List Price: $16.00 Details

Save: $4.09 (26%)

$4 delivery January 8 - 29. Details

Select delivery location

Usually ships within 8 to 9 days

$$11.91 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Ships from

V-King

Ships from

V-King

Sold by

V-King

Sold by

V-King

Returns

Returnable until Jan 31, 2024

Returns

Returnable until Jan 31, 2024

For the 2023 holiday season, eligible items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2023 can be returned until January 31, 2024

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

$3.98 delivery December 12 - 13. Details

Or fastest delivery Monday, December 11. Order within 21 hrs 34 mins. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by glenthebookseller

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$16.00
FREE Shipping on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: Amazon.com

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Sean Penn

Follow

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff: A Novel Paperback – April 9, 2019

by Sean Penn (Author)

3.3 282 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$11.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$4.36

$0.37

$1.25

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.91

$1.85

Kindle
$11.99 Read with our free app
Hardcover
$4.36

55 Used from $1.25 12 New from $0.37 13 Collectible from $4.95
Paperback
$11.91

11 Used from $1.85 8 New from $11.91

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$11.91","priceAmount":11.91,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"11","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"91","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"L9j9Z39rHu%2FzFin6GiRbbXgqfHrpUont0qDZGemV%2FgALLt5%2BJXTX1VyUHo1y%2BNn%2Fj3SW3wLwtIe9rzRkneCu1SrwbjGTcRNxOPKpNKlJ6vYpy3Hif0p3LrU6gOjXESZ8sAAuoX%2FtWpCt7cBONmQTVkhPVX2ooK0ijhq2Pjn0yKxxLPKhneMNyDSGvNO%2B1a0X","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$1.85","priceAmount":1.85,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"1","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"85","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"L9j9Z39rHu%2FzFin6GiRbbXgqfHrpUontthPhxxK6A%2BHa8AmV7wXBY3P7Yqo1xlMVLJ6irO37at0aIHLN1rKrRZQjx6bNk4nJyLuDfvfbPvajzDc%2BT1WRl4d8aZ7sCB8TKMtG2ltHyOISOnQhyJzI%2FI6mP%2BpcYiHVKy9CBh%2F0Hg%2FrN%2FfFJyrjgoLmM6vXJjMP","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

“An incredibly interesting work.” —Jane Smiley
“A straight up masterwork.” —Sarah Silverman
“Blisteringly funny.” —Corey Seymour
“A transcendent apocalyptic satire.” —Michael Silverblatt
“Crackling with life.” —Paul Theroux
“Great fun.” —Salman Rushdie
“A provocative debut.” —Kirkus Reviews

From legendary actor and activist Sean Penn comes a scorching, “charmingly weird” (Booklist, starred review) novel about Bob Honey—a modern American man, entrepreneur, and part-time assassin.

Bob Honey has a hard time connecting with other people, especially since his divorce. He’s tired of being marketed to every moment, sick of a world where even an orgasm isn’t real until it is turned into a tweet. A paragon of old-fashioned American entrepreneurship, Bob sells septic tanks to Jehovah’s Witnesses and arranges pyrotechnic displays for foreign dictators. He’s also a contract killer for an off-the-books program run by a branch of United States intelligence that targets the elderly, the infirm, and others who drain society of its resources.

When a nosy journalist starts asking questions, Bob can’t decide if it’s a chance to form some sort of new friendship or the beginning of the end for him. With treason on everyone’s lips, terrorism in everyone’s sights, and American political life sinking to ever-lower standards, Bob decides it’s time to make a change—if he doesn’t get killed by his mysterious controllers or exposed in the rapacious media first.

A thunderbolt of startling images and painted “with a broadly satirical, Vonnegut-ian brush” (Kirkus Reviews), Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff is one of the year's most controversial and talked about literary works.

Length

176
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Washington Square Press
Publication date

2019
April 9
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.5 x 8.3
inches
ISBN-10

1501189050
ISBN-13

978-1501189050
See all details

Frequently bought together

$11.91

Get it Jan 8 - 29

Usually ships within 8 to 9 days

Ships from and sold by V-King.

