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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished reading this in my parked car in a empty school parking lot on the last Sunday of summer, because that's what passes for leisure time in 2020.
I could recommend this to someone who is into dark humor, British satire, or depressing funny characters who are slowly watch their lives change and fall apart. If that doesn’t sound like you, feel free to give it a pass, if it is you, then you might really enjoy this one.
I feel lukewarm about this novel and I’m not sure why. I ended up crushing the entire thing in a day which is a not something which I often do. Within the start of the book we are whipped into a tense scene in which the main character (whose name I never seemed to be able to remember...) is presented with an adulterous scene with a long-time friend. We soon learn that this friend and her husband have been on rocky roads as of late. After the husband punches our protagonist in the face, him and his wife take a break and the husband comes to live with the protagonist and his wife while he tends to his broken heart. The novel starts on this exciting and enthralling first section. I was hooked! But throughout it seems to slowly fizzle out as the book continues. However, I couldn’t put the book down.
The novel is broken into different parts, which seem ill-defined except for the first which explains the often-hilarious hair-brained schemes of the husband to try and win his wife back. His cyber-stalking, his machismo tactics, and English awkwardness and combine for a fairly funny albeit depressing side-narrative of the couple trying to re unite. Then when a riot breaks out in the city we are returned to our protagonist and his struggling relationship with his wife. Reading through their relationship makes me feel tired. Which Dunthorne deserves credit for. He does a great job capturing the nagging terror of being inside of a slowly crumbling passive-aggressive relationship that avoids conflict at all costs. However, our character is too milquetoast to be exciting, too jaded to be relatable, and too ignorant to be lovable. However, I couldn’t put the book down.
By the time we reach the end of the book (which did have some twists and turns that I was not expecting) I felt kind of empty. Maybe that’s the point? It is not a jolly book full of optimism and sunshine, but I suppose the takeaway message is that part of being and adult is learning how to deal with all the shit that life throws at you, and learning to laugh it off. The message was good, and the story was interesting, but the characters were flat and the structure felt like it seriously lacked focus. But yet again, I couldn’t put it down. So if you’re into dark British humor that is strife with pessimism give this one a go!
I feel lukewarm about this novel and I’m not sure why. I ended up crushing the entire thing in a day which is a not something which I often do. Within the start of the book we are whipped into a tense scene in which the main character (whose name I never seemed to be able to remember...) is presented with an adulterous scene with a long-time friend. We soon learn that this friend and her husband have been on rocky roads as of late. After the husband punches our protagonist in the face, him and his wife take a break and the husband comes to live with the protagonist and his wife while he tends to his broken heart. The novel starts on this exciting and enthralling first section. I was hooked! But throughout it seems to slowly fizzle out as the book continues. However, I couldn’t put the book down.
The novel is broken into different parts, which seem ill-defined except for the first which explains the often-hilarious hair-brained schemes of the husband to try and win his wife back. His cyber-stalking, his machismo tactics, and English awkwardness and combine for a fairly funny albeit depressing side-narrative of the couple trying to re unite. Then when a riot breaks out in the city we are returned to our protagonist and his struggling relationship with his wife. Reading through their relationship makes me feel tired. Which Dunthorne deserves credit for. He does a great job capturing the nagging terror of being inside of a slowly crumbling passive-aggressive relationship that avoids conflict at all costs. However, our character is too milquetoast to be exciting, too jaded to be relatable, and too ignorant to be lovable. However, I couldn’t put the book down.
By the time we reach the end of the book (which did have some twists and turns that I was not expecting) I felt kind of empty. Maybe that’s the point? It is not a jolly book full of optimism and sunshine, but I suppose the takeaway message is that part of being and adult is learning how to deal with all the shit that life throws at you, and learning to laugh it off. The message was good, and the story was interesting, but the characters were flat and the structure felt like it seriously lacked focus. But yet again, I couldn’t put it down. So if you’re into dark British humor that is strife with pessimism give this one a go!
Funny at times, a little strange at others, but overall, pretty chill
First half was laugh out loud funny then it just got sad and bitter.
Ludicrously funny and proper tragic. I sort of hate how good this is, and how good Joe Dunthorne is.
Whilst I think the expected chuckles-per-minute (xCPM) is lower than Submarine, I think this is a more impressive book, purely because the central characters are all 30/40-something and they have more battle scars, and should be better equipped to deal with the trauma they face. Oliver Tate could just be weird if he wanted with little consequence. These guys, less so.
It’s early days in my reading career but Joe Dunthorne is now firmly on my Mount Rushmore.
Whilst I think the expected chuckles-per-minute (xCPM) is lower than Submarine, I think this is a more impressive book, purely because the central characters are all 30/40-something and they have more battle scars, and should be better equipped to deal with the trauma they face. Oliver Tate could just be weird if he wanted with little consequence. These guys, less so.
It’s early days in my reading career but Joe Dunthorne is now firmly on my Mount Rushmore.
I really like the authors writing style, its clever, witty and funny at points (and also macabre) but I just didn't overall see the purpose of the book? I felt it lacked something. I've decided on a 3 mostly as he's a great writer and if there was a goal this would be a great book. The ending felt, weird and pointless.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting. I didn't realise coming of age stories could work in the other direction.
this book perplexed me, and i will try to explain why.
my first reaction to this book was, "lord, why am i reading about (mostly) white, working class millennial brits doing (mostly) white, working class millennial things: drinking too much, flirting inappropriately, shaming and being shamed online, trying to buy a house in an overpriced market, blah blah blah."
but the story got engaging in part three* and so i finished the book. but what i wanted from the book was not what it gave me. i wanted more depth to the characters, would have liked to know more about them. but then i thought, "do i really want to know more about them? they are not all that interesting." and that, i decided, is the point of this book: that the lives we think are interesting are truly banal.
ok, fine. then why write the book and why read it? well, that i have not worked out yet.
so, yeah.
*part three: for me, this was the most interesting part of the novel, but i read it while stoned. so i do not know if the drugs helped make it more engaging, or if it was truly engaging...either way, it probably helped me get through the novel, which in its own way is rather amusing, or perhaps telling, or perhaps fits with the very nature of my problems with the book itself and what it is critiquing. anyhoo, it was an experience.
my first reaction to this book was, "lord, why am i reading about (mostly) white, working class millennial brits doing (mostly) white, working class millennial things: drinking too much, flirting inappropriately, shaming and being shamed online, trying to buy a house in an overpriced market, blah blah blah."
but the story got engaging in part three* and so i finished the book. but what i wanted from the book was not what it gave me. i wanted more depth to the characters, would have liked to know more about them. but then i thought, "do i really want to know more about them? they are not all that interesting." and that, i decided, is the point of this book: that the lives we think are interesting are truly banal.
ok, fine. then why write the book and why read it? well, that i have not worked out yet.
so, yeah.
*part three: for me, this was the most interesting part of the novel, but i read it while stoned. so i do not know if the drugs helped make it more engaging, or if it was truly engaging...either way, it probably helped me get through the novel, which in its own way is rather amusing, or perhaps telling, or perhaps fits with the very nature of my problems with the book itself and what it is critiquing. anyhoo, it was an experience.