Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Photo taken from Penguin Group Website

Book Info

Title:  The Picture of Dorian Gray

Author:  Oscar Wilde
Publisher:  Penguin Classics

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages:  224 pages

ISBN - 13:  978-0143106142

Source:  Purchased, National Book Store

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Summary

From Goodreads: 

"Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, 'Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps."'

Review

I now understand why this book was considered the catalyst for Oscar Wilde's decline in popularity.

Full of twisted Hedonistic philosophies, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a study of the pretentious, the vain, and the selfish, and the consequences of such idiosyncrasies.  This is a cautionary tale against shallow pursuits and superficial happiness.  Many of us are familiar with this story.  Dorian Gray was a handsome young man, who in a moment of narcissism wished to preserve his youth and good looks and let a painting of himself reflect the physical changes he will encounter as he ages.

The premise is intriguing, interesting, and unique.  However, the delivery of the story was too muddled and full of dialogue, I got too exhausted just reading a single chapter.  I did finish the book though, but it was not a superbly enjoyable experience.  There was a lot of commentary going on, and I had to skip through whole paragraphs just so I could get on with the story.  Mr. Wilde may be a master aesthete, but this novel was just too crowded with his epigrams and ideas, and they were not even subtly inserted, they were blatantly slapped onto the pages that I sometimes wonder if I was just reading an extended essay on hedonism and aesthetics.

As for the story itself, it started off strong, but finished poorly.  Dorian Gray's character was not very strong, and he was more often than not overpowered by other characters like Lord Henry or Basil Hallward.  And his personality was too effeminate, his relationship with Basil and Henry a little bit too familiar that it was misleading at times.  Which was probably the reason that people from Mr. Wilde's time thought that this book was a corrupting influence in the society. 

If anything, this book taught us the dangers of vanity and selfishness.  I just wished that it also gave us a good story to accompany that lesson.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way. 

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: Better Together by Raymond M. Rose

Photo taken  from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  Better Together 

Author:  Raymond M. Rose
Publisher:  Christopher Williams Books

Language: English

Format:  E-Book

Pages:  290 pages
ASIN:  B004A14V28

Source:  From the Author

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads:

"Paul Rhoads, a successful horror novelist, has moved back to his hometown in Pennsylvania. Moving back home turns out to be more than just returning to his roots but starting up a relationship with his high school sweetheart, Annie. Annie, recently divorced, is the mother of a precious eight month old, Max. However, when Annie dies in a freak car accident, Paul finds himself catapulted into the role of father and decides to do something he would never have imagined himself doing: raise Max as his own."

Review

When I was younger, I had this silly fear that I was just adopted.  The fact that I never looked like any of my parents back then only added more to this fear.  It was only when my brother was born and he was my spitting image that I was finally able to quell this insane thought.

Paul was supposed to live with Annie and her little son Max happily ever after, but Annie died and left Paul with Max just shortly after getting married.  Stunned with grief by the sudden departure of his beloved wife, he becomes overwhelmed by an even bigger responsibility of raising Max as his own son.  This book details the ups and downs that Paul (and every parent) encounters when dealing with raising kids and striving to be the best parent a child ever had.

Remember how you used to understand and remember stuff better when it's told through a story rather than listening to usual instructions?  This book, Better Together by Raymond M. Rose is certainly a good story for parents who are tired of looking for that perfect self-help parenting book.  This will not tell you everything about raising a child, not really about how hot the bath water should be but more on how to deal with the emotional side of taking care of your little one.  Instead of getting all too preachy as some parenting books, this book is like a friend who tells you everything he/she experienced during his/her own time raising children and passing all the knowledge to you.

The premise is unique and the events occur in such a way that the reader gets caught off guard by the turn of events despite a small touch of predictability.  Endearing and sweet, this book will completely hook any reader, especially those who have had children as they are taken back in time in the early stages of their children's lives.

