Review: A pretty funny and smart comedy
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2013
I definitely liked this one, and it was rippingly unique--an erotic cricket-based sports comedy that examined class warfare. Yes, really. The prose is sharp and biting, and the hyperbole is mostly just brilliant. Gabriella and Jim are a tight pair of protagonists and they have lots of motivation. There's surprising moments of warmth and loveliness there, along with the (literally) balls-out silliness.The reason I'm knocking this one down to three stars from four is the splatterpunk style descriptions of sex. I am definitely not squeamish, but the joke got overused, and if you took out every description of a sexual event from the book, it would be about half the length. I wish I could give it three and a half stars, I do, but I have to admit I got a bit nauseous by the end. I would have suggested cutting good chunks of the book from the middle and end, when events just got a bit too played out.Still, it's a solid comedy and well worth a read. It's like PG Wodehouse and Hunter S Thompson got together for a cocaine-filled night of orgies down on the cricket pitch, frankly, and I really enjoyed it. Just make sure you have a glass of water and possibly some disinfectant off to the side while you're reading it.