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essjay1's review against another edition
4.0
Odd, interesting, well written ... he left a few unexplained gaps and stretched our ability to believe in some instances, but overall a very entertaining novel. My leftie feminist self did not enjoy the stereotypes each wife was allotted however the portraits of family, and in particular familial love/guilt/duty of care etc, are thought provoking and insightful. Without a doubt a very clever and original book.
chloe456's review against another edition
1.0
I don’t normally respect my own time, but even so this was a waste of my time
gnomely's review against another edition
2.0
alright the writing was so immersive i managed to down this book in two days which was pretty neat. malcolm knox has an excellent command over words, which managed to keep me deeply engrossed the entire time, despite the characters, and plot, and pretty much everything else being a combination of boring and annoying.
john wonder is a total sleezeball, and also completely unremarkable and forgettable, as the narrative reminds us every three pages. (somehow he manages to marry three women, despite how absolutely bland and dull he is.) he spends the majority of the novel in his late 50s lusting after a woman (The Most Beautiful Woman In The World) at least 25 years his junior. really great and fun to read about.
the whole book definitely has an air of male-author about it, but that quality is brought into focus whenever cicada appears. the narration becomes distinctly, unmistakably male. gotta mention cicada's breasts at least once every scene she's in or else how would we know she's The Most Beautiful Woman In The World????
and then the ending was as drab as john wonder himself. all the wives end up meeting, sure, but only because mr wonder has become essentially braindead, so the three wives can't even confront him in any satisfying way, because he can't respond. it felt like a copout. the whole time i was waiting for the three wives and cicada to meet, and john wonder finally getting his just desserts for deceiving these women, but then actually no he is kaput now goodbye. the end
it was a weird one, and pretty absurd. i can see why some people love this book. but not for me. too irritating.
john wonder is a total sleezeball, and also completely unremarkable and forgettable, as the narrative reminds us every three pages. (somehow he manages to marry three women, despite how absolutely bland and dull he is.) he spends the majority of the novel in his late 50s lusting after a woman (The Most Beautiful Woman In The World) at least 25 years his junior. really great and fun to read about.
the whole book definitely has an air of male-author about it, but that quality is brought into focus whenever cicada appears. the narration becomes distinctly, unmistakably male. gotta mention cicada's breasts at least once every scene she's in or else how would we know she's The Most Beautiful Woman In The World????
and then the ending was as drab as john wonder himself. all the wives end up meeting, sure, but only because mr wonder has become essentially braindead, so the three wives can't even confront him in any satisfying way, because he can't respond. it felt like a copout. the whole time i was waiting for the three wives and cicada to meet, and john wonder finally getting his just desserts for deceiving these women, but then actually no he is kaput now goodbye. the end
it was a weird one, and pretty absurd. i can see why some people love this book. but not for me. too irritating.
erin_reads_all_the_books's review against another edition
2.0
I was sorely disappointed with this book....my main issue was how on earth this man managed to get 3 women to fall in love with him!
I wasn't hooked at the beginning, and struggled to maintain interest, the writing style wasn't my favourite either, however- onwards and upwards to a better book!
I wasn't hooked at the beginning, and struggled to maintain interest, the writing style wasn't my favourite either, however- onwards and upwards to a better book!
aligmich's review against another edition
3.0
A very different and strange book. Told from the perspective of the children it tells a story about a convoluted man with a convoluted life. It's relatively interesting, however there were a few parts where it was a bit dry in its narrative.
I do have to say the description of the main character, John, was really intriguing and his reasoning behind his secrets/betrayals were presented in a way that almost made sense from his perspective.
I have to say I didn't really like the ending, it seemed a little rushed and the lack of physical explanation for it kind of left me wanting.
Overall, however, it was a read I don't regret, an in depth look into the mind of a man who has 3 wives, and one relatively good story.
I do have to say the description of the main character, John, was really intriguing and his reasoning behind his secrets/betrayals were presented in a way that almost made sense from his perspective.
I have to say I didn't really like the ending, it seemed a little rushed and the lack of physical explanation for it kind of left me wanting.