But as amazing as this book may sound, I just have a few problems with how this was presented:  Told from a third person perspective, the voice sometimes shift from different characters rather too quickly that sometimes, the reader gets confused as the points of view get jumbled up.  One minute you were reading about Paul's thoughts, another minute you realize the narration has shifted to Annie's.  But it does get better as you turn the pages and finally get a good grasp of the voices within this book.  As for the text, there were a few typographical errors that was a bit distracting but once you get past that, you will definitely be in for a treat as you read this heartwarming story.

An important lesson to be gained from this book is this:  Children should be loved not because they carry your blood in their veins, not because they look like you, not because they were born from you - but because they, as human beings, deserve to be loved, not matter who or what they are, or where they came from.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

I received this book free of charge from the author, Raymond M. Rose, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: The Sweetheart Season by Karen Joy Fowler

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  The Sweetheart Season

Author:  Karen Joy Fowler
Publisher:  Penguin 

Language: English

Format:  Paperback 

Pages:  368 pages

ISBN-10:  0141027088

ISBN-13:  978-0141027081

Source:  Purchased, Booksale

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Summary

From Goodreads: 

"Though most men had returned to their hometowns after World War II, few came back to the tiny village of Magrit, Minnesota. Irini, a nineteen year-old woman, works in the Scientific Kitchen at Margaret Mill, a cereal factory, with most of Magrit's other eligible bachelorettes. Hoping to promote his business and attract some suitors for his staff, the owner of the mill forms a women's baseball team called the Sweetwheat Sweethearts. Irini, who wields a fearsome throwing arm, strong from kneading bread dough, is the team's star center fielder and her successes, failures, and revelations on and off the ball field are endearingly recalled by her now grown daughter."

Review

Dear Maggie,

I have been wanting to read a book for the longest time, but the ones I have are either too brief or deep.  Could you advise me on which book I could pick up?

                                                                                                                    - Bored in Manila

Dear Bored in Manila,

It seems to me that you would be better off reading magazines as they provide readers with light topics that books could not give you.  You see, the intensity of issues within a story are very relative.  What may be a serious topic for me might be a shallow matter for you.  Therefore, I could not outright say that you should read this or that as they are guaranteed easy to read.

I would, however, recommend reading The Sweetheart Season by Karen Joy Fowler while you are on a search for your 'light and easy' book.  This story has that good mix of lighthearted wit and drama and might actually be perfect for you, if you feel that living in a small town whose young men had never returned to after the war, leaving the young women's marriage prospects in jeopardy a good enough premise.

The story takes place in Magrit, where a cereal mill owned by one of the richest resident supplies most of the employment for its inhabitants.  This cereal mill also produces a women's magazine where a fictitious agony aunt by the name of Maggie Collins serves as its ambassadress.  Finding that the young men have left town permanently, the owner of the mill decided to put up a baseball team - The Sweethearts - composed of the young women under his employ and let them travel to different towns in order to spread the word about their product, Sweetheart Cereal, and of course, let the young women meet and mingle with young men.

This book has elements of good humor and chick literature that I am sure would appeal to most women, especially those who loved the movie A League of Their Own about women playing baseball during the war.  However, some chapters, especially those in the beginning, seemed to read too slow and insignificant, although reading until the end, one would find that the beginning chapters would help everything come full circle.  I just hope that you can get past the drag and be able to plow through the ending.  Also, may I advise you to use a bit more imagination while reading this as that can help a long way in making you understand everything that happens as there were some parts there that at face value would seem unimportant and irrelevant, but were actually defining moments or turning points in the story.  A little more imagination and attention to detail would get you a long way in reading this book.

That said, I hope you can get a copy of this book and read this, and I hope this is light enough for you - at least good enough until you find your perfect easy-reading book.

                                                                                                                Ever Reliable,

                                                                                                                   Maggie

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.  
 
Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions. 

Plan B by Charnan Simon

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  Plan B 

Author:  Charnan Simon

Publisher:  Lerner Publishing Group

Publication Date:  3/1/2011 

Language: English 

Format:  Digital copy 

Pages:  104 pages 

ISBN-13:  9780761361497

Source:  Advanced reader's digital copy from Lerner Publishing Group, via NetGalley
*Part of my Mini Reading Challenge*  

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Lerner Publishing Group:  

"Is this happily ever after?

