I tried to get through this book, but eventually abandoned it. Self-absorbed, whiny Rich was just someone I didn't want to spend any more time with.

This was a book I could not get into. I tried several times to read it, but I just could not finish it. It is well written, but I did not like the main character, and just simply could not finish it.

Another novel about adultery and the "pain" of being married with children, as seen through the eyes of a self-involved artist. The prose contains a few moments of insight, but generally, the narrative is meandering, the characters are cloying, and the themes are tired. The most interesting element of the novel -- the cartoonist narrator is middle-class and hampered with debt and his lover is a multi-hundred millionaire -- would have had to have been put front and center for this work to say anything new.

I typically try to look for the good in a book even when I don't really enjoy it as a whole, but I have to say that I really couldn't think of one thing that I enjoyed about this book. Maybe when I got to the last page and it was over? Is that harsh? Maybe, but Rich just was not an interesting character and I really disliked reading about his shenanigans.

Rich is a failed cartoonist/artist who teaches at a summer camp every year. He has an attitude, he is self-absorbed, and he really didn't entertain me at all. I kept reading really hoping that the novel would pick up, but it never did. I did think the writing and descriptions were nice, but the story as a whole wasn't for me.

I did read several really nice reviews about this novel, so don't let me review scare you off. This just didn't happen to be the book for me, but you could love it. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for providing a copy for review.

The author does a wonderful job writing the book. I just couldn't get into the characters. It was more of a first person perspective on his boring, mundane life. Not what I expected. Took me forever to get through.

I had high hopes for this book as the description reminded me of one of my favorite movies from the 80's. But I'm sorry to say that I couldn't even finish the book.

I actually normally really enjoy books with unlikeable protagonists and antagonists. I thought the extremely hate-worthy characters in Gone Girl were AMAZINGLY well written and great to read.

So, when I read a book with characters so unlikeable that I can't keep reading, it's really disappointing. Not a fan of this one at all.

Who is Rich?
you know when you laugh at things you are not suppose to laugh at....yep, this is that "thing"!

enjoy!

Who is Rich? is very well written and Klam's story-telling is often quite compelling, but the inner dialogue of this character quickly became tedious. Rich is sad and unhappy in his life. He can't accept that his time in the limelight of being a published graphic novelist may be over, that kids and responsibilities often come before intimacy in marriage, and things aren't always just handed to you. Instead of doing something about his sad life, he is whiny, self-absorbed, at times petty, indecisive, and when he does manage to make a decision, it's often the wrong one, which leads to more whining and inner turmoil. He waffles back and forth between his wife and his mistress, and in all honesty, I found them as sad as he is. Several times, I laid this one aside because I just couldn't take any more of Rich's angst. I did push through, hoping for a good outcome, but didn't find any improvement in this man's life when I turned the last page. For me, it became one long, depressing story. I felt as though I could skip any given part of this book and pick back up with Rich still complaining about everything wrong in his life. As I said in the beginning, Klam's writing is very good and I would read another book by him, but this one just wasn't for me.

I think this book is expected to be received as some great existential view of that period in life where you realize the glamour is over. Rich is a past his prime cartoonist whose wife is home breastfeeding one offspring while the other one throws fits. In the meantime, Rich is teaching others how to create cartoons and having an affair with a return student. He spends a majority of the book telling himself he is in love with Amy, the married student, or whining about the unfairness of her having money and him being broke. The levels of self-absorption in the book was an instant turn off. Sure, a person can struggle with where life finds them, but the whining needs to be broken up with some type of enlightenment. There is none in this book.

Who is Rich? A jerk, an ass, someone I would never want to be in the same room with! I know you're not meant to like or even relate to all characters. But a book where I don't like or relate to any of the characters, and what's more find that I don't care at all what has, is, or will happen to them and you've got a novel that I found all to easy to ditch. We never know how many hours we have left in life. I wouldn't recommend spending any on this book.

