Currently reading
Alex
The Glass Room
Peter the Great: His Life and World
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
Skin Deep
The Good Daughter
A Boy in Winter
The Tie That Binds
The Idiot (Everyman's Library, #254)
The Velvet Hours
Thomas Murphy: A Novel
I fell in love with the cover of this Novel but unfortunately the story didn't hold the same fascination or interest for me. Trying his best to weasel out of an appointment with the neurologist his only child, Máire, has cornered him into, the poet Thomas Murphy—singer of the oldies, friend of the down-and-out, card sharp, raconteur, piano bar player, bon vivant, tough and honest and all-around good guy—contemplates his sunset years
This is a story of sorts but more one mans ramblings thoughts as he recounts his life story but for me it failed on many levels.
The humor while plenty and witty in places felt forced and unnecessary to the story so much so that it overpowered the character and story. I didn't have any feelings for the character and didn't make a connection with him. I found the writing vivid but too wordy and sometimes I felt I needed to re-read a paragraph to make sense of the story. This wasn't a novel I enjoyed reading but as it was a short read and I had a hard copy I did make it to the finish line.
An ok read but not one for my favourites shelf.
Having read the wonderful When All Is Said where the author balances out humor and story I was hoping for more of the same.
