A Spot of Bother

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Non-Genre

George Hall is settling into his retirement very well. He is building a garden shed, reads historical fiction and listens to light jazz. His daughter announces she is getting married for a second time to Ray. No one in the family is pleased. Is she really in love or is Ray just a good provider and helpmate.

George discovers a lesion on his hip and he slowly starts to lose his mind by obsessing about death. George's wife Jean decides to do the planning for the wedding but this certainly gets in the way of her affair with a former colleague of her husband's. Jamie, their son decides not to invite his current love interest Tony to the wedding and then finds his life in shambles.

A Spot of Bother is about a somewhat ordinary family getting through life. It is slow to get into but slowly pulls you in. There are some hilarious scenes. I did find that George was just a little over the top and he got a bit tiresome

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)