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lorinlee's review against another edition
4.0
Mark Sarvas's protagonist Harry is a lost soul. His wife has died and he slowly finds his way, although he doesn't know that he's grieving at first. Sarvas has some marvelous ways of showing us Harry as he flounders about, trying to help an overweight waitress at a restaurant in hopes of snagging the younger waitress. He shows us, for instance, Harry opening the storeroom where he has kept all the purchases which reflected his passions but which his wife ultimately disagreed with. At times Sarvas comes up with some beautiful phrases which, I think, any writer would love to have written---certainly I would. In the storeroom he surveys "his past passions, his past selves, all represented and rejected....He wanders amid the comfort of his abandoned selves and wonders how his latest self will fare without Anna to render judgment...." Ultimately Harry comes to understand the truth of his marriage, of his role in what led to her demise, and how things might have been different had he spoken up.
niceguysean's review against another edition
3.0
Read in one day at the beach. A flawed hero he may be, but Harry Rent is a likeable main character, whom I found myself willing to succeed in his hapless attempts to sort out his life.
kped347's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kingabee's review against another edition
2.0
Here is what is wrong with this book:
1) Sarvas loves to write sentences.
It is as if he has only recently discovered this magical power within him and now he is on a roll. He gets so excited over those sentences he is writing that quite often he forgets he is writing a book. His poor protagonist Harry seems to be the biggest victim of Sarvas’ new found skill, he feels stabs of ‘pain’, ‘jealousy’, ‘irritation’, ‘anger’, then he feels waves of all those feelings. Finally, towards the end of a book there is a climax in form of a ‘tsunami’ (sic!) of something, sadness or regret.
2) The main character is completely dumbed down so he can serve as a foil to the author’s sparkling intelligence.
Sarvas worked himself into a catch 22 with this though, because at the same time he can’t use his literary references as his protagonist is semi-illiterate. But hey, there are comic books and Puffins abridged classics! When Harry remembers reading a comic book based on the Count opf Monte Cristo, he can’t remember Dantes’ love interest’s name (of course that would make him appear way too smart), so he wonders… It was definitely ‘some car’s name’… Well, gee, I don’t know. Try Toyota. Now keep in mind that the main character is a radiologist which must make him have some sort of higher education. He also landed this amazing, rich, smart, and beautiful wife who reads Madame Bovary and goes to spinning classes. I mean seriously, Harry doesn’t even know who D’Artagnan is (though he should! There was a cartoon!)
3) There is a plethora (Sarvas, I said ‘plethora’, you like them big words, don’t you? Plethora, plethora, plethora) of stock, cartoonish characters.
A Polish prostitute, who is so bored and jaded that she is filing her nails in front of the police, crazy, super enthusiastic fitness instructor who has a cult like following, bored shop assistant who doesn’t even lift his head up when a customer asks a question, Chinese jeweler who is all smiles but greedy and cunning at the same time (and has no understanding of English grammar like every non-American character in the book regardless to how long they’ve lived in the US), Anna’s stiff and rich parents (the parents from Meet The Parents seem a lot more authentic in comparison) and so on and so forth.
What’s lurking behind all this hot mess, is actually a pretty good novel with an endearing protagonist whose wife died and he doesn't quite know how to deal with it.
Sarvas, go back to your room and rewrite it!
1) Sarvas loves to write sentences.
It is as if he has only recently discovered this magical power within him and now he is on a roll. He gets so excited over those sentences he is writing that quite often he forgets he is writing a book. His poor protagonist Harry seems to be the biggest victim of Sarvas’ new found skill, he feels stabs of ‘pain’, ‘jealousy’, ‘irritation’, ‘anger’, then he feels waves of all those feelings. Finally, towards the end of a book there is a climax in form of a ‘tsunami’ (sic!) of something, sadness or regret.
2) The main character is completely dumbed down so he can serve as a foil to the author’s sparkling intelligence.
Sarvas worked himself into a catch 22 with this though, because at the same time he can’t use his literary references as his protagonist is semi-illiterate. But hey, there are comic books and Puffins abridged classics! When Harry remembers reading a comic book based on the Count opf Monte Cristo, he can’t remember Dantes’ love interest’s name (of course that would make him appear way too smart), so he wonders… It was definitely ‘some car’s name’… Well, gee, I don’t know. Try Toyota. Now keep in mind that the main character is a radiologist which must make him have some sort of higher education. He also landed this amazing, rich, smart, and beautiful wife who reads Madame Bovary and goes to spinning classes. I mean seriously, Harry doesn’t even know who D’Artagnan is (though he should! There was a cartoon!)
3) There is a plethora (Sarvas, I said ‘plethora’, you like them big words, don’t you? Plethora, plethora, plethora) of stock, cartoonish characters.
A Polish prostitute, who is so bored and jaded that she is filing her nails in front of the police, crazy, super enthusiastic fitness instructor who has a cult like following, bored shop assistant who doesn’t even lift his head up when a customer asks a question, Chinese jeweler who is all smiles but greedy and cunning at the same time (and has no understanding of English grammar like every non-American character in the book regardless to how long they’ve lived in the US), Anna’s stiff and rich parents (the parents from Meet The Parents seem a lot more authentic in comparison) and so on and so forth.
What’s lurking behind all this hot mess, is actually a pretty good novel with an endearing protagonist whose wife died and he doesn't quite know how to deal with it.
Sarvas, go back to your room and rewrite it!
bettyvd's review against another edition
3.0
Een man die worstelt met schuld en schaamte: ernstig thema in een luchtige verpakking. Vlot geschreven. Inhoudelijk wel te voorspelbaar en psychologisch te expliciet, dus eigenlijk een lichtgewicht.
sandeestarlite's review against another edition
3.0
Poor Harry. His wife has just died and he buries his feelings that it's partially his fault under a crush on a waitress. He takes a page from The Count of Monte Cristo and woos a different waitress in the hopes of being noticed. It all goes about as wrong as you can imagine and Harry is a sympathetic character with a supporting cast.
dilan11's review against another edition
3.0
For the first couple of chapters, I felt like Mr. Sarvas was just trying too hard - too many metaphors, too many cute references, too many jokes. However, the story really held my attention from about 50 pages in right to the very end. I suspect that Mr. Sarvas will be a very good novelist, which is unusual for someone who is such a good critic (The Elegant Variation blog). I look forward to his sophomore effort.