While I definitely appreciate NetGalley and Random House Publishing giving me the chance to read any of their books, this one was definitely not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I thought that the writing in this book was great, very descriptive, loved the addition of graphic drawings since the subject was a cartoonist. But I just didn't like Rich so it was hard to get into this book too much.

Rich is a cartoonist who had a lot of success early on but is now struggling just to make ends meet in a world that is increasingly going away from print media. Every year, he goes to a summer arts conference in a scenic New England town where he teaches cartooning. The same cast of characters teaches at this conference - it is portrayed as a grown-up version of spring break, where everyone can escape from their normal (read horrible) lives.

Rich leaves at home a wife, also struggling to get back to her career, a young daughter and an infant son. At home, he's on the night duty, struggling to attend to a son who never sleeps. Both parents are obviously sleep-deprived and at their wits end so attending to their marriage is not on the top of their list. When Rich reconnects with Amy, the wife of a billionaire who pays no attention to her, the affair they started last summer and continued through a series of affirming texts all year, heats up.

While we all can understand the draw of someone paying attention to us while we slip away from the mind-numbing details of our real life, everyone in this book came across entitled, selfish, whiney, and incapable of making good decisions.

The writing was top-notch but hopefully the author's next book will contain characters we can get behind a bit more!

I can’t recommend this one and only finished about half of it. Netgalley recommended this book in an email to me and I clicked on the link to see what it was about; however, that automatically placed it on my shelf to be read and reviewed. I appreciate all the books I’ve received from Netgalley but I will definitely be more careful with their automatic email requests as I would not have chosen this one.

The main character is Rich Fischer, a married cartoonist who is teaching a class at an arts conference. The year before he had a brief fling with one of the students, Amy, who is married to a very rich guy but is unhappy. Rich and Amy have been sending provocative emails to each other. Now they’re together again at this conference. The book basically takes a look at Rich’s struggles as an artist, as a husband and as a father.

I really did try to give this book a chance but it just wasn’t for me. It was very drawn out and I couldn’t find anything to grab hold of that would spark the slightest bit of interest. The book is touted as being hilarious but I never laughed, not once. I did think the author has a lot of insight into marriage and parenthood but it wasn’t enough to keep me wanting to read more. Rich is too self-indulgent and whiny and I just couldn’t get through the whole book. Who is Rich? I just didn’t care enough to learn more.

Who Is Rich? has a deeply authentic misery at its core. Matthew Klam’s first novel tells the story of Rich Fischer, a graphic novelist whose best days are in his past, his books out of print, and the only remnant of past glories is an annual invitation to teach autobiographical cartooning at the Matticook College Summer Arts Conference. His marriage is unsatisfying, passion buried under parenting. The glimmering bits of excitement come from a more off-again-than-on affair with Amy, a woman he met at the conference a year ago, an affair of texts, e-mails, and guilt.

The entire story happens during this short five-day conference. The affair stutters off and on and off again while the on is filled with sublime sex and the off with guilt and dislike. Amy is the wife of a billionaire. She gives away millions of dollars to charities to deflect from the guilt of their parasitic source of wealth and the hatred and alienation she feels in her marriage. Rich loves, desires, and hates her in equal measure.

His wife Robin is a television producer whose gone from traveling to dangerous places around the world to exploitive and soporific true crime series. Rich has gone from graphic novelist success to writer’s block and magazine illustration. Their saving grace is their children whom they love and struggle to parent.



This is not a novel full of action. It’s one man’s running commentary on life, politics, the economy, love, marriage, parenthood, and the stultifying boredom of being an adult. Rich is not particularly nice, he is cheating on his wife after all. But he is funny, wry, and a wicked observer of life’s absurdities. He is not a bad man, he wants to be kind and supportive and his children melt his heart into a puddle.

