“This is a rare thing: an original, intelligent novel that’s not just a perfect summer beach read, but one that deserves serious awards consideration as well. Put down your phone and pick it up. . . . A major accomplishment.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
From the co-creator of How I Met Your Mother, a hilarious and thought-provoking debut novel set in New York City, following an unforgettable cast of characters as they navigate life, love, loss, ambition, and spirituality—without ever looking up from their phones It’s the summer of 2015, and Alice Quick needs to get to work. She’s twenty-eight years old, grieving her mother, barely scraping by as a nanny, and freshly kicked out of her apartment. If she can just get her act together and sign up for the MCAT, she can start chasing her dream of becoming a doctor . . . but in the Age of Distraction, the distractions are so distracting. There’s her tech millionaire brother’s religious awakening. His picture-perfect wife’s emotional breakdown. Her chaotic new roommate’s thirst for adventure. And, of course, there’s the biggest distraction of all: love.
From within the story of one summer in one woman’s life, a tapestry of characters is unearthed, tied to one another by threads both seen and unseen. Filled with all the warmth, humor, and heart that gained
How I Met Your Mother its cult following,
The Mutual Friend captures in sparkling detail the chaos of contemporary life—a life lived simultaneously in two different worlds, the physical one and the one behind our screens—and reveals how connected we all truly are.
A comedy of manners set in New York City, following a sprawling cast of characters as they navigate ambition, faith, addiction to technology, and the search for love, from the co-creator of How I Met Your Mother.
New York, 2015: The city is facing a series of bicycle accidents, the Mayor's approval ratings hang in the balance, and Alice, besieged by grief and regrets, wants desperately to take the MCAT and become a doctor, but she can't seem to sign up for the test. First and foremost there's her phone-which, like so many others, she can't seem to put down-but there's also her chaotic roommate Roxy, who works at the Mayor's office and whose thirst for adventure frequently gets Alice in trouble. Then there's her tech millionaire brother who is searching for meaning…meaning that may threaten to take him away from his wife, Pitterpat. And finally, the biggest distraction of all: Love.
As the months go by, these characters, and more, slide in and out of one another's lives-they fall in and out of love, and they face various scandals. All the while, their mutual friend, the omniscient and mysterious narrator of the novel who seems to know all, watches over them, until the threads that tie these characters together come together in a wholly satisfying reveal.
Filled with all of the warmth, humor, and heart that gained How I Met Your Mother its cult following, The Mutual Friend completely captures the choreography of navigating life and love in the chaos of contemporary life.
"
The Mutual Friend is GREAT. Carter Bays is one of the funniest people I know. More importantly though, he always finds the heart and truth in all of his humor. I just loved it. Put down the phones. Unless you’re reading
The Mutual Friend on it."
—Jason Segel
"I love this love story! The dialogue is so good, also it's very funny. What more could I want?"
—Mindy Kaling
“
The Mutual Friend is the most extraordinary and beguiling novel I’ve read in years. Carter Bays weaves together a huge, eclectic cast of messy, imperfect, and bewitching characters . . . As soon as I put the book down, I wanted to start reading it all over again.”
—Clare Pooley, New York Times bestselling author of The Authenticity Project
“I know it sounds like a bad joke or weird curse to wonder what would happen if Charles Dickens or
Bonfire of the Vanities-era Tom Wolfe had Twitter, but the actual, happy result would be
The Mutual Friend—a novel of New York in a strange time that probes its large and foibled cast with humor, real insight, and sparkling charm.”
—John Hodgman, author of Vacationland and Medallion Status and host of the Judge John Hodgman podcast
“
The Mutual Friend is like a 10-course dinner party with your frankest, wittiest friends confiding all their secrets. It has plenty of full-on belly laughs, but also such granular emotional insight and sharp-eyed observations about modern life and love. This novel makes you feel wonderfully seen, at your best and at your worst, by somebody very kind and very, very funny, who points out all the foibles and fractures you thought nobody noticed and let’s you know you’re not alone.”
—Elan Mastai, author of All Our Wrong Todays
"The Mutual Friend is a big, heart-squeezing ode to all that matters most, dressed up in the disguise of a fun, juicy ensemble story bubbling over with comically bad dates, career missteps, and awkward adult friendships. You'll laugh; you'll cry; you'll stare out the window and contemplate the meaning of life. I did, anyway."
—Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter
"A hugely clever and thoroughly entertaining magic trick of a novel that shows the ways in which we’re all connected, both virtually and in real life. This book
—with all its wisdom and humor, its detours and surprises
—was a total delight. I loved it!"
—Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Unsinkable Greta James“Poignant, heartbreaking, and full of hope. This beautifully written book perfectly captures the connections and relationships that shape our lives. I couldn't put it down.”
—Kate Spencer, author of In a New York Minute“Through his tapestry of characters, Carter Bays beautifully and hilariously captures the connection and isolation at the heart of being a human being, now. This book is like a modern-day War and Peace, without all the boring war parts.”
—Raphael Bob-Waksberg, author of Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory
“A completely unique and addictive read with a captivating cast of characters,
The Mutual Friend is a memorable, clever novel about connection and love and all the things that make us human. Charming and unforgettable, this story left an impression on my heart.”
—Holly Miller, author of The Sight of You
