THE FURQUITS BOOKSWAP ROUND 2 - Saladbomb's Book - MB by JL

[Wheelybug]

Discuss !

[itsatiggerday]

Finally finished!

I find this book a little confusing to reflect on. In theory I really liked it, I thought the quality of the writing of living with Tourette?s was excellent and I thought it was a strong end to a detective story. The last 30 pages I found myself unable to stop reading even though it was way past my bedtime!

But those things are also part of the reason I didn?t hugely enjoy reading it ? I kept losing the thread each time I came back to it which I think was partly due to the slightly disjointed flow of text with the tics in it. And although the end was strong, I found the rest of the detective plot a little weak which was if anything highlighted by the strength of the ending.

But then this month has been a little crazy hosting a big family party and four birthdays incl DD so maybe I just never got enough time to sit down and get into it properly. I am glad I read it, had never heard of the author and it would certainly make me curious about other things he?s written and I knew nothing about Tourette?s so it was worth it for that if nothing else.

[Jas]

I would say this book is a very interesting book about living with ', rather than a detective story. I found that part of the story very weak, although I agree that the ending was much better, and really did grip me n the last few chapters.

I really liked the descriptions of the tics and compulsions, but would probably not have kept going with it after the first few chapters if it hadn't been a book swap book. I'm glad I did, as it really did improve vastly and would have been a shame to miss.

Thanks, Saladbomb, for an interesting choice.

[rocketleaf]

Glad you both liked it in the end even if it didn't grip to begin with. I am not used to reading detective novels (I read this as the author has written some other more sci-fi based ones) so perhaps didn't notice the weakness in that regard, think i was more interested in the main character as a person at the time of reading.

[Wheelybug]

Hi. I've just finished this. I found it quite readable although not my usual sort of thing.

I agree that the tourette's angle was more interesting than the detective story and agree the ending was stronger than the rest in this regard.

I don't think I would rush to read another by the same author (mainly because I already have so many 'to reads' that I have to be quite selective!) but was good to read something different and that's what makes bookswap good !

Thanks Saladbomb.

[simpson]

This book arrived yesterday, so am about to get stuck in

[simpson]

Soory but I could not get on with this book at all

I gave up after only one chapter (please don't take offence!!)

I just found it too confusing...sorry!!!

[rocketleaf]

No offence taken, simpson! You can't please all of the people all of the time

[Lightshines]

I have no idea why, but this has been on my shelf for a long time and I knew it was left over from a previous MN Book Swap, sorry!

Did not manage to finish it, although I did get well over half way. I had the same issues as itsatiggerday, which was that the detective element of the story was not a strong enough storyline and I kept losing myself between reads.

However, Lionel is a brilliant character - I was fascinated by the tics (quite topical at the moment following the publication of Jessica Thom's book) and there were some genuinely laugh-out-loud funny bits! Its almost a shame he was not in a book which showcased him better!

Do you want your copy back, Saladbomb?