
"Mara Brennan is about to unravel. Three days after her twenty-eighth birthday, her boyfriend dumps her, leaving her with nothing but a basement apartment, a futon and a pile of unpaid bills. On top of that, her job, working as a receptionist at a cosmetic surgery clinic, is a nightmare; her boss is a tyrant; and her best friends have gotten ahead of her in the game of life. Mara realizes it’s time for an identity makeover."
There's nothing glaringly wrong about the book - It moves along alright, though it seems to take forever to get started. The characters (flat and obvious) are clearly developed (although the boss is hardly a tyrant), and there are no loose ends at the conclusion.
I'm no literary critic, but like with most art, I know what I like, and I didn't like this. It really isn't about anything. The rising action of the novel is an ill planned dinner party, and it falls short. I don't care about what this book is about. I can't relate to the characters, which is odd since I'm in the same stage of life as these ladies. I didn't like the main character, Mara, at all. She wasn't just naive and "zany" as others have described her. She was dumb and ignorant of the world around her.
I didn't laugh out loud either, just like I no longer laugh out loud to any early 2000's sitcom. These 261 pages are just that, a forgettable sitcom where TV actors go to fizzle away into nothing. It's just missing the plastic soundtrack and canned laughter.
I've read plenty of books where I have nothing in common with the characters, and still loved them, so that's not the problem here. Her problems are just so ridiculously mundane, I couldn't get into it, because I couldn't care less.
Maybe it's a Toronto vs. Maritimes thing? I don't know... there's just nothing of lasting value here. If you want to read a book that has no impact on your life, leaves you annoyed with the 20 something generation (even when you're a part of it), and that you care very little about, this one's for you.
There's a reason 90% of the books in library sales are authored by women, and this is part of it.
2 comments:
Thanks for the review - Now I can stay far away from it!
When are you coming to Truro?Yo?
As a maritimer in TO, I'd say perhaps it's a genre thing. Chick Lit's not my genre and I find much of it to be so trivial it pisses me off to spend my time on it.
I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the book, but I like your write up! Hopefully, you'll enjoy one of the other titles more.
Post a Comment