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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
Loved it as much for the French lifestyle as the story. Good to read a story about a marriage told from a man's point of view. Even though it was written by a woman, I thought she did a good job capturing the male voice and psyche.
One of those books where I hated absolutely every character in it, yet couldn't stop reading. This book is heartache porn.
Well written, but Richard's lack of ever understanding what he did to his wife made me pull my hair out. Maybe too realistic? Ending felt rushed.
Dealing with the aftermath of an affair, a British man in France with his estranged wife as they try to work their way back together, against a backdrop of the escalating Iraqi conflict in 2002. Also, he's an artist.
I just never liked this guy. He was so selfish and unwilling to take responsibility for his choices. I would however, recommend reading it for the sections where he interviews couples that have been happily married. It was the best writing of the whole book and rang true.
This book is about man who cheated on his wife, did a shitty and selfish job of showing her he was sorry, then after 300 pages of learning to hate this guy, the wife takes him back, and the book ends. It sucked and I wish she hadn’t done that.
I really wish I had listened to my instincts and quit around the 25% mark in this book. So boring and the main character was so whiny and I never felt sorry for him.
I just didn't like this very much,I'm not exactly sure why I kept listening to it? I've made great strides in not discounting books with unsympathetic narrators/main characters, but perhaps too much so, as I kept slogging way past my decision that I hated the main character. The smidgen of satire aimed at the art world was amusing, but there's not enough satire to validate the rest of the misery. The political setting of the early days of the Iraq war could have been interesting from a French & British viewpoint, especially 15 years down the road and in light of recent events in Paris, but that was not delved into in any real depth.
What do you do when you're careless with the people you love? Well, if you're English artist and Parisan resident, Richard Harris, you do everything you can to make it up to them - with varying levels of success. Maum manages to paint Richard, who is at the root of all his own problems, in varying shades of pitiful, irritating, genuine, pitiable, funny, and redemptive. Even when he's acting like an absolute toss pot, you begin to find yourself liking him and rooting for him. Kevin Wilson, he author of one of my favourite books, The Family Fang, sums it up best: "A moving, complicated, big-hearted novel." Well worth a read. And a possible re-read.