catdad77a45 's review for:

Christodora by Tim Murphy

3.0

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Perhaps it was a question of expectations - some great reviews and favorable comparisons to 'City on Fire', which I loved, made me think I would enjoy this. But I should have realized that blurbs from the likes of Jay McInerney and Candace Bushnell were NOT exactly the type of author/critics whose opinion I respect! This wasn't horrible, but large sections of it read like, pardon the expression, 'chick-lit'; oddly much more attention is given to the myriad female characters (Milly, Ava, Drew, Issy, Esther) than the male ones. But I guess that is fair, since they are not only slightly more interesting, but much less major shitheads, as is virtually every male character. And whereas it was presented as an 'in-the-know' chronicle of the AIDS years, more ink is given to drug addiction, rehab and relapse (... and repeat) - which not only has been done to death, but Murphy adds nothing really new to the genre. Also, the non-chronological structure does NOTHING to improve the book - it is merely a gimmick that doesn't pay off. A minor disappointment all the way around.