
Member Reviews

I’m not someone that always needs characters to be likable. I’m all for a good anti-hero. However, the main character of “Set for Life” was so frustrating that it made the book a slog to get through (even at a brisk 256 pages).
I totally get what Andrew Ewell was trying to do with this novel about a creative writing professor who’s languishing in his ultra-successful wife’s shadow. He’s a frustrating, misogynistic, white male with tons of privilege who would rather waste his potential (and everyone else’s time) rather than get off his butt and be a productive adult. But this character had basically zero redeeming qualities (going on to hurt every single person he comes in contact with). Unless I’m mistaken, we don’t ever learn his name, which made it all the more difficult to connect with this person in any way.
As the book progresses, every single event is foreshadowed and predictable. Every personal downfall the MC experiences is not only easy to guess, but also very much deserved. I found myself rooting for every other character in the book (even the ones that are set up to be somewhat villainous). But even the secondary characters are annoying – they react in super unrealistic ways that made me feel like shouting at them.
There were also issues with the way events were presented. The reader is made to feel as though a great deal of time has passed within the story, and then we learn that it’s only been two weeks. Or one event that will have a lot of fallout isn’t resolved until many pages later. This leads to an uneven feeling that made me more annoyed than intrigued.
Nearly all of the adjectives used to describe this debut – “funny,” “moving,” “poignant” – were completely off-base in my mind. I couldn’t wait to be done reading it. The only thing that kept this from a one-star rating was that I think Ewell did a decent job depicting the life of a writer and what that quest for success is like. Otherwise, I’m ‘set for life’ with this writer.

I don’t always mind unlikeable characters, but they literally make the worst decisions, continuing down an endless spiral. Pretty much nothing happens besides a whole lot of drinking. And I just got bored with the plot. I will say the writing was good and enjoyable, but I wanted more character development.

Set for Life is a novel about a 40 year old English professor at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. His wife is also a professor and a best selling novelist. He is dissatisfied with his life as he struggles to gain tenure, write a book, connect with his wife, his colleagues and his students- none of which he is doing well. Unfortunately the book left me feeling empty; for me it was a slow and unrewarding read. I commend the author on the courage and commitment it took to write Set for Life and wish him well Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC, and to give a candid review.

I see where this was going only after two-thirds of the way through? Where was the pay off for the protagonist? I lost major interest at the third act because I thought he would essentially be "set for life" by some occurrence or fate. Instead I found myself no longer rooting for the character and cheering on Sophie, Debra and even Carlos for helping him to see what an arrogant, selfish person he was. Sometimes it takes the anti-hero the moment to hit rock bottom before they realize what they are meant to truly accomplish in their lives. The realistic aspect to this was infectious, I found myself wanting to think alongside him and try to guess if he will realize what a hypocrite he is being - he does. He also notes that sometimes all there is to life is to get by as much as you can unscathed.
The writing was so easy to follow and I found myself finishing it in two days! Thanks to Andrew Ewell, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

This was a super quick read, and I found it overall engaging! However, I found the protagonist pretty irritating and honestly just living in his own bubble of privilege and self-loathing. I think this was the point the author was trying to get across with this guy – but I wish the point was hit home even more. Honestly, the satirical approach that Debra had in HER book would've been really captivating.

The writing was the best part of this novel. It was witty, descriptive, and kept you engaged in the story. This is particular noteworthy because every single character in this book was insufferable, from maniac Debra to aloof and annoying John. If the writing wasn’t top tier, I wouldn’t have been able to get through this. I think there is definitely beauty in writing about the foibles, missteps, mistakes, and consequences that regular people face every day, and this book succeeds at that. No overarching message or big point to glean. Just good writing about the every day. This book didn’t change my life. It was clearly written by a man, with little insight or revelations about society or who we are as humans. But the writing was good, the main character was a dumpster fire you couldn’t look away from, and the plot made you want to know how it all ended. Overall, a very pleasant read.

An unappealing unnamed male narrator spins his life into a mess in this satiric look at academia among other things. At least I think it's meant to be satiric. It's very much about a man behaving badly, which isn't a deterrent to a good read but here, here it felt quite contrived. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I may be the odd one out here. Know that Ewell's MFa shows.

