Review: Interesting characters - not a happy read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 5, 2013
I picked up this story because Amazon kept recommending it to me based on books I've read in the past.  I think they misread my preferences though, because I really didn't enjoy this book.The characters were interesting and well formed.  Some of their traits were a little too typecast though.  For example, the main character, Mick, is a spineless wuss.  I was disappointed how extremely his spinelessness was portrayed though.  There's a knob where the traits could be dialed up or down, and I thought his character was overplayed.His friend Octavia was interesting.  I pictured her like a severely obese version of Lisa Lampanelli.  (Don't get me wrong, I have a huge amount of respect for Lisa Lampanelli, but she used to be very heavy and in her standup routines she portrays herself as a very mean person--just a character).  The character of Octavia made me uncomfortable though, because of her weight.  At times she was an unstoppable force, but at other times she was severely crippled by her weight, which made her practically unable to function or think.  Which is it? Is she strong willed or non-functioning?  And why would her weight suddenly make her dumb?  It was strange.My main problem with the story was the situation.  It starts out with Mick and his wife embarking on an acrimonious divorce.  What a bummer.  The wife is a shrew and he is a wimp who keeps begging her to come back.  As plot situations go, I found this to be a little too toxic and not very interesting.The story picked up though, and then it finally got pretty interesting.  Then around 60% of the way through the book it seemed like the story was going to wrap up and finish.  Then it took a wild left turn.*** Semi spoiler alert ***The ending was horrible.  I hated it.  I wanted a refund on the hours that I spent reading this book, because the ending was so bad.