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A review by jsisco
The Frog King: A Love Story by Adam Davies
3.0
I found this book endlessly frustrating. Besides Davies trying so hard for people to like his writing and to make his plot and style hip, cutting edge, and daring, he just falls flat. Much like his main character, Harry Driscoll, Davies' writing is inherently infuriating because it just doesn't get it - it never actually succeeds in realizing its own flaws and correcting them. The tragically late climax in the novel does address Harry's faults and highlights his attempts to transform his own behavior, but for all the wrong reasons. You wish throughout the entire book for him to just wake up and realize how much he's screwing up his own life and the lives of everyone around him, but it takes forever.
And maybe that's part of the appeal. I didn't love this book, but I found myself intrigued by the characters. I wanted Harry to understand just how much he sucked at life and while I found him wholly unappealing in every way, I couldn't stop reading. I always wanted to know what happened, despite its various and blatant missteps. Is the climax too late and glaringly disingenuous? Yes. Are the characters, as a whole and particularly the "hero," unforgivably despicable? Yes. Are you still annoyingly desperate to reach some sort of conclusion to the mess that snowballs from basic laziness on the part of Harry? Of course. Read the book, but don't expect to fall in love with much of anyone; all of the characters are obnoxious in their own hateful way.
And maybe that's part of the appeal. I didn't love this book, but I found myself intrigued by the characters. I wanted Harry to understand just how much he sucked at life and while I found him wholly unappealing in every way, I couldn't stop reading. I always wanted to know what happened, despite its various and blatant missteps. Is the climax too late and glaringly disingenuous? Yes. Are the characters, as a whole and particularly the "hero," unforgivably despicable? Yes. Are you still annoyingly desperate to reach some sort of conclusion to the mess that snowballs from basic laziness on the part of Harry? Of course. Read the book, but don't expect to fall in love with much of anyone; all of the characters are obnoxious in their own hateful way.