Scan barcode
A review by camanda
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
4.0
This book was an exhausting read, in a way that reading William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor is exhausting. The book starts, and it never stops. It never lets up. It's like chasing the wind. I absolutely loved this quality of the book and enjoyed reading it -- I read half of it in one evening and had it finished by the following afternoon. That part is no surprise to me; I love Taffy's writing in general.
The story itself? I'm a little torn. Like I said, I enjoyed reading the book. I wouldn't have kept reading it if the story were bad. I think what tears me up is, I do not see a lot of the things I heard from other reviewers, professional reviewers. Smart? That one I can't deny. But sexy? This did nothing for me there -- and there's a lot of it, so believe me when I tell you I had plenty of opportunities to find out. Funny? I honestly didn't find a damn thing in this book funny. Not in a way where it's loaded with horrible jokes, not at all; it's more like, if I was supposed to find Toby's dating life funny, or any of the characters' contempt for one another funny, I didn't. I found it sad, pathetic at times. But again, not in a bad way. Maybe that wasn't the intention but it didn't make the story less readable.
I'm actually currently on vacation in a large city where I've had time to wrest with some problems I'm going through, and I think for me this was the exact right time to read it, because any other time and place I may not have found it relatable. But maybe that's the surprise. Maybe there's something in here for you that you weren't expecting, either. I didn't even expect to like it based on how it started, and I didn't read the book I feel I was told I was getting. But it didn't matter in the end. I liked the book I got.
The story itself? I'm a little torn. Like I said, I enjoyed reading the book. I wouldn't have kept reading it if the story were bad. I think what tears me up is, I do not see a lot of the things I heard from other reviewers, professional reviewers. Smart? That one I can't deny. But sexy? This did nothing for me there -- and there's a lot of it, so believe me when I tell you I had plenty of opportunities to find out. Funny? I honestly didn't find a damn thing in this book funny. Not in a way where it's loaded with horrible jokes, not at all; it's more like, if I was supposed to find Toby's dating life funny, or any of the characters' contempt for one another funny, I didn't. I found it sad, pathetic at times. But again, not in a bad way. Maybe that wasn't the intention but it didn't make the story less readable.
I'm actually currently on vacation in a large city where I've had time to wrest with some problems I'm going through, and I think for me this was the exact right time to read it, because any other time and place I may not have found it relatable. But maybe that's the surprise. Maybe there's something in here for you that you weren't expecting, either. I didn't even expect to like it based on how it started, and I didn't read the book I feel I was told I was getting. But it didn't matter in the end. I liked the book I got.