Overview

“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.

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Reviews

Praise for The Mutual Friend 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 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

Praise for The Mutual Friend 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 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 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 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 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 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 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

Praise for The Mutual Friend 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 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

Praise for The Mutual Friend 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

Author Information

Carter Bays is the co-creator of the Emmy-winning series How I Met Your Mother. The Mutual Friend is his first novel.

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