Truth in Advertising

A Novel

By: John Kenney

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A wickedly funny, honest, and poignant debut novel in the spirit of Then We Came to the End and This Is Where I Leave You about the absurdity of corporate life, the complications of love, and the meaning of family.

Finbar Dolan is lost and lonely. Except he doesn’t know it. Despite escaping his blue-collar Boston upbringing to carve out a mildly successful career at a Madison Avenue ad agency, he’s a bit of a mess and closing in on 40. He’s recently called off a wedding. Now, a few days before Christmas, he’s forced to cancel a long-postponed vacation in order to write, produce, and edit a Superbowl commercial for his diaper account in record time.

Fortunately, it gets worse. He learns that his long-estranged and once-abusive father has fallen ill. And that neither of his brothers or his sister intend to visit. It’s a wake-up call for Fin to reevaluate the choices he’s made, admit that he’s falling for his co-worker Phoebe, question the importance of diapers in his life, and finally tell the truth about his life and his past.

First-time novelist John Kenney, a regular New Yorker contributor, mines his own advertising background to weave spot-on, compelling insider detail into a hilarious, insightful, at times sardonic, and ultimately moving debut.

©2013 John Kenney (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Should have stuck to advertising stories

Would you try another book from John Kenney and/or Robert Petkoff?

No

Has Truth in Advertising turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was fine.

What character would you cut from Truth in Advertising?

His father and siblings

Any additional comments?

The stories about the Ad Biz were great. Unfortunately they were tangled with boring tales of the lead characters lousy relationship with his family.

Truth? Trite!

Hate to be suspicious, but have to wonder whether rave reviews were from friends of the author. Narrator was first-rate, but story was practically non-existent. Every now and then, there is a laugh-out-loud line, but the plot is thin and tedious. There is nothing new about the advertising world's silliness, and the protagonist's supposed family drama seemed overdone. I nearly gave up after part 1; wish I had.

Meh. Bummer.

I wanted to like this story. Finn Dunbar is a likeable guy - a guy you might meet at a bar and be excited to "add" on facebook and enjoy occasional witty exchange with - but get into a deeper conversation and you'd learn he's just "meh". Why? Well, the author tries too hard to be superficial and blase, and his style of writing dialogue - "I say....; Ian says...; Phoebe says..." in short bursts is just bland. This also greatly troubled the performance - despite a crisp and clear voice, the narrator could not introduce much variation to the characters because they were so flatly written. Out of a recent mass consumption of audiobooks, this one completely failed to serve its purpose - keep me entertained during one hour commutes. Instead, I caught myself daydreaming and constantly having to back up the story, if I even cared enough at the moment to even fill in the gaps of the weak plot. Sorry.

I do not recommend

Could not get interested in this, the story and character just put me off and made me feel irritated. Not much insight here, just the feeling it wasn't worth my time.

Ho hum

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Maybe if Fin's dysfunctional family life was portrayed before the reader is dragged through his career/job. A job where relationships are the actual job itself.

What was most disappointing about John Kenney’s story?

It wanted to finish but could not.

Would you be willing to try another one of Robert Petkoff’s performances?

yes

What character would you cut from Truth in Advertising?

Fin

Any additional comments?

I don't have to like the main character when I read a book.
This main character just wasn't worth reading about because too many narcissistic self indulging people already exist.