Review: Comical satire with lots of character
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 2, 2011
Doodling by Jonathan Gould gives us a fantastically funny social satire that never takes itself too seriously. Neville Lansdowne finds one day that he can't keep up with the fast pace of the world and is flung into space only to land in the asteroid belt. There he meets others who have left the Earth to pursue their own interests. Upon meeting these other travelers, Neville begins to question the strange choices and motivations of the people he encounters.Cover Art: 5 StarsThe cover is both visually appealing and does a good job of representing the the whimsy of the book. I felt that it was a perfect fit for this story.Characters: 5 StarsThis novel had a great set of characters. Neville may not be an "everyman" but his feelings are perfectly defined. Not only is he well-rounded, but he had a character arc complete with actual character evolution, always a nice thing to see. The supporting characters are so vividly absurd that I found myself picking favorites despite the short time spent with them and the somewhat distant nature of the book.Plot: 4.5 StarsI was hooked from page one. The pacing is fantastic in this story, and the plot had a nice progression. At first, I worried that the story would lack any real conflict and focus too much on societal issues and themes, but that turned out to not be the case at all. A balance of humor and contemplation made it more enjoyable than others of that same vein. There is also great development of the setting that only makes the encountered problems all the more believable.Writing: 4.5 StarsThis book was a real joy to read. The writing was consistently high quality. The story employs a great dry humor style that is not easily achieved. I loved how well it all flowed together. I did find a few minor errors near the start of the story but very few detracted from the story. My only real criticism relates to a series of fragments in the first few pages. Although they are used correctly, they did get to be a little much and threw off the flow.Over All: 4 StarsDespite how great I think this book was, the ending played a large part in my final opinion. After all loose ends have been tied together, there are a few throw away lines leading to the title of the story. It just made no sense to me. Nothing else had been worked in prior that would make the sentences fit well, and they have rather major potential implications to the events that have occurred depending on how they are interpreted. This slight ambiguity at the end of the story just didn't seem to truly fit with what was presented before. Still, I really loved the book and would heartily recommend to anyone. Just skip the last few sentences.Happy reading!My indie, my tea and me.