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Dec 22, 2007

Patrick rated it:

I pretty much hated this book. It was the type of book that you read because you liked the author's other work, but it's so aggressively bad that it makes you reconsider whether or not you actually liked the author's previous work upon closer consideration.

So what was so bad about it? Well, for the one the characters simply didn't ring true. They all felt poorly sketched out, just a bunch of people having what Haddon would have you believe are constant epiphanies about their sad litt More...

7 comments like (29 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

jo rated it:

i don't know why people who've read the curious incident of the dog in the night-time would find this second novel a let-down. it seems to me equally tender, sweet, and heartbreaking. it's also hilariously funny. haddon does heartbreaking and funny with such grace, simplicity, and verbal virtuosity, it's wonderful. i admire this writer greatly.

what i admire most about him is that he shows us the behavior of "crazy" people who do "crazy" things from the inside, an More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2010

Uci rated it:

It's like rain in your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's a good advice that you just didn't take
and who would've thought...it figures
Ironic by Alanis Morisette

George Hall menjalani hidupnya tanpa neko-neko. Menikah, punya anak, punya rumah dan pekerjaan yang bagus, pokoknya segala hal yang sepatutnya dimiliki lelaki baik-baik. Namun memasuki masa pensiun, tiba-tiba berbagai masalah menjungkirbalikkan hidupnya yang sempurna. Putrinya Kati More...

10 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Zerbe rated it:

People going into Mark Haddon's latest novel, A Spot of Bother expecting anything like his smash-hit debut, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time are going to be sorely disappointed. And rightfully so, because if Haddon had reproduced the same sort of story as he did in his first novel, we'd all be complaining about how he was such a one-trick pony. In fact, I'm glad he got the unconvential work that is The Curious Incident out of the way first, so that he can now settle himself into More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2008

Kirsten rated it:

A very entertaining and intelligent "page-turner", which is a rare combination of traits. As a story told from four well-written viewpoints, it succeeds in evoking an emotional connection with the characters. But I worry about too much modern fiction presenting the literary equivalent of short serial television episodes all jumbled together in something described as a novel.

I suppose readers' attention spans are becoming shorter, but should fiction really cater to that fac More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2007

Joe rated it:

Having read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I expected my sophomore foray into Haddon's style of novel-writing to be a bit of a departure. If you don't know already the book was written from the point-of-view of a boy with Asperger's Syndrome (a functional form of Autism) and delivered with a fair amount of empathy that warmed the reader to an otherwise antisocial and charmless character.

However, I felt that even from an omniscient point-of-view, Haddon hardly piqued More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2008

Pierce rated it:

As we approach the end of my first year of recorded and reviewed reading, I have read almost no bad books. The Fermata was bad, but the guy could write, he just decided to write something we all thought was fucking awful.

This was a bad book.

Oh how do I hate this book? Let me count the ways:

1) Every word in this novel is written in conversational, lazy prose. "Absolutely" is used repeatedly for emphasis. "Cue" something or other. The kind of More...

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

Seth rated it:

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I really can't generate strong feelings one way or another on its behalf. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good - and conversely, it wasn't good but it wasn't bad. It had likable moments and parts that I laughed at. And some of Haddon's descriptions were priceless (e.g., the "chickeny scrotum" bit). But then there was the rest of it. I kept feeling that if it was either good or bad, I would have relished finishing it so that I could relish tal More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Leonora of rated it:

This book was much better than I thought it would be. I found myself drawn into it unlike other novels which lately don't seem to hold my interest.

The writing style is completely different from "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" which was refreshing. He showed ability in this book to write a normal, even typical, story.

