Shrink Thyself - Hardcover

"There's nothing that makes me happier than a Bill Scheft novel. "Shrink Thyself," his best yet, is a hilarious, unexpectedly moving, page-turning delight."
--Maria Semple, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?"
"A hilarious 'coming of middle age' story where we follow Charlie Traub, a man who might need therapy to recover from his therapy. Bill Scheft is already in the Comedy Hall of Fame. With "Shrink Thyself," he reminds us why."
--Steve Hely, author of "How I Became a Famous Novelist" and Winner of the 2010 Thurber Prize for American Humor
"Philip Roth may be putting down his pen, but I think Bill Scheft has picked it up. Here are observations about life and love and yearning that are so sharp, so funny, so fresh that every page of Shrink Thyself rewards the reader. Oh the joys of a wistful, heart-broken, hard-boiled narrator--a voice I'd follow anywhere."
--Elinor Lipman, author of "The Family Man"
"Only a few pages into this delightful novel, I realized I was hopelessly in love with Bill Scheft's original and hilarious protagonist Charlie Traub. Maybe it was just transference, but it felt like the real thing. "Shrink Thyself" is one of the funniest books I have read in years and one that I will reread again and again."
--ANN LEARY, author of the "New York Times" bestseller of "The Good House"
""Shrink Thyself" is hilarious. In Charlie Traub, the protagonist of this crackling novel, Bill Scheft has created a sad-sack hero with the exuberant narrative verve of a character out of Philip Roth or Saul Bellow (think Portnoy or Herzog). Fresh out of therapy with a psychologist who wants to become his friend, Traub endures a series of darkly comic misadventures--his mother's funeral alone is a small tour de force of humor and plot twisting--that will have you laughing and turning pages so frantically to find out what happens next that you may be surprised to discover, when you reach the end, that you've been moved by a story of remarkable soulfulness, warmth, and redemption."
--Scott Stossel, is the editor of "The Atlantic" magazine and the author of the bestselling "My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind"
"With his sly social observations of this postmillennial world, a talent for nurturing his emotionally hemmed-in protagonist, a soupcon of Jewish angst, and a gift for word play--"my rate would jump Shylockingly"--Scheft offers laugh-out-loud commentary on life, love, and loneliness."
--Foreword Reviews
"There's nothing that makes me happier than a Bill Scheft novel. Shrink Thyself, his best yet, is a hilarious, unexpectedly moving, page-turning delight."
--Maria Semple, New York Times bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

"A hilarious 'coming of middle age' story where we follow Charlie Traub, a man who might need therapy to recover from his therapy. Bill Scheft is already in the Comedy Hall of Fame. With Shrink Thyself, he reminds us why."
--Steve Hely, author of How I Became a Famous Novelist and Winner of the 2010 Thurber Prize for American Humor

"Philip Roth may be putting down his pen, but I think Bill Scheft has picked it up. Here are observations about life and love and yearning that are so sharp, so funny, so fresh that every page of Shrink Thyself rewards the reader. Oh the joys of a wistful, heart-broken, hard-boiled narrator--a voice I'd follow anywhere."
--Elinor Lipman, author of The Family Man

"Only a few pages into this delightful novel, I realized I was hopelessly in love with Bill Scheft's original and hilarious protagonist Charlie Traub. Maybe it was just transference, but it felt like the real thing. Shrink Thyself is one of the funniest books I have read in years and one that I will reread again and again."
--ANN LEARY, author of the New York Times bestseller of The Good House

"Shrink Thyself is hilarious. In Charlie Traub, the protagonist of this crackling novel, Bill Scheft has created a sad-sack hero with the exuberant narrative verve of a character out of Philip Roth or Saul Bellow (think Portnoy or Herzog). Fresh out of therapy with a psychologist who wants to become his friend, Traub endures a series of darkly comic misadventures--his mother's funeral alone is a small tour de force of humor and plot twisting--that will have you laughing and turning pages so frantically to find out what happens next that you may be surprised to discover, when you reach the end, that you've been moved by a story of remarkable soulfulness, warmth, and redemption."
--Scott Stossel, is the editor of The Atlantic magazine and the author of the bestselling My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind

"With his sly social observations of this postmillennial world, a talent for nurturing his emotionally hemmed-in protagonist, a soupcon of Jewish angst, and a gift for word play--"my rate would jump Shylockingly"--Scheft offers laugh-out-loud commentary on life, love, and loneliness."
--Foreword Reviews

In Shrink Thyself, Charlie Traub decides to leave psychotherapy and live the unexamined life. A noble goal, which would be even more noble if his former therapist (now his friend) didn't turn out to be beyond inappropriate and his mother didn't die in a way that would have made Freud transfer to dental school. Despite all unexamined evidence to the contrary, Charlie just might be unable to accept that wherever he goes, there he is.