I belong to a book club. We meet once a month (more or less) and discuss a book. Our format is that the hostess of the month gets to choose the book. This way you read things that you may not have otherwise picked and everyone gets the chance to pick a book. This works out well most of the time. Some books I really like, some I don't like all that much but am glad that I read, other books I don't like at all. Unfortunately, this month was one of the "don't like at all" months. We read The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein.
Stop reading now if you think you will want to read the book......
The book is told from the viewpoint of a dog. The dog relays the story of his owner, a race car driver. In the course of the story the man's wife dies, his in-laws try to get custody of his daughter, he is nearly bankrupted, and he has to fight a statutory rape charge by a niece. Oh, and then the dog dies. Sorry to spoil it for you, but you pretty much know that will happen from the beginning. It is sappy and saccharine. The writing is at about the 8th grade level. There are no great insights, no wonderful lines to quote, and lots of details about auto racing that might be interesting to somebody....not me.
So, while I often write recommendations for books, this time I'm writing a dis-recommendation (okay, I just spent 5 minutes looking for a word to mean the opposite of recommendation and couldn't find what I wanted....disapproval, condemnation, denouncement....none seemed right.)
My son says I should write "Usually I write a recommendation but this time I'm not. This book sucks."
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