A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
"Neither of them had the energy to argue and they spent the next few days playing the role of dutiful parents so as to not trouble Jacob. And she could see them turning slowly in the the people they were pretending to be, the problem they were meant to solve drifting slowly into the background, the two of them turning in to team whose job it was to bring up a child and run a household despite the fact that they had nothing in common, having conversations about what they needed from Tesco and what they were going to do at the weekend, going to bed and putting out the light and rolling away from each other and trying not to dream of the lives they could have led."
Even though Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was his debut novel, I decided to crack the spine of this one first. I mean, come on! Who doesn't love a story about a man slipping into dementia whose wife is cheating on him with an ex colleague. Oh yeah, his son is gay and his daughter is marrying the wrong man. OH the drama!
Even if I was skeptical of how the book would go, those skepticism's were quickly crushed by how wonderfully the book was written. Within just the few ten pages I was in love with the characters (that were introduced thus far) and Mark Haddon himself. The entire book really put love, relationships, family, and dysfunction into perspective. It made me appreciate my mom and brothers even more, knowing that whatever happens happens and family is the be all and end all of what matters.
Also, it was incredibly funny. At one point while sitting beside my brother (who was watching TV) I started laughing out loud at what was then going on in the book. 'Are you seriously laughing at a book?', is what Tom said to me. Of course I was! Very rarely do books make me laugh (I tend to lean towards more dramatic ones), but this one was genuinely funny. A wonderful, wonderful read.
11 / 50
(22.0%)
3,997 / 17,258
(23.2%)
Even though Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was his debut novel, I decided to crack the spine of this one first. I mean, come on! Who doesn't love a story about a man slipping into dementia whose wife is cheating on him with an ex colleague. Oh yeah, his son is gay and his daughter is marrying the wrong man. OH the drama!
Even if I was skeptical of how the book would go, those skepticism's were quickly crushed by how wonderfully the book was written. Within just the few ten pages I was in love with the characters (that were introduced thus far) and Mark Haddon himself. The entire book really put love, relationships, family, and dysfunction into perspective. It made me appreciate my mom and brothers even more, knowing that whatever happens happens and family is the be all and end all of what matters.
Also, it was incredibly funny. At one point while sitting beside my brother (who was watching TV) I started laughing out loud at what was then going on in the book. 'Are you seriously laughing at a book?', is what Tom said to me. Of course I was! Very rarely do books make me laugh (I tend to lean towards more dramatic ones), but this one was genuinely funny. A wonderful, wonderful read.
11 / 50
(22.0%)
3,997 / 17,258
(23.2%)