I got this book as a gift. I had started reading a few other things and was bored with all of them. So, I plunged into this. I do not think this is something I would have bought or checked out on my own. I like reading things like that, but hey, this is one book that I would not recommend to many people.
The narrative feels pasted together. One of the characters has a penchant for storytelling, so characters ask him to tell stories. These stories usually involve characters from the book in James Bond type scenarios. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to tell which is the real story and which one of these is a side story. I ended up skimming over the side stories after the third or fourth one. They feel sophomoric, and like stoner spiels that were written down and just had to fit somewhere. Bookending each side story is a character saying something like, "I love that story." This goaded me into disagreeing. It felt like the author was patting himself on the back.
There are some real emotions created in the book. Love and betrayal. However, the connection between the two main characters seems so gouache. They say they love each other but nothing is done or enacted to show us the love. Are they incapable of love? I can't believe I want a more traditional narrative out of this story. It just seemed to be a few drunk stories interspersed with happenstance.
Anyway, one thing I can take away from this is don't be a dumb ass. Anyone can write a book. Maybe me people should.
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