Lucy has her life planned out: she'll graduate and then join her boyfriend, Luke, at college in Austin. She'll become a Spanish teacher and of course they'll get married. So there's no reason to wait, right? They try to be careful. But then Lucy gets pregnant. Now, none of Lucy's options are part of her picture-perfect plan. Together, she and Luke will have to make the most difficult decision of their lives."

Review

After reading After - isn't that funny? - by Amy Efaw, I was hoping to read a similar story with a different take, something more accepting of their situation, unlike Devon and her denial.  I wanted something like Juno or like Allison in Knocked Up.  That is why I decided to request for this book on NetGalley.

This book had so much potential, but never unraveled.  And I am not complaining about this book's length.  Good stories do not need hundreds of pages.  But it would have been great if the author was able to elaborate further on the effects of teenage unprotected premarital sex.  Luke and Lucy were very credible as lovesick and lovestruck teenagers.  They were very in love with each other, but the quick shift into Lucy's pregnancy also created a confusing shift in their characters.  I felt that Luke's sudden change from scared and irresponsible boy to dependable and mature adult was too hurried and unreal, in that it still felt like he was still acting under his parents' influence.  It did not feel like how a real responsible teenager would act under the circumstances.  I'm not saying that a real teen would immediately accept whatever happened, but the phases that he would go through would be very obvious and notable that when he finally accepts his responsibility, everything has fallen into place naturally.  Lucy, on the other hand, was the perfect scared and confused pregnant teen.  Between these two, I would have preferred more communication and action to have happened before the final outcome.  

Another problem I had was that this book was supposed to show Luke and Lucy's Plan B.  However, even towards the end, they were still undecided about what that plan would be.  The readers are left hanging as to the characters' futures and though sometimes it's good to make your own guess, I would have liked a more black and white ending for this story as I felt it required more specific answers for its very specific topic.  

On the bright side, the author was able to perfectly portray the causal relationship between unprotected sexual contact and growing number of teenage pregnancy - and in such limited number of pages at that.  Regardless of the issues I presented above, this story is a good, light, but educational read for teenagers in teaching them about safe sex.  Most reproductive health classes would appear too superficial and feigning concern for the issues but reading this book, not only would teenagers be able to accept and understand the impact of safer sex, they would also be entertained by this light and compelling read that was able to summarily delve into their world without any judgment and prejudice.

And regardless of my negative points, I would still say that I enjoyed this book, although not as much as I enjoyed After, but good enough. 

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

I received this book free of charge from the publisher, Lerner Publishing Group through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book. 

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.   

 

Back In The Game by Holly Chamberlin

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  Back In The Game

Author:  Holly Chamberlin

Publisher:  Kensington

Language: English

Format:  Paperback

Pages:  352 pages

ISBN-10:  0758216521

ISBN-13:  978-0758216526

Source:  Purchased, Booksale

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Amazon

"Nobody said life was fair. That love was forever. Or that getting back in the game would be easy. Then again, nobody said they had to play by the rules, either...Jess Marlowe doesn't know why she suddenly stopped loving her husband, Matt. According to her mum, it's because of Jess' inability to stick with anything, from ballet in the third grade to Bart, the "nice young man" she dated in college. Trust her mom to forget that Jess was bullied at ballet and that Bart could have earned a degree in crazy. So now Jess' marriage is over, but it feels like life is just beginning, if she can navigate this terrifying, thrilling, newly single existence that includes dates with S&M-addicted colleagues, a divorce "support" group that offers anything but, and a whole new way of thinking about love, lust, and everything in between. And the greatest surprise of all comes in discovering what she really wants from a future that's wide open - and utterly unpredictable..."

Review

On some levels, this could double as a novel and a self-help book. It was like a long essay about putting your life back on track after divorce, but written very creatively to read like a story as well.