What drew me in was the same thing that drew me to Herman Hesse. He uncannily describes emotions that I've felt on almost ever More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2008

Susan rated it:

Hilarious!!!! What a wonderful story, that kept me laughing the whole time. Haddon does a wonderful job giving his characters life. It made me wonder what I'll be like when I retire will I be as crazy and eccentric as the main character.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Kaion rated it:

A Spot of Bother is an alternating-POV story about going quietly mad and loudly sane, and love under all our layers of repression and confusion: There’s newly-retired dad George, politely failing to bury his increasing obsessive thoughts of mortality under a zest for home renovations. Mom Jean, already balancing familial duty and work and volunteering, is just trying to find more time for her passionate affair with a long-time acquaintance. Their outspoken grown-up daughter Katie intends to marr More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 15, 2007

Lila rated it:

First the quibbles: Haddon's a young guy. He has a young guy's perspective, which is to say, a limited perspective. His portrayals of the middle-aged are in places laughable. Mark, I've got to tell you: people over fifty don't think the world belongs to the young. They don't think they're obsolete. It's young people who think that about their elders. Youngsters are often (not always) better at the very latest technology, but that's their only advantage. Well, that, and the good health they take More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2007

Jessica rated it:

oh i loved this! haddon induces the same empathy for these characters as he did for the boy in curious incident, which is a much harder task considering that these characters are just flawed self-absorbed adults and not children suffering from mental illness. by flawed self-absorbed adults i of course mean me and you. he has a remarkable talent for dialogue and delivery, which is, to me, the trickiest thing to do well. you dont want to put it down, and you dont want it to end, and you so badly w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2008

ninus rated it:

A Spot of Bother
Mark Haddon
New York: Vintage Books, 2006

Mark Haddon returns.
Having triumphantly fascinated worldwide readers with his Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, he now comically and touchingly portrays the life of an english family approaching the time of their daughter’s second wedding in A Spot of Bother. It’s when the occasion draws nearer that there’s coincidentally a handful of mind-blowing events that took place altogether, creating a ran More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2007

Brynn rated it:

"Talking was, in George's opinion, overrated. You could not turn the television on these days without seeing someone discussing their adoption or explaining why they had stabbed their husband. Not that he was averse to talking. Talking was one of life's pleasures. And everyone needed to sound off now and then over a pint of Ruddles about colleagues who did not shower frequently enough, or teenage sons who had returned home drunk in the small hours and thrown up in the dog's basket. But More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2007

Trin rated it:

Okay, here's how this breaks down:

Book about a real-life serial killer
Trin: I think I'll read this my first night in a strange, new apartment, in an unfamiliar neighborhood, when I'm all alone, and almost all the lights are off! La la la!

Book featuring one plot thread about a man's slow descent into madness, including a scene of botched self-surgery
Trin: *hides under the bed* *whimpers*

Yeah. I found this novel very hard to get through—which, if any More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 15, 2008

Neesha rated it:

Although I can see why certain fans don't like this one as much as Haddon's first book, I liked it just as well. It has the same flavor as the first, but with multiple main characters instead of just one. Mark Haddon still does a fantastic job of showing rather than telling in terms of his characters--he really has a wonderful way of letting the reader get inside the characters' heads. I think that was part of what made his first novel great, and he has held onto that in this one. What made More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

Lucie rated it:

if you can get past the first 200 pages, this turns out to be a vaguely compelling read. but really, getting through the 1st 200 pages of someone's book, just for the remaining 80 pages isn't my idea of a fun time. if only it was a nice little novella or short story! it ultimately was an ok experience for me, just lacks the charm & focus of haddon's earlier lovely CURIOUS CASE...too bad!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2008

Kristen rated it:

Although this was enjoyable enough to read, I was still fairly disappointed in it, even taking into account the fact that I didn't expect too much out of it in the first place (for self-preservational reasons, since Haddon's first novel is one of my favorites). See, it turns out that the detached, observational tone of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which I thought worked so brilliantly for that book's narrator, is actually just the way Haddon writes. All the time. Even though More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

Patrick rated it:

I suspect this novel was whipped up to fulfill the second book of the author's deal with the publisher -- and given the phenomenal success of the author's first book, the publisher went ahead with it. "A Spot Of Bother" lacks any of the precision and warmth and surprise of "A Curious..." Chapters read like outlines jotted down in a notebook. Hypochondriac dad: check. Philandering mother: check. Bitch sister: check. Gay brother: check.

The book only comes alive -- More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2007

Sarah rated it:

Mark Haddon writes of a middle-aged man named George Hall, who is struggling with retirement, his gay son and his boyfriend, his daughter announcing a man he doesn't like, and his wife, who is having an affair with his ex-colleague. Because of all of this, George begins to lose it.

The story revolves around each of the characters, told from the 3rd person omniscient, weaving their problems and thoughts around one another. The book is extremely engaging and I found myself immediately More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 22, 2008

Bookmaniac70 rated it:

I got a liking for this book from the first page. At first glance,we have an ordinary family story- a daughter who wants to marry the wrong man (or at least her parents think so), a homosexual son who has just splitted with his boyfriend, a wife who is guilty of adultery,and a husband who is going mad. George is one of the most interesting characters in the novel. Haddon has managed to convey brilliantly the sense of inner destruction, panic and obsession with the fear of dying. Like in "A More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2007

Beth rated it:

"A Spot of Bother" is a perfectly enjoyable book about the Halls, a typical middle-class British family, and all their neuroses, foibles, prejudices and the sensitivities of the parent-child relationship. In a way, it reminded me of The Corrections; however, it is far funnier and I found the characters far more likeable. This is not the best book I have ever read, but since it is the first Mark Haddon book I have read ("The Curious Incident..." has seem to have gone curiously More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2008

Angela rated it:

Dear Budding Indie Film-maker,

I know how tempted you are to turn this quirky little book into a quirky little movie. You've mentally cast James Cromwell as the family patriarch who's sure the excema on his leg is actually cancer. You know just how the camera will close in on the faces of the actors as they make realizations that will change their life.

And you're really looking forward to filming some of the genuinely sweet and funny scenes, knowing the audience will roa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 27, 2008

Chrissy rated it:

In Mark Haddon's second novel, he paints us a portrait of a family in England for whom everything is fine on the surface, but there are actually lots of underlying issues that nobody feels comfortable talking about. Thus, they all avoid the important topics with one another while the head of the family goes quietly insane without anyone noticing until he's well on his way to completely losing his mind. The author showcases his interest in mental illness and disorder in a different way than he di More...

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Jan rated it:

I find it interesting that I should have liked this book so much when I absolutely loathed Haddon's other, more famous book (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time). In fact, when I picked up this one on a whim, I had no idea that he'd written the other. If I had known, I probably would have put this book back on the shelf. I guess it's a nice lesson in remembering that (except for the one-trick pony types), one shouldn't necessarily write off an author just because one didn't like on More...

0 comments like

Nov 04, 2011

Anne-Gigi rated it:

George Hall is sixty-one and has recently started his retirement project of building a studio in his backyard where he plans to devote his time to painting. Meanwhile, his wife of thirty-five years, Jean, started a couple of part-time jobs after being a homemaker for all those years. They both have something to occupy their time, their grown children appear to be settled in their own lives and all seems well. That is until George discovers a malignant lesion on his hip, which is something he is More...

0 comments like

Sep 27, 2011

Mackenzie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 22, 2011

Caitlin rated it:

I'd previously read The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Haddon, and loved this. I'd seen this book many times, and thought I should check it out - finally I did (also checked out a YA book by him; a bit too young for me as it turned out but I'll be posting a review of it shortly).

This novel is both funny and sad. It's funny in the way that life can just be funny while being so sad at the same time. Although I did laugh out loud a lot at the wry British humor. This ce More...

0 comments like

Jul 26, 2011

Jayne rated it:

This was a long book, but in a lot of ways quite short: short chapters, very short paragraphs, short snappy wit. And it’s an easy read – fairly whizzes by in a whirl of choc ices, nursery rhymes, Valium and sex. About halfway through I did get a bit confused as the plot became convoluted and at one point someone got punched in the face and despite rapid re-reading of earlier sections I could not fully understand why. Around about chapter 56 I began to wonder how many times Jamie needed to state More...

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