Like several others, I was motivated to read this book after being blown away by “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. It’s not quite the same kind of book, but it is equally powerful in its own right. The writing alternates viewpoints between different principal characters in an unusual, personal way; although technically third-person, it is not a narration (“She thought.. He saw.. They did”) but more like having someone actually inside your head, talking to you (“He winced at the irony. Because, you know, life is like that.”). In pauses between paragraphs, you almost want to break in to join the conversation. Probably the strongest connection to “Curious Incident” is that most of the book actually takes place inside the characters’ heads. The action is internal, and we realize all over again how wild and wooly and yet hauntingly familiar the inside of someone else’s head can be.

It’s half past noon and I just got out of bed. When I continued with “A Spot Of Bother” after tucking myself in last night, I didn’t expect to read it to the end unti 0300! There were times when I had to stifle my laughs in case I woke up Nick.

Here’s “A Spot Of Bother” in a nutshell: George is going paranoid over a spot he found on himself and believing its cancerous. His daughter Katie is getting married a second time, but the rest of her family is not sure if Ray is right for her. George’s wife Jean is having an affair with his ex-colleague, and son Jamie has a bicker with boyfriend Tony because he’s not sure about them going to the wedding together.

I read “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time” last year at a book club meeting, and I must say I enjoyed myself heaps!

This one was no different, and I guess it’s the characters that called out to me this time. There was such a realness to them, that they’re characters we’ve known at different times of our lives. It’s strange, but my outlook on my own relationships in life have also changed over the course of the book. I was having one of those "I do all the bloody laundry, I’m getting tired looking out for the both of us, and well, all the “Me, me, me” stuff going on.

Then as it went on, it made me realise what we take for granted with those around us, and need to be put into perspective.

Mark Haddon having been a screenwriter does explain why the book is so vividly readable, and I can imagine his books being interpreted as films. There’s a sense that you know what’s going on, just with the subtle observations that are made throughout the story. I’m looking forward to the next novel!

This book pales in comparison to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, also written by Mark Haddon. There’s really nothing alike about them. I found this book to be a largely pointless and rambling tale of a man struggling with retirement, his life, and hypochondriasis. The payoff wasn’t worth the price for me on this one. It’s not terrible, I just can’t recommend it.

(sorry ’bout the title)

This book had an entirely different feel from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but was as enjoyable. Haddon portrays the workings of a family and hangers-on in an extremely believable fashion. That’s not to say that everything that happens in the book is totally believable – as is almost always necessary for interesting fiction, situations and events are stretched a little torward the fantastic, but once that is accepted, the book has the potential to resonate quite strongly with the reader.

I especially enjoyed how we switched among the different characters’ points of view, and when we were in the heads of the people who werearound my age, I thought, “Yeah, that’s how we see the elders,” and likewise when in the elders’ heads it was, “Yeah, that’s how I imagine the elders see people of my generation.”

One detraction was the bewilderingly long list of tertiary characters in the book – I couldn’t keep half of them in my head for more than 10 pages at a time. That being said, maybe it was intentional, because many of the principals couldn’t either.

Well worth a read.