interview went viral among the media, and Amy's life began to reinvent itself. She became a sort of media celebrity and writing guru whose opinion was valued by all. More importantly, her creativity was unleashed within her enabling her to write again after all those years. This novel is a great look at how we sometimes become trapped within ourselves. Anyone who enjoys reading about the book industry or who writes will especially enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      I liked Amy so much!! On page 192 Willett writes, for Amy, "It's easy enough to know that you like something: it's much harder to decide why and then say so in six hundred words"---not that 600 is required here to remind me about my feelings about a book when I look back later. This book had so much in it about the entire world of writing---from Amy's wonderful point of view as she lives it for us.
    • 5/5
      Hilariously funny, while still managing to be moving and insightfulThis book is so funny I kept losing my place because I was laughing so hard, and I almost never laugh out loud while reading. Amy Gallup is an aging, has-been novelist, who never really broke through to the big time anyway, but that’s fine with her. Amy embraces her uncompromising lack of ambition and, far from seeking fame, she arranges her life for complete anonymity, even burying links to her out of print novels behind a series of obscure questions on her website. She has her opinionated Basset Hound Alphonse, her devoted writing students--not that she craves anyone’s admiration, but she does need an income and a little company--and a nice quiet life. Then she’s interviewed while still not quite in her right mind after falling and hitting her head and the world begins to take notice. One thing leads to another until, horror of horrors, she becomes a sought after celebrity expected to fly around the country to do media appearances and conference speeches. Though the story sounds like it might be just absurd, it has more substance than that. It’s elevated by Amy’s piercingly apt and intelligent (and usually, yes, hilarious) observations about the world and people around her, and by Amy’s need to confront past issues she had years ago chosen to avoid. Amy Falls Down is the second book Jincy Willett has written featuring Amy Gallup, but while I now can’t wait to get my hands on the first it was fine to read them out of order. The other Amy novel is a murder mystery, which has really piqued my interest because, at least on the surface, that’s very different from this second book and I want to see how the author handles it.
    • 4/5
      Amy Falls Down is the story of Amy Gallup, who falls down, hits her head on a birdbath and then comes awake just in time to give an interview while concussed. The interview is very peculiar and sets off a firestorm of interest in Amy and her writing, but mostly in Amy and her way of stating, what to her, is obvious. This is a very funny book. It is all about writing and the publishing industry, but is also about a person who lived like a hermit for 30 years suddenly rediscovering the human race, and liking it....for the most part. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy and have a fairly odd sense of humor. I think, if people look close, they can learn a lot from this book and not just about writing.
    • 5/5
      After a slow start I really found myself enjoying the witty (though very dry) humor in this book. Amy grows on you as you discover more of her character and background. I especially enjoyed the names of the chapters, trying to see if I could find the relationship as I read. Another part I liked was the “topics” Amy lists as story ideas/titles. They give another clue to Amy’s persona. Amy’s students are delightful, clearly and carefully drawn.While the entire book is a put down of pretentious authors, it is also the story of a very human woman who has great sorrows to surmount. As is true with all good humor, there is also tragedy to provide contrast. Willett deals well with both. (spoiler alert – Maxine’s recovery is the one deviation from realistic outcomes in an otherwise well-paced and plotted tale.)Anyone who enjoys a “good read” and, equally, a “bad read,” will enjoy this writer’s delight. If you are a potential novelist, there is much food for thought. Book groups will have a field day with a variety of topics – truth vs fiction, honest criticism, how you see yourself as opposed to how others see you, marriage of convenience, dealing with rude/stupid/ignorant people (and being rude/stupid/ignorant yourself), personal growth and change, phobias and others.