Select delivery location
See All Buying Options
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Adam Ehrlich Sachs
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Inherited Disorders: Stories, Parables & Problems Hardcover – May 3, 2016

by Adam Ehrlich Sachs (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
See all formats and editions
A son receives an inheritance from his father and tries to dispose of it before it destroys him. Inherited Disorderstells this elemental story in over 100 hilarious, witty variations.

Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Inherited Disorders is a rueful, absurd, and endlessly entertaining look at a most serious subject—the eternally vexed relations between fathers and sons. In a hundred and seventeen shrewd, surreal vignettes, Sachs lays bare the petty rivalries, thwarted affection, and mutual bafflement that have characterized the filial bond since the days of Davidic kings. A philosopher’s son kills his father and explains his aphorisms to death. A father bequeaths to his son his jacket, deodorant, and political beliefs. England’s most famous medium becomes possessed by the spirit of his skeptical father—who questions, in front of the nation, his son’s choice of career. A Czech pianist amputates his fingers one by one to thwart his father, who will not stop composing concertos for him. A nineteenth-century Italian nobleman wills his ill-conceived flying contraption—incapable of actual flight—to his newborn son. In West Hollywood, an aspiring screenwriter must contend with the judgmental visage of his father, a respected public intellectual whose frozen head, clearly disappointed in him, he keeps in his freezer. Keenly inventive, but painfully familiar, these surprisingly tender stories signal the arrival of a brilliant new comic voice—and fresh hope for fathers and sons the world over.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Regan Arts.
  4. Publication date
    May 3, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1682450155
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1682450154
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

One of Buzzfeed's Incredible New Books You Need to Read This Summer

"Mr. Sachs's debut [of] brief comic sketches . . . [is] a darkly glittering gem."

—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"One of the funniest books of the year."

—Publishers Weekly

"Inherited Disorders is just plain funny . . . Sachs has a finely tuned sense of humor and an economical writing style that gives each story plenty of punch."

—Michael Patrick Brady, Boston Globe

" . . . stellar debut collection . . . Sachs proves himself a perceptive observer of human nature and a distinctly promising talent."

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Adam Ehrlich Sachs's debut marks the arrival of a major humorist. If Kafka and Louis CK were to join forces, they might produce something like Inherited Disorders: absurd, wise, and extremely funny."

—Simon Rich, author of Spoiled Brats and creator of Man Seeking Woman

"Don't miss out on this one . . . poignant and absurd . . . with an exceedingly light touch that floats, skips, and hops into a punch line."

—Matthew Zeitlin, Buzzfeed

"Darkly hilarious."

—Adam Kirsch, Tablet

“In Inherited Disorders, Sachs displays a rare kind of genius: storytelling that’s humorous and absurdist, but also slyly compassionate and layered. There’s much wisdom about father-son relationships to accompany the intricate and sometimes laugh-out-loud literary fireworks. And in the process, Sachs captures the true richness and strangeness of the world—something of a classic in the making and a favorite read of the past few years.”

—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation

"Endlessly sharp and engaging from start to finish."

—Mary Vensel White, The Rumpus

"Sachs's caustic and absurdist collection Inherited Disorders is a[n] assured debut."

—Karan Mahajan, Book Forum

"Hilarious and quirky yet poignant, Inherited Disorders is one of the most original—and entertaining—books of the season."

— Jarry Lee, BuzzFeed

"Ingenious, structurally elegant inheritance puzzles."

— Max Nelson, The New Republic

"Darkly funny . . . The mania that pushes [Sachs's] stories to their logical extremes retains a uniquely puckish, joyful irreverence. . . Inherited Disorders makes a certain kind of anxiety so comically debilitating that the full extent of its uselessness is revealed."

—Miranda Popkey, The Awl

"Startlingly funny."

— Illana Masad, Jewish Current

"Real literary talent."

—Matthew Snider, Ploughshares

"In 117 humorous, ironic [and] inventive short stories, Adam Ehrlich Sachs shows us . . . the struggle of sons to become their own men."

—Allison Morer, GoodMenProject.com

About the Author

Adam Ehrlich Sachs studied atmospheric science at Harvard, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, n+1 and McSweeney's, among other places. He lives with his wife in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regan Arts. (May 3, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1682450155
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1682450154
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Adam Ehrlich Sachs

Adam Ehrlich Sachs

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Adam Ehrlich Sachs is the author of three books: Gretel and the Great War, The Organs of Sense, and Inherited Disorders. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, n+1, and Harper’s Magazine, and he was a finalist for the Believer Book Award and the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Academy in Berlin, and he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
41 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

David Eisler
5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction Beyond the Novel
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
Just when you think there's nothing left to find in fiction, a book like this comes along. I read the same stories in the New Yorker and ordered the book immediately. The vignettes in flash fiction form all deal with the relationship between fathers and sons. Some are funny. Some are poignant. All are incredibly creative. Some even read like copy for a local news teleprompter.

This book is fantastic, so long as you are comfortable with the flash fiction format and aren't looking for a collection of short stories or a full-length novel. Sachs is easily one of the most creative and detailed writers to come around in a long time, and I look forward to whatever he does next.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
J. Koester
5.0 out of 5 stars Never a wasted word
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
So good. As soon as I read a few of these short stories in n+1 magazine, I pre-ordered the book. Book finally arrived last week, and I wasn't disappointed. Only downside was the weird looks I kept getting from my wife as I giggled. I would just shake my head and point at the book. These stories are very short -- sometimes just a paragraph -- great for when you don't have extended reading time. While re-reading many of them, I found they were so short because there is never a wasted word. Just tight, brilliant writing.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
S. ONEILL
4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect beach reading
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
I heard a few of these stories on the n+1 podcast. Wonderful, pure satire. Made me see some the ridiculous thing me and my guy friends have done. And made me sit up and notice how many cliched pop psychology concepts I've absorbed unquestioningly.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
zevk
5.0 out of 5 stars A read to remember
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
I wouldn't do it the disservice of dissecting and analyzing. This is a small wonder of putting words to imagination and what deeply matters.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
SC
3.0 out of 5 stars Inherited Disorders had me at the title and the cover
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
Inherited Disorders had me at the title and the cover. The description promised the rest, a humorous look at how sons dealt with the legacy they inherited from their father, whether in physicial, monetary, or any other form. At first the short, shorter and shortest short stories made me wanting more, the stories were quirky, surreal, with a hint of absurdist humor and hilarity.

This is all about the often problematic relationships between fathers and sons and these fathers'expectations of their sons, what will they do with their 'inheritance'. Will they trump their fathers and be better or more well-known? Or turn away and go the complete opposite direction? Or worse, utterly fail?

A sample:
"DIVING RECORD
A Florida man died Monday while trying to surpass his father’s record for deep diving without the aid of oxygen or fins. Thirty years ago, in the Gulf of Mexico, the father famously dove 225 feet without using oxygen or fins. On Monday the son made three dives in the same location, all without using oxygen or fins. His first dive was 167 feet. His second dive was 191 feet. On his third attempt the son managed to dive down 216 feet without oxygen or fins, but his lungs burst on the way up and he died aboard his diving vessel. At the funeral, his father tearfully admitted that in his record-setting dive he had actually used both oxygen and fins."

But then, it became repetitive. There are just too many of these highly intellectual, metaphysical and philosophical vignettes. So, eventhough dnf-ed at 39% of the book, I'll still give this book a solid 3*. The writing is excellent. AES knows the craft of playing with words. It is just...not for me.

Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Joseph Lugosch
5.0 out of 5 stars she loved it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2018
Verified Purchase
Got this book for my mom, she loved it.
Helpful
 Report
Heidi Ravven
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
A fascinating and delightful and often sardonic read!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jessica Sullivan
4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, thought provoking, twisted
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
In this series of 117 vignettes, Sachs explores the complex dynamic between fathers and sons. His stories are absurd, philosophical, funny, surreal, clever, quirky and often morbid in nature.

Members of the Surrogate Son Program at an assisted living facility are encouraged to visit less frequently, less willingly, for shorter stretches of time and with more unspoken resentment and physical unease — you know, to increase the authenticity of it. An aspiring screenwriter has his father’s head cryogenically frozen so that he can wake him up once he’s accomplished something. A son seeks out charities that will accept not only the physical possessions, but the mental attributes of his recently deceased father.

Like most story collections, some are much more amusing than others, and with such a large number of vignettes, the themes inevitably became repetitive. It took me some time to really get going and immerse myself in Sachs’ absurd world, but once I did, it really grew on me. There were many occasions when I laughed out loud — and I think you will, too, if you share my twisted sense of humor.

This was a one-sitting read for me, but it’s also the kind of book you can pick up and read intermittently when you’re in the mood for a couple quick, amusing, thought-provoking little stories.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report