Set For Life is basically an inside look at the mid-life crisis and self destruction of a man, and I do love to watch people self destruct. Our main character is a writer, or at least he wants to be, who needs to publish a novel to get tenure, and to hopefully peek out from the shadow of his successful wife. His solution to his writer's block is a love affair, solid logic buddy, and we just follow him from there.
The plot itself is quite loose, but I think the story is much more about the characters. Our main character is quite unlikable but that’s mostly due to the fact that he suffers from serious main character syndrome. He’s having a hard time coming to terms with a more realistic and humble understanding of his existence, which means he’s constantly projecting cruel thoughts about others. He quite literally walks around as if the world owes him something and throws poorly judged tantrums when it fails to provide. It feels very typically male of him, but maybe I’m just being unkind in that opinion. I found him quite interesting even if I was having a hard time digging for some sympathy. Despite that, there was a small piece of me that still hopes things work out for him.
This was one of those books that made me feel second hand embarrassment. You’re watching these characters and it’s like watching a train wreck that you can look away from, but there is honesty in that which I can appreciate. I do wish some of the other characters had a bit more to them but this is a pretty short novel overall so I get it. My concluding thoughts, I will be honest that I don’t really understand the plight of a writer or artist and their thirst for their personal definition of success, but it is certainly fascinating watching them try to navigate it.

"Set for Life" has us follow the life of a college professor and would be author. The book is told solely from his point of view.
His wife is a fellow professor and successful author, and helped him get the job at the college where she works. He's just spent several months in France, supposedly to get ahead with writing his book, but he actually spent his time drinking and eating. On his return he's clearly in a funk, lying to the faculty at the college as to his progress on his book, and not sure where his life is going. He visits long time friends in New York City, and decides to start an affair with Sophie, not only the wife of his best friend but also the best friend of his wife.
We watch as he sinks deeper into alcoholism, and his relationships and his life in general, implode around him.
The description of the book states that this is a wryly funny and moving novel - but I'm not sure that I would agree. I found the main character to be a sad, and pathetic man, with few redeeming qualities. His wife Debra was a little more interesting at the start of the novel, but she soon grey's as we follow along.
I don't have to like the characters to enjoy a good novel, and I certainly enjoyed the writing in this book, but I really didn't enjoy this. I felt there wasn't much point in the plot, other than watching someone self destruct.
I received a copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

