|
Jan 2018
10:11am, 7 Jan 2018
5,043 posts
|
Serendippily
I’m glad I read it - it was a good call Dio - and I will remember it fondly. I warmed to all it’s characters, I think I enjoyed every passage with conversation in it. I also enjoyed the pettiness of office life with the overvaluing of debits and undervaluing of credits: I have been guilty of taking home post it notes with my nose in the air after being persistently underpaid, overworked and under appreciated.
But I didn’t enjoy reading about his acts of murder immaterial to how many points they make and how necessary they were to the storyline. They jarred logically because i resented why randomly punishing others would balance his books. It was a slog reading these passages once I realised every chatty bit I liked was going to be followed by something nasty until we finally reached the denouement.
So I appreciate why you find it absurd Dio but there you go.
|
|
Jan 2018
2:19pm, 7 Jan 2018
25,828 posts
|
Diogenes
I’m contradicting myself now, because I do understand your reaction, Dips. And you are right about the conversations being the best bits.
|
|
Jan 2018
8:26am, 12 Jan 2018
8,364 posts
|
Joopsy
You were wrong Dio, I enjoyed it. It arrived yesterday and I have just finished it which is a surprise for me, I know it’s a short book but I don’t read quickly.
I also really enjoyed the nasty bits, I felt like he was a wrong’un straight away and it fitted his character to grow into a mass murderer.
I don’t really use big descriptive words and I am far more adept at analysing numbers than books so I shall just give this one a score of 8 out of 13
What should I read now?
|
|
Jan 2018
8:32am, 12 Jan 2018
25,896 posts
|
Diogenes
Out of 13? You’re a wrong ‘un and no mistake. Glad you liked it.
|
|
Jan 2018
8:37am, 12 Jan 2018
32,731 posts
|
McGoohan
Joopsy - For what to read next - how about looking on the main Book Group thread? There are links to all the books we've read and discussions about them...
|
|
Jan 2018
8:47am, 12 Jan 2018
8,365 posts
|
Joopsy
Cheers McG, I shall start there and work backwards.
Dio, that is without question.
|
|
Jan 2018
11:46am, 14 Jan 2018
2,277 posts
|
westmoors
Writing this before I read through everyone else's comments.
Quite enjoyed it. When about halfway through my OH asked what it was about, and I found it difficult to explain! Thought the writing style was interesting with the characters knowing they were fictional and in a novel.
|
|
Jan 2018
11:53am, 14 Jan 2018
2,278 posts
|
westmoors
Great review McG!
I think I'm with Dipps on this one. Didn't really like the mass murder but the conversations were great.
|
|
Jan 2018
1:38pm, 18 Jan 2018
1,969 posts
|
DazTheSlug
herewith my Goodreads review:
Strange one this. Interesting/unusual character/idea and well executed/humorous. Meta-fictional elements were a bit overdone though and the whole thing, especially being so short (20,000 words) felt like the author had challenged himself to see how quickly he could write a book and so seemed hurried/slap-dash/like a first draft. also, and I wish I hadn't known this, the author committed suicide shortly after finishing this book, which explains a lot of things and makes me feel slightly uneasy about the whole thing.
|
|
Jan 2018
7:58pm, 18 Jan 2018
26,005 posts
|
Diogenes
Daz, one shouldn’t mistake brevity for ease. This may be a short book, but every single word is carefully chosen and employed. Johnson was also a poet, and employed the same discipline to his prose as he did his poetry. That Johnson is both experimental and highly readable is just another of his unusual qualities.
|
Book Group
Nov 2024