As I have never been divorced nor married before, those areas are really very  foreign to me.  Of course I witness how my parents' marriage went, as well as those of my other relatives but I really don't have a firsthand account of what happens between man and wife.  Coming from a predominantly Christian country where divorce is illegal and frowned upon, I admit that the mention of it at times make me uncomfortable but not because my mind is closed to that idea, but because I think that it's a very sensitive topic to talk about.  Which is not to say that marital breakups do not occur - I myself have an aunt and uncle who separated 10 years after their marriage because the husband had an affair.  But I digress...

I liked the concept of this book.  I thought it was supposed to be just about Jess and picking up the pieces of her life after her divorce - it turns out it's about four divorced friends:  Jess and her supposed 'inability to stick with anything' according to her mother; Nell who found out her husband of 20 years had been having an affair - with a man; Laura who wanted to find a man who's willing to give her a baby; and Grace who left her artist husband after he had an affair but continued to be at his beck and call financially and emotionally.  I was excited to read about the lives of these four women and how they would deal.  I also felt that this would be sort of a 'pro-women' novel.

Unfortunately for me, things did not play out as I thought they would.  I barely read much about Jess considering that she's the one featured on the book's blurb you'd think that she would be the main focus.  Her story seemed uninspired and incomplete, as if the author suddenly ran out of ideas for executing a good plot for Jess.  She did learn a lot throughout the book and was able to get past her confusion and guilt after her divorce but it would have been better if her 'inability to stick with anything' had been explored more and her relationship with her mother given a better resolution.  Her mother sounded too much like a villain, too unsupportive and dismissive of her daughter's efforts to have a better perspective of her life.  I cannot imagine having a mother like this but what do I know?  Maybe there indeed exists a woman like that.  Reading the whole book, I think the one who had it best was Grace, her story was very well-played out and hers was actually the one that had the most action, the most significant changes.  Grace could have a novel of her own, come to that.  Nell sounded too one-dimensional and her side of the book fell a bit too flat and unrealistic.  Laura's on the other hand, sounded the most outrageous although it was all balanced in the end.  I somehow doubt the authenticity of her character but who am I to say such things?  Laura was very impractical, impulsive, judgmental and self-righteous to the point of forcing the reader to question how the other women could stand being her friend.  Although her character seemed to be the source for comic relief and the one who says things other characters won't be caught dead saying, it just seems unrealistic.  However, the treatment of her character was very effective - not just once did I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the things she said and did.  It was like Laura's character was created so that we could have a literary 'punching bag' while reading this book.

When I previously mentioned this book sounding like a long essay, I was not kidding.  The book was mostly dialogue about divorce, forgiving yourself, forgiving your partner, opening up to new possibilities, etc.  I sometimes wondered if this book was misplaced at the bookstore - instead of being placed at Self-Help it was mistakenly piled up at Fiction.  I don't mind reading about those things this book talked about, but I think it would have been better if those lessons that the author wanted the readers to learn were not just presented through character conversations but were used to play up the story.  Instead of preaching, practice; instead of speaking, storytelling.  

I really wanted to like this book and I thought this was going to be one of those that I could share with my mother - we love sharing books and talking about it afterward - but I don't think this is ever going to make it to my mother's reading list.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here. 

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

 

Me, Dead Dad & Alcatraz by Chris Lynch

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  Me, Dead Dad & Alcatraz

Author:  Chris Lynch

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Language: English

Format:  Hardcover

Pages:  240 pages

ISBN-10:  0060597097

ISBN-13:  978-0060597092

Source:  Purchased, Booksale

Buy this book on Amazon 
 

Summary

From Goodreads

"Elvin Bishop's uncle is a lot like Elvin's father. They're both dead, for instance. But Elvin's cool with that; it's the way it's been for as long as he can remember.

Then one day it turns out that Uncle Alex isn't exactly dead. He is, instead, sitting on the couch, chewing a scone, and preparing to make up for lost time by fixing his sad-sack nephew before it's too late. Not long out of prison and perhaps not long for this world, Alex embarks on a crash course of tough love designed to turn Elvin into a real Bishop man.