Overall, however, it was a read I don't regret, an in depth look into the mind of a man who has 3 wives, and one relatively good story.
taphophile's review against another edition
5.0
This books is beautifully written by a gun communicator. It is well constructed, beautifully expressed and pays the reader the compliment of not over-simplifying the concepts or the language.
Original, all characters are anti-heros, including the child/children narrator/s.
So much to think about - the nature of beauty, the betrayal and cowardice of men, the complicity of women.
Truly an adult fable.
Original, all characters are anti-heros, including the child/children narrator/s.
So much to think about - the nature of beauty, the betrayal and cowardice of men, the complicity of women.
Truly an adult fable.
belinda's review against another edition
2.0
John Wonder lives an unusual life. He has three families, each living in a different country, separated from each other by oceans. In each family, he has a wife and two children. Each pair of children is made up of a boy and a girl, with the son (Adam) older than the daughter (Evie). John spends one week in three with each family, living a carefully delineated life. This unusual life is possible because John Wonder is an unusual man. John works as an Authenticator, travelling the globe authenticating the type of feats that are recorded in the Guinness World Book of Records. Born without a scent, he makes himself innocuous, unnoticeable and unseen.
The Wonder Lover opens strongly, with the unusual (that word again!) literary device of being narrated collectively by all six children. In full disclosure, I borrowed this from the library thinking it was Marion Halligan's Goodbye Sweetheart, so I had a completely different idea of what the book was going to be about. That said, once I realised I what I had done, I went with it. The first half of the book is very well written and I was fascinated by the story of the determinately non-interesting man who had built up such an interesting life. But then, halfway through the novel, the author commits an unforgivable sin: John's world starts to fall apart because he meets Cucina, who is thirty years his junior and the world's most beautiful woman.
It's time for some ranting. The year is 2015. Lolita was published in 1955. Since then, there have been many books, so so so many books, where the plot resolves around an old man lusting after a younger woman. This plot line needs to stop. It needs to die. It has been done to death and it's disgusting, creepy, always sexist and often downright misogynist. Worse still, it's boring. I want books to entertain me, engage my mind, make me think, make me care about characters and events and be interesting. THERE SHOULD BE NO MORE BOOKS WHERE OLD MEN LUST AFTER YOUNG BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. The quota of books containing that storyline has been reached. There are enough tales telling that particular story. There is literally no way this story can be retold in a new and interesting way. Please, let no author ever write about it ever again. It's time has come.
I did finish the book because I wanted to see what happened. Unfortunately, the end of the book is quite stupid. The women characters who appeared so intriguing at the start of the story end up as caricatures and it was all strangely unsatisfactory. The Wonder Lovers gets two stars and a time-out in the naughty corner.
The Wonder Lover opens strongly, with the unusual (that word again!) literary device of being narrated collectively by all six children. In full disclosure, I borrowed this from the library thinking it was Marion Halligan's Goodbye Sweetheart, so I had a completely different idea of what the book was going to be about. That said, once I realised I what I had done, I went with it. The first half of the book is very well written and I was fascinated by the story of the determinately non-interesting man who had built up such an interesting life. But then, halfway through the novel, the author commits an unforgivable sin: John's world starts to fall apart because he meets Cucina, who is thirty years his junior and the world's most beautiful woman.
It's time for some ranting. The year is 2015. Lolita was published in 1955. Since then, there have been many books, so so so many books, where the plot resolves around an old man lusting after a younger woman. This plot line needs to stop. It needs to die. It has been done to death and it's disgusting, creepy, always sexist and often downright misogynist. Worse still, it's boring. I want books to entertain me, engage my mind, make me think, make me care about characters and events and be interesting. THERE SHOULD BE NO MORE BOOKS WHERE OLD MEN LUST AFTER YOUNG BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. The quota of books containing that storyline has been reached. There are enough tales telling that particular story. There is literally no way this story can be retold in a new and interesting way. Please, let no author ever write about it ever again. It's time has come.
I did finish the book because I wanted to see what happened. Unfortunately, the end of the book is quite stupid. The women characters who appeared so intriguing at the start of the story end up as caricatures and it was all strangely unsatisfactory. The Wonder Lovers gets two stars and a time-out in the naughty corner.
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