A Spot of Bother (Vintage) by Mark Haddon
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Book Reviews of A Spot of Bother (Vintage)
Book Review: One very funny book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the funniest books I have read in a long while. Mark Hadden has a great touch in pointing out the bizarre in every day life, in an appropriately understated way. Other reviewer have covered the stories and characters, so what I would add is that I found this book much funnier (laugh out lout funny) than some of the other reviewers.Book Review: So good that I am still reeling
Summary: 5 Stars
Mark Haddon is so freakishly talented that it's hard not to be scared when I open one of his books: this one unfolds with a Barbara Pym-worthy delicacy, yet there is nothing twee or dated about it. I love this book. The characters are marvelous and the writing--oh, exquisite. Envy, envy, envy.Book Review: laughed out loud, glad i was home alone
Summary: 5 Stars
I savored this novel.
I enjoyed the family and felt as though I knew them so well that I should have been invited to the weding.
At one point I was glad to be home alone as I sat and laughed aloud, a lot,especially the days leading up to the wedding.
Book Review: Spot of bother review
Summary: 4 Stars
A Spot of bother;preceded by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time wasPublished on August 16, 2006, three years after the release of its predecessor, it had high expectations because of the high ratings of Mark Haddon's first book. Haddon provides a different start then his first novel with A Spot of bother, and it seems as if each character is unlikeable. Of course, even though this may be true, in the end you start to care and eventually want to keep reading and now what happens to the characters the story revolves around.
The story starts off with an explanation of the main characters life, being George Hall, a 57 year old hypochondriac who lives with his wife, and has two grown children. George seems to be an interesting character after finding out that he is a hypochondriac, but after reading about him he has qualities that seem to make you dislike him. He seems to not be understanding, selfish, and crazy. Each of these personality quirks are shown pretty quickly in the beginning of the book; Starting off with finding out that George's son, Jaimie, is homosexual, and he cannot come to terms with this. He almost dismisses the idea from his mind, while later finding a lesion on his leg, and because of the state of his mind, he thinks its cancer. Thinking this, he decides he can get rid of the cancer by getting rid of the lesion. Taking a pair of scissors, he cuts it off, almost bleeding to death. His wife, Jean arrives home, and you meet his wife. She seems very distant to George throughout the story, and late in the book you find out why. George's other child, Katie, is also having problems of her own. She is a single mother, and is planning to get married to a middle class man named Ray. George, his wife, and Jaimie don't seem to like Ray although he only has only shown good intentions throughout the book. Of course, having personalities that include being selfish, mean at times, and a bit of craziness, you can't expect much out of them. The family seems to not really care about each other if it interferes with their own current lifestyles, and throughout the book it seems like this won't change and you continue to dislike each character the story revolves around. Later in the book though, this changes. A Spot of bother has a few good surprises throughout the book, mainly being how each member of George's direct family change and turn around how they live their lives for what seems to be better.
The plot slowly develops, and each character eventually grows in importance. Haddon describes the story well enough that you seem to get to understand each character better and how they think farther in the book, and you may get attached. All in all, A Spot of bother was on a different planet in a sense than its predecessor, but was still interesting and keep you wanting to read. It had a good plot, character scheme, and used great language to get through to its readers. For myself, A Spot of bother was enjoyable and interesting, and I recommend it if you liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, or just have some free time on your hands. Haddon created another great interesting book.
Book Review: A hilarious, yet tender extra-ordinary novel about ordinary people
Summary: 4 Stars
The author himself has this to say:" I wanted to write about ordinary people living ordinary lives in an ordinary place, because they seldom feature in fiction and because it felt like fallow ground ready for harvest."
Nothing remains ordinary when it is written about in the highly original voice of Mark Haddon, author of "The curious incident about the dog in the night time".
Mark is a sharp observer of human nature, which he renders with both compassion and that great dry deadpan British humor. His lines crackle. He is even better read out loud.
The first book was written in one voice: that of a high-functioning 15-year old autistic boy.
In "Spot of Bother" the point of view shifts between 4 members of the Hall family, Mom, Dad, and two grown children.
The point of view most often used is Dad George. At 61, freshly retired, George is undergoing a life crisis, "A spot of bother", as unobtrusively and politely as possible. While George fears he is losing his health and his mind, not neccessarily in that order, the pace of life around him accelerates.
Daughter Katie, divorced and mother of high-maintenance preschooler Jacob, has just announced her upcoming wedding to the inarticulate Ray, who is definitely "not one of our kind of people". Nobody, not even Katie herself, can tell whether Ray is really the right man for her or if she is just looking for security.
The wedding is on and off a few times while that gets sorted out.
The wedding invitations force big brother Jamie to redefine his comfortable relationship to his boyfriend, Tony. He is encouraged to 'bring someone', but can't quite face the prospect of his parents gamely pretending to be cool and liberal, while trying to hide the truth from the extended family. Boy loses boy, will he manage to win boy back once he figures out the true meaning of love?
Meanwhile Mom Jean has been having a delicious affair with an ex-coworker of Dad. All in its own little compartment and non-threatening to the sexless but companiable marriage, until George stumbles upon the pair in flagrante delicto while he is supposed to be hiking in Wales. Rarely has an act of sex, described in detail, been less erotically stimulating. It is hilarious.
Does he let them know he knows? Does he let David's invitation to the wedding stand? Is the wedding happening or not anyway?
By the end of the book everyone is both wiser and more loving. What more can a non-dramatic life ask for?
A synopsis of the plot does not do this book justice. The joy of reading it comes from the meticulous observations and terrific style.
A quick and delicious read with lots of evil grins that still manages to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy.