The world of "The Noticer Returns" seems to be one far from reality. Although the character of Jones in the first book, "The Noticer," didn't seem to be like anyone you'd meet in real life, he was still at least somewhat believable. In this second book, however, not only is Jones portrayed almost like some sort of angel, the people's responses to different situations are ridiculous. For example, Jones shows up in the middle of someone's privately owned farm, on someone's private dock, and in front of a moving vehicle, and the people respond in the same way every time. They act a little surprised but don't seem to care that he is invading their private property, and say that although he was a stranger, they for some reason that they could not understand, trusted him instantly. This is why I think that Jones must represent some sort of angelic being that comes to bestow wisdom upon people.
But I mean come on....did he have to walk in front of a moving car, scaring the poor guy to death? Jones will literally walk into places uninvited and say things like: "I wasn't invited to your gather, and I know I'm intruding..." and the characters will say something along the lines of "Oh okay. Well, no problem. Can I help you with something?" (102). On occasion, someone will say something along the lines of: "How did you know my name? Have we met?" and Jones will say "Of course we've met, son" when they haven't (42).Not does he show up places uninvited, he'll start bossing people around saying things like "You and I are about to have a little talk" (43).
Despite the absurd nature of Jones, the book does contain some noteworthy dialog. The book is about 200 pages long, and many of the chapters begin in a similar way, just like the first book. Although the book was relatively short, I found myself reading only out of the desire to finish the book to never open it again. Sometimes the writing is just strange and awkward: "they wondered, as subatomic particles of doubt began to sail unbidden from the couple" (59). As if all of this wasn't bad enough, some of the things Jones does in the last few chapters are just unbelievably ridiculous (trying not to spoil). It sometimes feels like the author is trying a little to hard to be fancy and it ends up sounding really stupid.
"Everyone wants to make a difference, but nobody wants to be different. And you simply cannot have one without the other" (80).
"Perspective is, ultimately, how I choose to see a situation" (113).
"A person's actions are akin to the flap of a butterfly's wings or a ripple in a pond. A person's actions always affect the life of someone else, who affects the life of someone else, and so on" (122).
"When a society grows comfortable with the idea that there can be many standards, the people have, in effect, accepted the reality that there will be no standard" (163).
"Most people live under the misconception that it takes a long time to change / This is not true. It can take a long time to prepare to change or to decide to change, but change itself happens in a heartbeat" (169).