Reviews - A Spot of Bother

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565 reviews for:

A Spot of Bother

Mark Haddon

3.44 AVERAGE

gili22's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kingabee's review against another edition

2.0

Firstly, I'd like to point out I have NOT read The Curious Incident.. but given the hype surrounding the author I was expecting big things.
To be honest, if this was his first book we probably wouldn't know who Mark Haddon is. I am not sure it would even get published. It doesn't mean it's a completely bad book - it will keep you hooked during that morning tube ride, but it doesn't stand out.
Considering the profoundness of the characters epiphanies you could think the author is ten years old. The style doesn't make you think otherwise as the sentences are connected by endless and... and.. and.. I know Haddon was going for wry and humourous but it's a tricky thing. He was definitely trying too hard and made me cringe quite often. He was also clearly abusing the word 'clearly'. The editor clearly changed some of the 'clearlys' to 'apparently' and 'obviously' but at least one 'clearly' per every other page made it through.
There were lots of cliff hangers achieved mostly by characters not having a mobile phone, not answering their mobile phone or forgetting their mobile phone. Not exactly very sophisticated.
On the other hand if Mark Haddon really is ten years old I'm changing my rating to four stars. It's just that I'd always thought that writers were supposed to write well. I was wrong. Clearly.

kristianawithak's review against another edition

4.0

Mark Haddon is known for The Curious Incident About the Dog in the Night, and this is not that book. It's an over the top look at a dysfunctional family in the throws of a wedding, and fears of certain death. It's funny and it's great, and at times it's touching. It made me feel better about my family.

sara_phillips88's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny reflective 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

gbwilliams's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional funny sad medium-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

anouk90's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

jannak's review against another edition

3.0

I definitely enjoyed his first book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-time" much better than this book. He's a great writer, but this book had trouble keeping my attention and seemed to be a bit incoherent at times.