The Blurb:
Bartholomew Neil is thirty-eight and lost. He’s lived his whole life, up till a few weeks ago, with his devoted mum, but now she has died Bartholomew has no idea how to be on his own. His grief counsellor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded learn how to fly?
So Bartholomew turns to Richard Gere, the man his mom adored from afar, in the hope he can offer some answers.
It was good. It was OK. I learnt about the Parliamentary Cats in Canada and have packed a bag. I liked the characters, they were also, OK. It didn’t annoy me and it was easy to read.
The ending can be predicted very early on and had the book been any longer I would have felt cheated, but as it wasn’t a taxing read (in fact Quick’s writing is extraordinary pleasant) I wasn’t that bothered.
There are so many books out there now with “quirky” voices and “offbeat” characters that I feel an author has to do something really special to be heard and it turns out that using Richard Gere as a narrative device isn’t enough (*scratches off “WRITING IDEAS!” list*).
This book has left no deep impression on me, and for that reason I would advice you to wait and pick this up in a charity shop; there is no pressing need for anyone to read this (especially as everyone is still reading The Humans) and the warm feeling you will get from donating money is quite a fitting connection to the book’s themes.
I give this book two shrugs and an alright.
Book info:
- ISBN: 9781447247470
- Published by Pan Macmillan, April 2014
- Sent copy by publisher through Netgalley