"A hilarious novel.[with] narrative tension that keeps the pages turning." --The Post and Courier "An exceedingly smooth debut. Set for Life keeps up a terrific running gag about the genre-fication of literary fiction and the increasingly commercially minded publishing world. As unsympathetic as the narrator can be, what will keep readers turning pages is the brute authenticity of his voice, which makes the novel go down as easy as the alcohol he guzzles without compunction or conscience." --Shelf Awareness "Ewell's novel is more than just a book-long treatise on the failings of contemporary literature. It is probably best described as a kind of campus comedy of errors in the vein of Richard Russo's Straight Man or Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys ."-- Chicago Review of Books "I'd been reading Set for Life for about half an hour when I realized it was approaching 11:30 p.
m. I told myself I'd stop for the night in just a few pages. The next time I looked up from Andrew Ewell's debut novel it was an hour later . and I still needed to find a good place to stop."-- The Los Angeles Times "Ewell's promising first novel deftly explores the processes of artistic creation and ownership while expertly skewering the ludicrous priorities of contemporary academia." --Booklist " Set for Life is a hilarious novel about failure, lost youth and squandered dreams. Andrew Ewell seems to be an expert on bad decisions, self destructive behavior and hangovers. His hugely entertaining debut reminds me of Frederick Exley's classic A Fan's Notes .
" --Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City "Have you ever wondered why some of the smartest, best educated people you know are among the most hopelessly lost? Well, so has Andrew Ewell, and he'd love to explain it to you in Set for Life , his sharp, witty and surprisingly moving academic novel." --Richard Russo, author of Straight Man and Somebody's Fool "A sharp, entertaining chronicle of male vanity and self-sabotage that deserves a place alongside other boozy masters of the genre such as Fred Exley and David Gates." --Jim Gavin, creator of Lodge 49 and author of Middle Men " Set for Life is the best kind of comedy--comedy that grows out of the vagaries of the human heart. Andrew Ewell explores the nature of betrayal--the betrayal of friends, lovers, of our own selves--with a wisdom born of sorrow and the residue of youthful dreams."-- Gregory Blake Smith, author of The Maze at Windermere.