This has been a disappointing year in my library. I've read quite a few novels, but none were great. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is not great, but after a slow start, is very good: thoughtful, funny, and worth a read. It explores identity, family, history, religion, faith & doubt, from the viewpoint & first person monologues of a self absorbed 40-something man, Paul O'Rourke. Most of his dry, acerbic commentaries are quite funny. His unsuccessful love life is a fulcrum for the big issues in the novel. In his doomed romances he attaches himself to the in-laws, trying to make himself into something he’s not: first Italian, then Jewish. Both times this of course does not work out. Paul is lost, depressed, not really lonely, & wants to believe in something, although he is an atheist. So, he piggy-backs on the families and faiths of his girlfriends. Hence, his awkward & sometimes laughable foray into Judaism with Connie, who is his receptionist. By the way, the dynamic in the office between this obtuse man and his staff is also quite humorous. A website appears for his practice, which he did not create. It soon is adding comments about an ancient, extinct Old Testament tribe whose faith is....Doubt. Many of the site's comments could be construed, out of context, as anti-Semitic. This causes problems with ex-girlfriend’s family. He contacts a lawyer & tracks down the people who put up his website. But, he ends up being drawn into them and listening to the story of the ancient lost Ulms & Doubt. A billionaire hedgefund manager is contacted by the same group, and both are told that they might be descendants of the Ulms. Fraud? Con? Real? Regardless, it opens up a Pandora's box for both men of a search for identity, meaning and...doubt. This novel foretells big things from Ferris.
