Helpful Score: 4
I received an ARC copy from Goodreads giveaway:
I have mixed feelings about this book. Ferris has proven that he is a major talent but I don't get the point of this book. It started out great and I thought I had another excellent Ferris novel in my hands but halfway through I simply lost interest. The book became very repetitious as it seemed to be a 300 page screed against religion. Our orthodontic atheist seemingly spends the whole book trying to justify his unbelief and convincing himself that it matters. Ferris would undoubtedly say I missed the point of the book and I can hardly argue because I saw no point. It was a book about nothing. This material would have fit into a short blog series better than in a 300 page work of fiction.
That said, Ferris is a brilliant writer and this novel was often funny. The interaction between O'Rourke and Betsy and O'Rourke and Connie was brilliant and worth the price of the book. Ferris certainly understands the human psyche and he does a great job of fleshing out his characters. If the plot (did he have one?) had been as interesting as the characters, the book could have been very good. The sum of the parts was greater than the whole.
I have mixed feelings about this book. Ferris has proven that he is a major talent but I don't get the point of this book. It started out great and I thought I had another excellent Ferris novel in my hands but halfway through I simply lost interest. The book became very repetitious as it seemed to be a 300 page screed against religion. Our orthodontic atheist seemingly spends the whole book trying to justify his unbelief and convincing himself that it matters. Ferris would undoubtedly say I missed the point of the book and I can hardly argue because I saw no point. It was a book about nothing. This material would have fit into a short blog series better than in a 300 page work of fiction.
That said, Ferris is a brilliant writer and this novel was often funny. The interaction between O'Rourke and Betsy and O'Rourke and Connie was brilliant and worth the price of the book. Ferris certainly understands the human psyche and he does a great job of fleshing out his characters. If the plot (did he have one?) had been as interesting as the characters, the book could have been very good. The sum of the parts was greater than the whole.