One can’t really tell if the main character truly is just written to be pretentious and unlikable or if the author just wanted a safe place to write out all his judgements against those of us who left blogging about reading Beckett in the coffeeshop back in 2012 where it belonged. I really wanted to like this book—the premise was promising and I’m not someone who needs characters to be wholly likeable—but everyone was so wildly UNlikable, every sentence so sneering, the main character so long winded and dull, that I couldn’t get through it to see if anyone got what they deserved. This never happens, especially when I’ve specifically requested an ARC. I don’t know how it ended, but I hope the wife left him!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
"Set for Life" revolves around an assistant professor at a college in New York, of which we don't know his identity, who has returned from a three-month trip to France. He was supposed to be writing the manuscript for his next novel but did everything but that. Once the professor returns home to New York, he gets together with a couple he has known since college. While the male of this couple goes to fulfill some professional duties after they meet up, the main character and the woman of this couple end up sleeping together, beginning a months-long affair.
Their rendezvouses cause things to be rather morally murky in his life, but the main character feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. While he has had so many things he is very stressed about, the affair is an escape from the world, especially with his professional and personal pressures. He could be helping himself by actually writing his next novel, but his newfound relationship has made him somewhat content with his life.
There isn't any discernable plot in this book, but for some reason, I enjoyed it. I can't entirely pinpoint why I was so invested in this character; it could have been the writing or everything that happens to this main character, but either way, I wanted to keep reading. It's clear that the main character is ethically flawed (this is an understatement). However, I felt sorry for him because of how deeply insecure he is and why he did what he did.
Weirdly enough, this story reminded me of something that could be adapted into an indie movie in the vain of "Garden State" or something else along those lines. This is Andrew Ewell's first novel, and I think he did a good job. It's not something I would typically enjoy, but I could definitely read another novel of his in the future.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.
The unnamed main character is a married college professor who works with his wife (technically his boss) at a small upstate New York college. Paralyzed by writer's block, he is coming back from a writer's retreat in France, where he accomplished nothing. His wife, more successful than he is, both academically and in writing (she writes those popular fiction novels that get a lot of attention but have no real deep thought underneath), is worried about him but at the same time. does not mind being the more popular figure in their marriage. He keeps living, making mistakes and trying to figure out his life, including an ill advised affair with one of their longtime friends.
Set for Life by Andrew Ewell is an interesting book. The male character you aren't supposed to like or root for - mission accomplished. He's pretty annoying and seems to be very passive and blames others for what's happening to him (spoiler alert - he's the idiot who makes the stupid decisions all on his own). I know this is supposed to be a novel about entitlement, jealousy and academia, but it didn't make me feel very good to read it.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy!
This book is about a part time English professor, full-time pretentious jerk who cannot handle is wife's successes as an author over his own lack thereof, causing his life to spiral out of control.
I loved it.
I hated the main character, and I was supposed to hate him. He chooses himself over everyone else and is always placing the blame on everybody else. It was actually difficult to tell whose style in which this was written -- the author's or the jerk of a main character's? Some of the word choice sentence style made me think, 'Dang, this guy really likes his thesaurus.' But at the same time, that would track with the know-it-all main character who thinks he's the smartest in the room and is always policing his friends' grammar.
I thought it was clever, and I am glad I read it.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to love the characters in a book to enjoy the story and the journey. I requested this ARC on Netgalley after reading a positive review or two on the internet, and I finished it in about 48hrs.
The plot follows a male protagonist with no name, after a failed sabbatical to France when he returns to his professorship with nothing to show for the trip. He shortly after begins an affair with his wife’s best friend and slags off on pretty much every other responsibility he has. As the story progresses, this protagonist makes just about every worst decision you can make, slacks off from work, and eventually gets caught by his wife, who turns his whole spiral into a fiction novel, written by her. Overall, very juicy and very engrossing towards the end.
The writing was the best part of this novel. It was witty, descriptive, and kept you engaged in the story. This is particular noteworthy because every single character in this book was insufferable, from maniac Debra to aloof and annoying John. If the writing wasn’t top tier, I wouldn’t have been able to get through this. I think there is definitely beauty in writing about the foibles, missteps, mistakes, and consequences that regular people face every day, and this book succeeds at that. No overarching message or big point to glean. Just good writing about the every day. This book didn’t change my life. It was clearly written by a man, with little insight or revelations about society or who we are as humans. But the writing was good, the main character was a dumpster fire you couldn’t look away from, and the plot made you want to know how it all ended. Overall, a very pleasant read.
Thanks again to NetGalley for access to the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

The definition of "okay." Reads like the book written by a one-hit-wonder writing teacher in streaming series about academia.

Straight white man finds out, for the first time, there are consequences for his actions! It is ok in the end though because his other straight male friend gets him helps him out and solves everything!

The unnamed narrator, his wife Debra and best friends, Sophie and John have all thought they would become successful writers. Debra is the only one of the group to have a novel published and another about to be published. Her husband is having trouble being in the background. He is depressed and he and his life are spiraling out of control. He turns to outside solutions and fails. He blames others for his situation rather than taking responsibility for his failures. The time comes when he realizes he must make changes in order to survive.
Thank you NetGalley #SimonBooks @SimonBooks

A great read with subtle yet strong themes of mental health and dealing with this.
I enjoyed reading this and would read more books from this author in the future!

This is the story of a married couple who teach and write but she is more famous and published than he. He travels to France on a fellowship to try to get inspiration to write, but finds only that he prefers drinking. He returns and continues to let drink cloud his thoughts while his wife gains inspiration to write about his spiraling.

I enjoyed reading this satirically funny novel because NONE of the characters were nice people - Andrew Ewell captured the competitiveness of college academic professionals perfectly!
The protagonist was such a self destructive jerk, I had to like him. He knew he was failing at everything, professionally and personally, so he just leaned into it, quit his job at the university and ran off with his best friend's wife.
When he finally writes & publishes the novel which has been hanging around his neck like an albatross, the subject he chooses is so perfect - what poetic justice for having to be in the shadow of his awful, condescending, more successful wife for so long. I never liked her anyway!