Frankly, the story itself is not that interesting. Sad and disillusioned middle-aged man dithering about feeling sorry for themselves are a dime a dozen. What makes Who Is Rich? special is the prose, the brilliant arrangements of words, the way modern American absurdity is captured so vividly and succinctly. I found myself frequently marking whole paragraphs to recall later. The illustrations by John Cuneo also were a fabulous addition.

To give a brief example, Rich wanders about the house waiting for his son who woke in the night to start crying again after being soothed and fed, waiting and wandering until he “split the worry into so many pieces it started to glitter.” He wonders whether he still has stories to tell, though also thinks that he will be relevant as long as people “want to cram their spouses into a dumpster.”

The title asks us Who Is Rich? but it’s asking two questions, really. Who is Rich Fischer? and who is rich in the things that matter. Amy has billions, but she is miserable. It’s a title, so the words are capitalized, but maybe the question is not “Who is Rich?” but “Who is rich?” It’s hard to tell, particular when Rich is telling the story…is he honest about his life? Who can tell, after all, as he tells us there is no such thing as a reliable narrator.

Who Is Rich? will be released July 4th. i received an advanced e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Although compelling in part, this was a story that I just could not gush about. The characters of Rich and Amy were meant to be unlikeable, I understand that. I also understand that people do crazy things when they are in the midst of a midlife crisis. Good writing but I just could not muster up any sympathy for the characters of Rich and Amy.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.
Although a familiar topic, mid-life crisis, the misconduct of Rich every summer, as he leaves his wife and young children to teach aspiring and has been writers, is tedious and unacceptable. He is an overgrown baby who feels he deserves more than he has earned. I didn't like Rich, Amy, or the other characters who felt like the world let them down, when their happiness was right at home. Despite the characters, this was a well-written book, with an abundance of thought-provoking ideas.

I am at an impasse here. I really don’t know what to write for the review of Who Is Rich. This is one of those rare books that I can’t find any words for. And believe me, for me not to have words to describe a book is very rare. I am going to keep this review short and sweet.


I did enjoy reading Who Is Rich. It wasn’t a fast read and I did have to reread some chapters to understand what was being said and how it related to the story. Being told from Rich’s point of view, I actually empathized with him during most of the book. He was struggling with a wife who was in chronic pain and who might have been depressed (her actions during the book made me think that), a daughter and a son who refused to sleep at night (know that feeling) and a career that was over before it began. But my empathy for him began to fray after he slept with Amy and spent their savings on that stupid bracelet. But, that was his wake up call and he did try to make things right. Stress try.

I liked that I could also relate to Rich. Having 3 children myself, I have wondered the same things he did at times. I have felt that my relationship was buckling under the stress of having 2 toddlers and having a baby later in life (I was 37 when my now 3.5-year-old was born). I have felt that I needed to get away. I got him, I truly did. What I didn’t get was instead of talking everything out with Karen, his wife, he cheated on her and had an emotional affair with Amy for over a year.

While I liked that the author went into detail with his characters, I did feel that some parts of the book were too detailed. Like, I didn’t know that a character needed braces (not how it was phrased in the book). Stuff along those lines. I felt that instead of adding to the story, it overwhelmed it.

The end of the book was what I expected, with all the plotlines resolved. I just wish that I felt that things were going to be resolved between his wife and himself. I also thought that he lucked out, big time because Karen didn’t even notice the missing money in their account.

How many stars will I give Who Is Rich: 3

Why: Good plotline, realistic characters. I did think the book was a little wordy, hence my star rating, but overall, I liked it. Also, the drawings were creepy but an original way to star some of the chapters.

Will I reread: Maybe

Would I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and violence

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**

Who Is Rich is absolutely hysterical. I haven't laughed so hard in a book in a long time. Rich is a cartoon writing down on his luck and teaching at a summer conference in a small New England beach town that sounded like Provincetown to me. Under it all there is a currant of seriousness. A most satisfying book.

This book was okay. I did not connect with the characters. They were self absorbed and not relateable. I am sure some people will enjoy the book but I did not.