Reviews

The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne

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admiralette's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

loz232's review against another edition

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2.0

Pretty dull tbh. I think maybe I just don't enjoy reading books from the perspective of a boring middle aged white man who has a terrible sense of humour? It reminded me of The Understudy by David Nicholls - at some point it just gets dull having the main character constantly moaning and having a bang average life. If you want a book with some escapism - this is not it.

nerdyrev's review against another edition

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4.0

If you are a regular reader of my blog or of my reviews, you know my love for Tin House books. I tend to enjoy them because they stick with me and continue to unfold the more I think about them. I was excited to receive a copy of The Adulterants from them for review, but I will say it has not been my favorite.

The book flows, almost dream like as Ray Morris goes from place to place throughout the book. He goes from cheating on his wife, Garthene, to being part of a looting incident, and into other conversations and adventures.

Ray is in a state of arrested development as he must grow up, but almost refuses to. He is not a man of great character (in the book) and at times can be almost unbearable. He is a guy you want to see fail.

As a praise, I would say that is a draw of this book. Ray is not great. Through his immaturity, we are forced to examine our own lives. We ask the questions around what makes one grown up?

The drawback is it is difficult to be with Ray. There are anti heroes who are terrible, but kind of fun to be around and there are anti heroes, who you do not want to spend much time with. For me, Ray was the later. I didn’t care if he succeeded or even got his comeuppance. It was a tough read for me.

I gave this one 3.5 stars.

menniemenace's review against another edition

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2.0

I don't feel like I grasped much. Other than the feeling of depression after what happened to Ray the story gave me nothing.

I didn't hate it, but I don't think I'll remember it.