A Spot of Bother (Vintage)
by Mark Haddon
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark HaddonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-08-14
ISBN: 0307278867
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of A Spot of Bother (Vintage)
Book Review: Spot of bother review
Summary: 4 Stars
A Spot of bother;preceded by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time wasPublished on August 16, 2006, three years after the release of its predecessor, it had high expectations because of the high ratings of Mark Haddon's first book. Haddon provides a different start then his first novel with A Spot of bother, and it seems as if each character is unlikeable. Of course, even though this may be true, in the end you start to care and eventually want to keep reading and now what happens to the characters the story revolves around.
The story starts off with an explanation of the main characters life, being George Hall, a 57 year old hypochondriac who lives with his wife, and has two grown children. George seems to be an interesting character after finding out that he is a hypochondriac, but after reading about him he has qualities that seem to make you dislike him. He seems to not be understanding, selfish, and crazy. Each of these personality quirks are shown pretty quickly in the beginning of the book; Starting off with finding out that George's son, Jaimie, is homosexual, and he cannot come to terms with this. He almost dismisses the idea from his mind, while later finding a lesion on his leg, and because of the state of his mind, he thinks its cancer. Thinking this, he decides he can get rid of the cancer by getting rid of the lesion. Taking a pair of scissors, he cuts it off, almost bleeding to death. His wife, Jean arrives home, and you meet his wife. She seems very distant to George throughout the story, and late in the book you find out why. George's other child, Katie, is also having problems of her own. She is a single mother, and is planning to get married to a middle class man named Ray. George, his wife, and Jaimie don't seem to like Ray although he only has only shown good intentions throughout the book. Of course, having personalities that include being selfish, mean at times, and a bit of craziness, you can't expect much out of them. The family seems to not really care about each other if it interferes with their own current lifestyles, and throughout the book it seems like this won't change and you continue to dislike each character the story revolves around. Later in the book though, this changes. A Spot of bother has a few good surprises throughout the book, mainly being how each member of George's direct family change and turn around how they live their lives for what seems to be better.
The plot slowly develops, and each character eventually grows in importance. Haddon describes the story well enough that you seem to get to understand each character better and how they think farther in the book, and you may get attached. All in all, A Spot of bother was on a different planet in a sense than its predecessor, but was still interesting and keep you wanting to read. It had a good plot, character scheme, and used great language to get through to its readers. For myself, A Spot of bother was enjoyable and interesting, and I recommend it if you liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, or just have some free time on your hands. Haddon created another great interesting book.
Summary of A Spot of Bother (Vintage)
A Washington Post Best Book of the YearA Spot of Bother is Mark Haddon?s unforgettable follow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. At sixty-one, George Hall is settling down to a comfortable retirement. When his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting married to the deeply inappropriate Ray, the Hall family is thrown into a tizzy. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.As parents and children fall apart and come together, Haddon paints a disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.Domestic Life Books
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