A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon

I’m going through a phase. It’s a very enjoyable phase. After years of reading typically ‘highbrow’ literature like Dickens, Hardy, the Brontes and various other whopping great tomes, I have just discovered the joys of modern authors like Joanne Harris, Nick Hornby and, most recently, Mark Haddon. Haddon has written two novels ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ (review to follow shortly) and, most recently, ‘A spot of Bother’ which this review is about. Plot Outline: Retirement should be a peaceful, enjoyable and selfish relief from the world of work. This is certainly how George, the unlikely ‘hero’ of the tale ...  Read the complete review

I was very curious about Mark Haddon's second literary offering, after his first book: the award winning and highly acclaimed 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time', which I absolutely loved. I found it's originality and style (for those that don't know, it's written from the perspective of an autistic child) really interesting and enlightening, so when hearing that 'A Spot of Bother' was written from a more conventional narrative, I was keen to see how Haddon would fair. My hopes were high as the book jacket boasts accolades such as 'unforgettable' and ' brilliant'. 'A Spot of Bother' introduces the reader to a far from functional family. We meet ...  Read the complete review

Mark Haddon was always going to have trouble following up the spectacular success of his debut novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time”. For that difficult “second album”, he decided to stick with what he seems to know best – the dysfunctional family. This was both a sensible and a poor decision. Sensible, because tonally and plot-wise, Spot is very different from Dog, yet readers of his first book will feel immediately comfortable and familiar with its style. On the other hand, anyone expecting a sequel to Dog is likely to feel a little let down. The basic plot follows the trials and tribulations of an ordinary family, the build-up ...  Read the complete review

WHY THIS BOOK? I haven’t read much fiction this year. In fact, only five of the twenty-seven books I have read so far in 2007 have been fiction. But I did make an effort to read this one – A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. I bought it, because I enjoyed his previous novel – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – and was interested to see what this one would be like. But I was also attracted by its theme of depression, as I have suffered with that myself, on and off for five years. So I bought the paperback version of the book from Amazon for £3.99. The cover price is £7.99. It’s the sort of book you would probably notice on ...  Read the complete review

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for quite some time you can't have missed the worldwide phenomenom that was the authors previous multi-award winning novel "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" one of those few novels that was launched almost simultaneously for both adults and children and which successful satisfied both audiences Its a damn good read. It was endearing and engrosing and based around a 15 year old autistic boy and his investigation into the death of a neighbours pet poodle. Following on the tail strings of that you'll no doubt be expecting a sequel or perhaps another adult / childrens market hybrid novel. You'll be ...  Read the complete review