+

$15.00

Usually ships within 2 to 3 days

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

One of these items ships sooner than the other.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

Sean Penn
23
Hardcover
33 offers from $0.96
Nick Johnstone
3
Paperback
7 offers from $4.62

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Charmingly weird…Penn takes on an ambitious challenge here, and he succeeds spectacularly. Bob is a wonderful character, the kind of guy you can’t take your eyes off… that’s part of the book’s almost immeasurable charm.” ― Booklist (starred review)

“Penn paints with a broadly satirical, Vonnegut-ian brush. . . . he gives nods (by way of sly footnotes) to the likes of David Foster Wallace and Thomas Pynchon. . . . It’s good fun [and] a provocative debut.” ― Kirkus Reviews

“It seems wrong to say that so dystopian a novel is great fun to read, but it’s true. I suspect that Thomas Pynchon and Hunter S. Thompson would love this book." -- Salman Rushdie

“Before I started reading, I glanced over the table of contents. The first chapter is called ‘Seeking Homeostasis in Inherent Hypocrisy.’ I rolled my eyes and said aloud to no one, “fuuuck you.” Then, I read it, and it turns out it’s a goddamned novel for the ages. A straight-up masterwork, more relevant to this very moment than anything I’ve seen. Tom Robbins, Mark Twain, E.E. Cummings and Billy Bragg all just came in Chuck Bukowski’s pants. Whether it’s your cuppa tea is something I cannot know. But sweet Jesus it was mine.” -- Sarah Silverman

About the Author

Sean Penn won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Mystic River and Milk, and received Academy Award nominations as Best Actor for Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown, and I Am Sam. He has worked as an actor, writer, producer, and director on over one hundred theater and film productions. His journalism has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, and HuffPo. This is his first novel.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Washington Square Press; Reprint edition (April 9, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501189050
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501189050
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,535,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #934 in Absurdist Fiction (Books)
- #15,728 in Fiction Satire
- #96,989 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.3 282 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

About the author

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

Sean Penn

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

3.3 out of 5

282 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Brandon Clark

Fun read for the intellectually daring

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

I've seen this book critiqued for plot deficits and stereotypes. I don't think Penn would be surprised at these critiques, as the criticisms concerned with political correctness are probably what prompted him to write this book to begin with. I'm under the impression that he authored this book from a point of frustration. It is heavily metaphorical and many character outcomes are implied, rather than made explicitly clear. If you want a book that spoon feeds you plot points and crams the thoughts of what every character is thinking at every minute of the story, this is probably not for you. If you want to be guided along the whimsical journey of Bob Honey, and see where your thoughts take you, try this book out. For whatever reason, I just got what Penn was doing, and I think you either get it or you don't. Yes you will have to pull out a dictionary, that doesn't have to "trigger" you. Learn a new word. Penn takes language and use of alliteration for a ride, and he is clearly not taking himself too seriously here. Neither should you.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Denise

Misogyny at it's finest! This book deserves so many trigger warnings!

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is truly one of the most ridiculous books I have ever read, and I don't mean that in a good way. I had to read this for reasons related to my job and I wish I could get those hours spent reading and writing about Bob Honey back.

My obvious qualms with Sean Penn as a person rear to an ugly head in this book. He has a white savior complex in real life, and it is definitely apparent in this. Each interaction with a character who isn't white reeks of racism. He attempts to pass it off as satire, but it is impossible to read it that way because of how he acts in real life. There's no separating the art from the artist.

I think what is the worst about this is his satire is an "attempt" at criticizing men like him without taking any responsibility for his own actions. Sorry, Sean -- it doesn't work that way. You, too, are a rich, cis, white male contributing to the oppressive atmosphere of America.

Then... oh my... there's his OUTRIGHT critique of the #metoo movement and his objectification of women within the book. It's disgusting. Don't trust anyone who glorifies Louis CK over traumatized victims of sexual assault (a literal line in a half-assed attempt at a poem at the end of the book).

Don't read this misogynist piece of junk. Save your money. I beg of you.
Don't even read it for gags. It's truly not worth it.

50 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tom-497

I Read It for Phil Ochs and Kind of Liked It

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

The liner notes to one of my old Phil Ochs LPs stated that Sean would be starring as Phil in a biopic. I thought that would be great casting, but it never happened. With this disappointment still vaguely in mind after decades, I immediately purchased the book when I read that the main character is a Phil Ochs fan.

Having just finished, I'd say that Bob Honey is an interesting mess. Sean sometimes writes badly but sometimes hits the mark -- enough so that I'd probably give his next novel a try, if there ever is one.

Some moments I liked:

"Well, this hairdo of his, it's something like a Nazi, or a woodshop teacher."

"What for so many years had seemed a loss of memory function, Bob now observed in himself empathetically as editorial wisdom."

"Bob's irrational passion for dispassionate rationality...."

"He seemed a more energetic person than I am. Or maybe it was just his patterned shirt."

In fact, the more I thumb through my Kindle edition, the more I recall things I enjoyed. In any case, I will leave this review with a question. Although Bob is, of course, a fictional character, is he actually supposed to be, even within the world of the novel, make-believe? ("I wrote you.... your home's a tome.")

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

NobodyImportant

An honest review of Sean the Penman's novel

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

Yep I bought Sean’s book. Yep I read it.