Despite his mighty powers of resistance and denial, Elvin is dragged on an odyssey that introduces him to glam tuba, hellfire-hot food, and the horrors of gym membership. Along the way he finds things he never wanted to look for -- lost relatives, history, roots, regrets, and his own wobbly brand of strength."

Review 

A fellow blogger told me that she had been unimpressed with Lynch's latest works, but heard great things about this author for his earlier books.  This book I got from the secondhand bookshop in the mall nearby, and I did not read the first pages initially, I just based on the synopsis which was pretty interesting.  

I should not have skipped on reading a few pages first.

I'm not saying that I shouldn't have picked this up, it's just that had I read a few pages at first, I wouldn't have placed too high an expectation on this book just because the synopsis sounded totally intriguing.  I say this because when I began reading, I got bored and irritated by the first chapters.  Elvin as a narrator was like reading through a biased account of events.  He was very self-centered, weak, and a sense of humor that was meant to be self-deprecating but came off as more 'inversely-conceited'.  I could not sympathize with him, could not appreciate his humor, could not laugh at his jokes.  Even his sarcasm - and I love me a dose of sarcasm - was a bit forced.  While reading, I tried to learn some more about this book online and found that this was the third book in a series, the first books including Slot Machine and Extreme Elvin.  This surprised me, because if this was the third (last?) book, some semblance of character improvement would have happened already, right?  But Elvin seemed averse to change, in  fact, he admitted it himself and that's one of the major themes in this third book.  That Elvin was a fourteen-year-old boy who could not easily adapt to change but sometimes makes very adult - if warped - observations of what's happening to him I think is a bit inconsistent, and that's another flaw I found in Elvin's character.  

And another thing, my imagination was sort of restrained because this book was written without actually presenting a vivid setting of the story.  We just know that this happens in a town with a Thai Restaurant, a gym, a barber shop owned by a psychedelic barber named Nardo, another barber shop by an old barber named Sal, a school, a church, and not much else.  I was even confused as to whether Elvin was in the UK or US, but I later assumed he's in US because he mentioned United States Penitentiary and the Wild West.  This is not the first time I ever encountered the 'white room syndrome,' where the setting is not described and readers have no idea where the characters are, but in other books, that has not limited my imagination, and was still able to picture them in a particular place doing what they're doing in the book.  In this story, though, it bugged me a bit.

On to the better parts, this book found redemption in the middle to the last chapters.  Elvin's subtle maturity development - or his knack for rolling with the punches - helped him cope with his uncle's presence, and in the end, not only did his uncle found acceptance from one family he wronged, he was able to understand the Bishop way of things:  he understood the father he lost, he understood his bloodline, which was like a mystical thing to him before his uncle came into the picture.  He understood the concept of family, of being a part of a family.  

Despite what I mentioned in the first few paragraphs, I enjoyed this book once I got past the boring and irritating parts.  This book had too much dialogue, but I think that's because the story happens more within Elvin's mind as he struggled to grasp the changes that went with the reappearance of his uncle, so that's forgivable.  Apart from the sometimes 'unfunny-funny' Elvin, the other characters were very 'out there' and real.  I genuinely loved Uncle Alex, and would find myself shaking my head or grinning over Elvin's mom's actions which sort of remind me of my own mother.  However, because I was really rooting for Uncle Alex, I was kind of disappointed with the ending, although it was very comical, the way the story finished.

Overall, the book was fine and I am glad I was able to read this.  It was a bit disappointing that the book would come revving up on the middle to the last parts, I mean, why can't that happen after the first few chapters right?  But hopefully other readers would find it more amusing and interesting than I did, especially the younger readers to whom this book is directed at. 

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here. 

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced in any way. 


