Well Worth Bothering With (A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon)

Member Name: xBorgx

Product:	A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
Date:	15/08/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, well written

Disadvantages: None

Overture...

Ever since I read Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and was subsequently enthralled by the author's prose and ability to make such a tale an absolute page-turner, I knew his next one would be a must read. Strangely enough, though, it took me nearly three years to read A Spot of Bother.

My brother lent me the paperback version, and it then went on to sit on my book shelf for far too long. He kept asking me if I had read it yet, to which I would reply No, and therefore fear that I may get into a spot of bother because of this...


But during a recent holiday to the South of France, the book came along with me (as well as Angels and Demons, but that is another story) and I read it... sorry, I devoured it in fact! Another page-turner in deed!


Who is Mark Haddon..?

Having spent several years writing for TV and Radio, this British writer burst onto the scene with the aforementioned and award winning Curious Incident whose film rights have been sold to Warner Bros, by the way. Haddon teaches writing for the Arvon foundation and at Oxford University. Born in 1962 in Northampton, England, he now lives in Oxford with his wife and son.


So what about A Spot of Bother..?

This is the story of the dysfunctional Hall family. 57 year old George is suffering deep anxiety and is slowly going mad, not before finding out his wife is having an affair, which sends him further over the edge. Jean Hall is having said affair with George's ex work colleague David. Their daughter Katie has announced she is going to get married again, this time to a man all the family hate and whom she wonders if she really loves after all, or if she is just staying with him because he gets on so well with here son from her first marriage. Son Jamie is gay and about to be dumped by his boyfriend.

The story is all about the lead up to the coming wedding, during which we see each member of the family fall deeper and deeper into there respective holes. We discover that sometimes people are not what they seem, that those who appear to be the wrong 'sort' are probably the right sort after all.


It is not a very complicated story, then, but it is the actual sub-plots that make this a worthwhile read.


My View...

A Spot of Bother is a great read. I was not expecting anything brilliant, in fact I did not have any pre-misconceptions at all. Curious Incident was a classic, and I guess I did not think such a book could be bettered, but A Spot of Bother is very good in its own right.

It is a contract to the Curious Incident: it is an adult book, Curious Incident is a children's book. But like the first, it is very well written, one can relate to the characters whom the author has created so well, and believable. The prose is superb and the plot unfolds brilliantly.


If anything, I felt the author could have taken things one step further, and tightened the screw more (if you read it, you might know what I mean), but that is my only 'little' qualm.

Summary: A great beach read... heck, read it anywhere!