Now I’m not going to lie. Chances are this would not have been published if you or I had submitted it.

That said, I had fun reading it, and Sean is no dilettante when it comes to language and writing. It reminds me a lot of Bob Dylan’s “book”, Tarantula. Only more coherent and novel-like.

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Well Read

Exceptionally well done, highly entertaining!

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

I am surprised at the negative reviews. I suppose if you are looking for another banal story written in SWE void of witty and poetic prose, one would be terribly disappointed. If you enjoy literary fiction, the kind of David Foster Wallace's Broom of the System, or John Barth's Sot-weed Factor, or any fiction deeper than a dime-store novel then Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff will satisfy your deepest yearnings. If you want to read the 57th book by King, or the hundredth by Cussler, or Grisham, or any prolific writer of wasting time then don't buy this book just to leave a negative review.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cliffbert

Tough read........

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Sorry, I really like Sean Penn as an actor; but I really had a hard time reading through this book. Sean used words throughout this book that I never in my entire life heard of. I constantly had to reach for my iPhone to use my Webster Dictionary app. I know that growing up in Chicago and going through the Chicago schooling system doesn't leave one with the best education; (yes, I'm even a college grad) however, I truly believe that even the most educated person would also have issues with Sean's writing style and his choice of words. Think I'll stick with movies that Sean appears in instead.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

AngryToday

The best novel of 2018

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

BOB HONEY WHO JUST DO STUFF. Man, what a book.

I understand the hostility, the anger, the confusion. From those who have read it, gave it a good going over- and not those who've lynched it, to fit in and be part of a mindless swarm of insecure threatened ignorant individuals.

This is pure literature. Not your usual SELL THE NAME TO INDUCE THE FAME GAME GUISE TO CONTINUE SELLING AN IDENTITY BORN FOR AUDIENCES TO BLAME.

This is an artist, vocalising himself greater than the media he works in can offer, being a quagmire of image and selling tickets- what with being entrenched in the Industry. Artistic individuality lost.
Now, restored.

Sean Penn is experimenting with prose, linear, topics in a fashion you'd both expect and then not so expect. Aside from your own political opinion or greater still on the author in question you'll go in biased and come out still biased.

This book transcends the norm of the type of media and attention these forms of cultish, underground styled, aesthetic and transgressive novels ever get- its garnering as such by his name and status, yes, but beautifully and in a play of using the medium he so has become disenchanted with and at loose ends with, its to his and specifically to the books (intent/meaning/physical representation's) advantage.
Pushing the norm. Breaking the social status quo and the rules put by, breaking out, ushering in criticism and ignorance and making his point supple and primed.

Utterly ambitious, ambiguous, hilarious. A uniquely perverse satirical transgressive novel of multiple facets of intrigue and commentary.

The prose is lyrical, unpredictable, hyperbolically attuned to its style and cadence; a raw all consuming Ballardian fusion of rhetoric, and Burroughsian wordsmithery.

Penn has written a book of the ages, targeting anything and everything we all face in a digital age- BS movements, empty apathetic drollery of a mass mind brewed and fermented in false agenda and hypocrisy and sycophantic ideologies.

Its layered, its really hysterical. Its bold. Bleakly brutal. Its a delightful inspirational read on how to convey politics, social retardation at its zenith of ignorance.
I adored this book. Cannot wait to read more from Penn.

Olly D

go Sean

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean go Sean

One person found this helpful

Demeyer Nathalie

Livre Sean Penn

Reviewed in France on July 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Fan de Sean Penn j’ai trouvé ce livre inintéressant au possible

Translate review to English

NANA63

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff

Reviewed in France on November 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

Premier ouvrage de Sean Penn.

Translate review to English

Robert Wilson

It's so much worse than you've heard

Reviewed in France on April 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Worst novel in the history of serious cognitive deficits. Sean Penn masters writing the way a hamster masters algebra. Avoid it like the plague or like your mother. Better still, avoid it like it's the plague's mother.

Translate review to English

See more reviews

Other Sellers on Amazon

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff: A Novel Paperback – April 9, 2019

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the author

Sean Penn

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Sorry, there was an error

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new: $11.91$11.91 $4.00 delivery: Jan 8 - 29 Ships from V-King Sold by V-King Returns Returnable until Jan 31, 2024 Payment Secure transaction

Buy used: $1.85

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the author

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff: A Novel Paperback – April 9, 2019

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the author

Sean Penn

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Submit a report

Sorry, there was an error

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$11.91

$4.00 delivery: Jan 8 - 29

Ships from

V-King

Sold by

V-King

Returns

Returnable until Jan 31, 2024

Payment

Secure transaction

Buy used:

$1.85