-----

Like this new format?  This will be the new format for my book reviews from now on.  I hope you'd like this better than the previous formats.  Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have questions or anything :D

 

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex

(Photo taken from Goodreads)

Title:  Fat Vampire

Author:  Adam Rex

Publisher:  Balzer + Bray

Language: English

Format:  Hardcover

Pages:  336 pages

ISBN-10:  0061920908

ISBN-13:  978-0061920905

Source:  Gift

Buy this book on Amazon

Rating: 

I've been eyeing this in bookstores ever since one of my friends mentioned this book to me.  Just like I Kissed A Zombie and I Liked It, I thought this would make a really funny paranormal story so I totally wanted to read it.  However, the book was too pricey and I could do without it anyway.  So it was a very fun surprise that one of my friends got me this when I got sick this week - sort of a 'Get Well Soon gift,' and I must say, just looking at the cover almost made me better.  The cover itself is funny, with that 'blood slushie' thing going on that really makes me laugh.

The story is about a fat, pudgy, unattractive 15-year-old boy - Doug "Meatball" Lee - who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming a victim to a newly-made vampire, which turned him into a vampire himself.  Interesting?  Definitely.  So I was totally into reading this as it was very different from typical vampire stories where vampires were attractive, sexy, and romantic beings who lured their victims with their charm and cunning.  Doug is clumsy, insecure, and of course, fat.  I was very curious how this story would go - would he be a different breed of Edward and find his own Bella?  Would he ever become badass?  As human psychology dictates, we naturally gravitate to the underdogs, and Doug is definitely that.  

First chapters into the story and I was really laughing out loud.  Why shouldn't I?  Just read these:

"I’m a vampire! I’m a fat vampire, okay? I was trying to lose weight before I got bitten. Now I’m screwed."

"...You know I haven’t had anything to eat or drink except blood for the last month? And nothing. No change. If I can’t lose weight on an all-blood Diet—"

Weren't those funny?   I was laughing the whole time while reading through those chapters.  But alas!  Like a vampire that has suddenly appeared and drunk the blood from this book, it suddenly changed to a not-as-compelling-and-not-as-funny kind of story.  The characters had a lot of promise, especially Dough and Senjal, but despite their amazing back stories - Doug as a fat vampire and Senjal as an exchange student recovering from 'The Google,' a bad case of becoming an internet troll - they've become cardboard-flat and one-dimensional.  I thought their stories were worth exploring, and I believed that would happen but no, the joke in Doug as a fat vampire suddenly became very old, and Senjal turned into a very flat character.  She just stayed in the sidelines, talking when she's supposed to, acting like she's supposed to, having a lot of opinions but never voicing them.  It was frustrating reading about these two 'not develop' into the characters they were supposed to become in the end.  But I guess that's where the 'A Never Coming of Age Story' comes in.  And here I am thinking that that statement was just a joke in the title.

Even the villain - whose story closely resembles that of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, was too dull.  This story had a lot of laughing moments in spite of it turning into an unpromising novel, but I never once laughed at anything that this villain said or did.  There was nothing likable nor 'hatable' about him.  Frankly, this story could have done without him.

The story starts with Doug as a pudgy and uncool vampire, then he changes into a mysteriously cool and blase vampire.  He drops his bestfriend, confronts the girl he likes, and almost kills his girlfriend.  I never liked the changes that happen to Doug, I never even liked Doug that much in the first place.  He was whiny, selfish, and uncaring about others - and that's when he was just an uncool kid.  But when he started acting like a hot vampire, his attitude grew even worse.  At first, I sympathized with his attitude because I was thinking that was his defense mechanism in order to cope with being a geek and unpopular, but cruelty and taking advantage of your friend?  I thought that was too much.  

This book also digressed A LOT.  There was the main plot, and then some minor plots were introduced without ever being resolved.  Some interesting characters that never got explored, more interesting plots that never got finished.  Seriously, this story had a lot of stories - if not potential - that would have made this book better than what it has become. 

The writing and the premise were both great.  But I did not care about the execution.  Seriously, there were more than a hundred ways this story could have turned out and it would be way better than this one actually became.  Even the ending could have been better, instead of sounding like the author just wrote a hasty ending in order to meet his deadline.  

