A spot of bother

Mark Haddon.

Sometimes, you pine for books. You could spend years wanting them and never being in the financial league to acquire them. This is where we send up a loud cheer for second hand books :)

I found this one at a poky old sale. I'd been wanting it ever since the Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime, and reading it has been immensely satisfying. First off, its not really in that league.But its nicely written, spectacularly funny sometimes and gives you a nice peek into someone else's head, which is what i believe every good book should do.

The book begins with George, an old married guy who finds a lesion on his hip. This sort of makes him wack-o and unhinges him progressively through the book. Its compounded with his daughter's impending wedding to a guy he doesn't exactly deem suitable, his gay son's boyfriend and his wife's affair with David. In the end, the book is about how all of these come to a head and how all the characters deal with their frustrations and anxieties.

A spot of bother is a good Sunday sort of read, where you don't expect Die Hard sort of action. and come away feeling satisfied. Its one of those relaxed reads, where you feel nice about the ending, cheer for the people and don't get pissed off at the guy for writing the book. Which is so much more than I can say for some of the crap I've been subjected to in the name of fiction.

Rating: 4/5

Vanilla Frappe :)