Others have based reviews on whether they found this book funny or not, but I'm going off on a different track. I think "The Material" is less about humor than a satiric look at academia, specifically MFA programs, and feels similar in tone to Richard Russo's "Straight Man" or Jane Smiley's "Moo," (both recommended, but I digress.) The students in the story have paid substantial money to attend the program, which tries to mimic the comedy club environment, but with only the same few anxious, grim teachers as the audience. Why not just go to open mike nights at the clubs? Much lower cost, more diverse audiences, more opportunity to try out off the wall bits, and more genuine---if still painful---feedback. As a side note, I looked up some well-known comedians. Those who got college degrees (not everyone), majored in subjects such as communications, English, or scriptwriting. Quite a few left their original disciplines (law was noted frequently), to go into comedy. Part of that may be a lack of formal comedy programs, but part of it is the overly structured, siloed nature of higher education, a learning environment that subjects like comedy don't fit into very well. And no, I'm not bashing academia overall - I taught at a college for nearly a quarter century, best job on earth - but they do have quirks and obstacles. This book shows us some of them.

This book didn't catch my attention. I could tell when something was supposed to be funny. But it didn't move me. It may have helped to build the characters more before trying to immerse the reader into the comedy world.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This narrative just couldn't hold my attention. For a novel about an MFA in stand-up comedy, I was hoping for some more humor in the writing, but it ended up feeling a little to meta to get the humor out.

Bordas’ new novel is ingenious. Her focus on the program for wannabe comedians gives rise to complex lives inside their yearning to create comedy on an ongoing basis. I was most affected by the astute characterizations in this Chicago setting.

interesting premise, great variety of characters, riveting story and incredible visuals in the writing. I only wish it were at least double in length - the ending felt abrupt and out of the blue.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ebook. A delightful novel that takes us inside a Chicago University that offers an MFA in stand up comedy. We spend a long day with both the faculty and students as they decide if a controversial comedian should join the staff, teach classes, go through an active shooter hoax, pick up an identical twin at the airport, worry about a missing brother with a drug history and end the night in a local bar battling it out on stage versus the improv group from Second City. A very fun and thoughtful novel.

I appreciated what this book was trying to do. It It's an interesting subject (comedy and comedy school) and the characters are good. The writing is good and it's well done and sometimes funny. It just was kind of flat and bland. If you go in with this perspective and don't expect explosive fireworks, it is pretty good. I appreciate the opportunity to have read it.

Looks like I’m the first person to review this one with words. Okay then…
What does every comic need for his stand-up act? The material. And yet, this novel about comics and their material manages to be both not particularly funny and not all that substantial somehow.
It takes place over the course of a single day as a bunch of young people inexplicably convinced that being funny can be taught and their teachers who don’t seem convinced much of anything except that life slaps you around more and more the older you get muddle through their interactions and seemingly endless inner monologues.
It’s a very internal sort of book (through rather readable, irrespective of the density it gives its narrative), so you get to spend a lot of time inside the characters’ minds. Which would be fine and dandy, had they been more likeable or interesting. And yet somehow despite their various crushes and conflicts and all, whether it’s a seasoned comic who got into hot waters for sleeping around with women thirty years his junior and casually proposing marriage or a comic just starting out who does everything right but doesn’t have much to say, it’s all just … tepid.
The novel is objectively well written and occasionally mildly humorous, but it’s heavier than the story merits and not as engaging or exciting as you might have hoped for. Reading it was kind of like watching a much-too-long stand-up act that fails to entertain. Didn't work for me, didn't engage me, dragged. But then again, comedy is subjective. As is reading. So I’m sure this novel will find its fans. Thanks Netgalley.