To be a total geek about it:  this book was full of high-tech features, but it was just used as a calculator.  Didn't get that?  That's the point.

In Office Hours by Lucy Kellaway

(Photo taken from Goodreads)

Title:  In Office Hours
Author:  Lucy Kellaway
Publisher:  Hachette Book Group
Publication Date:  2/7/2011

Language: English

Format:  Digital copy

Pages:  255 pages

ISBN-13:  9780446565691

Source:  Advanced reader's digital copy from HarperCollins, via NetGalley

Buy this book on Amazon
Rating:

I've been working a total of three years now, and it's still very funny to me when the topic of workplace romance is broached during lunch hour.  I've seen a few of my co-workers being romanced by their supervisors, managers, and what-not, but I have not given it much thought because they still maintain a professional attitude at work.  I myself never explored such territory as I preferred having a boyfriend outside of my work environment.  I am terribly easy to distract, and thinking about a boyfriend - who is somewhere around the vicinity also working - in the midst of doing an enema to a geria patient, I'm afraid I would have lost my license very early on in my career.  So when I read the synopsis for In Office Hours, I was mainly intrigued to see how it goes wrong, seeing as how I can only see when it goes right:  One of my colleagues just married her supervisor, but she's resigning and would be busy making a home for him.  Clearly, where I work, workplace romance is the last thing to worry about as it's always conducted decently and discreetly, so I wanted to explore a situation where it could get ugly and distasteful.  

The story revolves around two very capable and intelligent career women:  Stella is one of the more senior executives in Atlantic Energy and her career could go nowhere but up.  She's married to a previously successful film maker and has two children.  Bella, on the other hand, is PA to Stella's colleague.  She is a single mother in constant guard from her irresponsible and dangerous ex-boyfriend who keeps forcing to see their daughter.  When her boss resigns, she is transferred to another senior executive and embarks on a clandestine relationship with him.  Stella is assigned to handle two management trainees - one intelligent but bland female, and one insolent but very perceptive and talented male - and after being relentlessly pursued, begins an affair with her male trainee.

In Office Hours was supposed to showcase the emotional and professional dangers of illicit relationships with your co-workers - specifically your boss or your subordinate.  It was meant to narrate two affairs with parallel beginnings, circumstances, and consequences.  It was expected to reveal the exciting and dreadful risk of starting affairs in the office setting, while conducting business on the side.  Yes, business on the side, because as exhibited in this book, the relationship takes centerstage and the business just playing second fiddle, if not completely ignored. 

This book showed that, but sadly, nothing more.

I rarely drop something I do without finishing it.  But I almost did not finish this book not because it was horrible or offensive but because even early on in the first few chapters, this book became a drag and if I could just skim through the rest and get to the ending already, I would have done so.  But I almost never 'not finish' books because I felt as if I was doing the author a disservice.  They wrote a book to be read.  Maybe not from start to finish, but if you do not finish a book, what's the point then of a writer writing an ending?  So I plodded onto the story even if it was really getting boring and repetitive already.  While reading, I was trying to think which parts made me think that it was getting uninteresting, but I really could not point out something specific.  The characters, while sometimes feeling like mere stereotypes, can actually make me feel some sympathy.  The narration, alternating between Bella and Stella's points of view, is sometimes confusing but altogether consistent and solid.  

Altogether, the plot, the characters, the idea of a book about illicit liaisons in the workplace is a unique, if not remarkable, but the way it was executed was only mildly interesting.  Or maybe I am the wrong person for this book, as reading the reviews, it seems like a lot of people really liked the story.  Again, it may just be a question of me not having the enough number of brain cells required for such reading, or maybe the book itself clearly has its shortcomings.  But whatever the answer may be, In Office Hours is a good read for passing the time, while waiting for that email from that guy from the other department, or while counting down the hours before you meet your boss in some clandestine location to conduct some 'unbusinesslike' business. 

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I received this book free of charge from the publisher, Hachette Book Group through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.