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Last week, St. Martin's Read-it-First program allowed us to preview The Pursuit of Other Interests, by Jim Kokoris. The book jacket describes this book as a reluctant journey of self-discovery by the main character, Charlie Baker, a neurotic workaholic who loses his job.The preview starts off with a description of Charlie's morning activities. I did not find this interesting – in fact, it left a highly negative impression of Charlie that I could not shake throughout the seventeen pages of the preview. I found the writing to be a bit bland – there were moments where Charlie's stress and anxiety were depicted; however, they did not evoke a response from me. Could this lack of response be blamed on my initial impression of Charlie? Yes, but I have enjoyed other books where I did not like the main character.
The road to self-discovery had yet to be traveled in the preview. The journey may make the book more enjoyable and be worth taking; however, I will not be taking it with Charlie.
Looking forward to the upcoming preview!
This doesn't sound like your kind of book.
ReplyDeleteNo, not really. I am still so far behind in my reading - two books to finish & review, one finished and needs review and a third to read & review. These are my current "commitments".
ReplyDeleteWork revs up when you least expect it - I have vacation coming up soon so ... I hope to completely catch up and pull ahead (hopefully).
A good lesson for authors to make sure they set the stage with the character before the story takes off!
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