A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

[PrettyCandles]

Have you read A Spot of Bother?

What did you think?

[janeiteisFedUp]

Yes. Didn't like it!

[Jamieandhismagictorch]

I really did like it. It reminded me very much, painfully and amusingly so, of my mum and dad. I think it conveys very well the feeling of falling apart with inexplicable anxiety .

[notnowbernard]

Yes. Liked

[PrettyCandles]

When I first read it I thought it was good but the description of his breakdown was a bit OTT, and the ending did not ring true.

Rereading it, now, after a year when I started having panic attacks and all sorts of other problems (largely relieved by HRT), I see how frighteningly true it is. And not exagerated at all.

[girlsyearapart]

really liked it

[FlyingMonkey]

Painfully dull. Like David Lodge, only worse.

[inveteratenamechanger]

I was a bit disappointed. It all seemed a bit trite. But perhaps I was missing the point.

[TulipsInTheRain]

Loved it.

[emma1977]

I thought it was bloody awful.

A dreadful, poorly-understood depiction of mental illness with an awful, unrealitic ending.

[yama]

Agree with PrettyCandles - it started well but became (or seemed) unrealistic towards the end.

[JeremyVile]

Read it and I know I didn't like it but I'm struggling to remember why.
Um...I've got a feeling I just didn't like any of the characters...particularly the daughter.
You know, I'm not sure if I'm confusing it with another book....

[hobbgoblin]

I read it - took me ages as I had to take mini dips into it due to busy life at the time. I really liked it. I know it is a little OTT and surreal in places but as far as I'm concerned, that is deliberate - the author is switching from the rational viewpoint to the tortured one without changing narrative...? It all adds to the sense of juxtaposition where you have the quiet suburban family stuff set against the tortured, strangeness of madness.

I like how it challenges our sense of normal and peeks behind the closed doors of marriage, sexuality and so on...

[PrettyCandles]

Has anyone read it having had experience of what George is going through? That's what changed my opinion, and I wonder whether anyone else feels that way.

[LaDiDaDi]

I though that George's story was quite well done, it reminded me very much of how my mother was about 7 years ago when she was suffering dreadfully with health anxiety.
I also liked the plot about his wife and her lover, I didn't like the daughter/wedding plot though.

[janeiteisFedUp]

I agree with Jeremy that one of the worst things about it is that I disliked all of the characters. Can't remember what else I hated about it but I remember hating it!

[Jamieandhismagictorch]

PC - yes, myself to some extent (panic attacks - but I had much more insight into what they were) - and as i mentioned earlier - my father reminded me of George. Also, the way in which George and wife don't talk

[TrowelAndError]

I liked it and thought the psychological angle was well done. But then, I like David Lodge's books too.

[Blomkvist]

Yes, I was very disappointed with it too. I did think the anxiety stuff was well written (speaking from experience), but like Jeremy, I just didn't care about any of the characters. Dumped it after about a quarter of the book as life is too short.

[krugerparkrules]

i liked it and like Trowelanderror was a david lodge fan as well!