So it is Christmas for many folks out there beyond the wilds of the internet. I am still sick and things are taking a sad, surprising turn towards UTI country. I cannot express how upset this makes me without audio.
I’d like to finish writing up my 2006 books before the year is over. In that spirit, here is a review of How to be Good by Nick Hornby.
I go this book for free or under a dollar. Whether at a bookswap or a library sale, I know not. It had been languishing on my shelf for a long time before I grabbed it some night when I wanted to be entertained.
About: a failed marriage and its unexpected quasi-resurrection
POV: female, first-person
Favorite paragraph: “ ‘Anything you need help with? I mean your old man’s not Brain of Britain, but he is not bad at English. Writing and all that.’ And he chuckles, we know not why.”
Sufficiently nasty, sad and real, yet light: Almost. I enjoyed this book, but it lacked a completeness that I felt in A Long Way Down.
Ending: Properly ambiguous
Funny bits: Many, but they seemed rather rote.
I liked the exploration of why we put up with the things we put up with and the lengths that people will go to avoid change. I wish the main character were less sketchy. I can’t picture her at all but we see all the events through her eyes, making the whole book seem less genuine somehow.
Overall: meh
1 comment:
oh my god! do i know what you mean about the deep dismay of the UTI! and do i further know what you mean about nick hornby. you know what? i'll go further than that. i'll say that nick hornby is like a UTI of reading. at first you're like, eh, this isn't TOO bad, it'll get better, i'll just drink truckloads of cranberry juice/keep reading and it'll be okay. and before you know it, you're like, blech, i'd rather take antiobiotics that make me vomit bile than deal with this any longer. wait, i guess nick hornby isn't THAT bad.
overall: UTIs suck worse than nick hornby. but not by much.
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