Fiction
The Hall family is pretty screwed up. Daughter Katie is marrying Ray, her second marriage, but isn't sure if she loves him or is just happy to have a place for her and her son to day. Son Jaime is gay and his boyfriend has just broken up with him, because he didn't want to invite him to the disastrous wedding. Mom Jean is having an affair and Father George is convinced that his eczema is cancer and he is going to die. George is the focus of this novel, as he slowly starts to go crazy. George can't handle the wedding, his son, his wife's affair, and now his seemingly imminent death. He slowly comes off the chains, though he tries to do it as nicely as possible, while interestingly enough, he family go from being a mess to bringing themselves together.
My first Mark Haddon book was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime which I really enjoyed. This book isn't as good, though it still holds your attention and makes you wonder whether George is going to get the treatment he needs and feel better or if he really is sick.
I do have a couple of complaints about this book. At the beginning I found it difficult to keep all the characters straight and Haddon didn't seem to do much to try to introduce them to you so you could remember them. I also found that in parts the book moved rather slowly. These issues won't keep me from reading another Mark Haddon book.
First Line: "It began when George was trying on a black suit in Allders the week before Bob Green's funeral."
Rating:
(3.5/5)
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