Book Group: Sept 2015 - The Man Who Forgot His Wife discussion thread
6 watchers
Sep 2015
1:37pm, 10 Sep 2015
21,034 posts
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Night-owl
**** Do not read if you haven't read The Man Who Forgot His Wife by John O'Farrell**** Spoilers ahead |
Sep 2015
1:53pm, 17 Sep 2015
5,517 posts
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Little Nemo - this kitten can
I had a major problem with this book. I felt that someone losing a massive chunk of their life didn't work as a comic book. I couldn't get past the point of thinking that if that happened to someone they wouldn't carry on as though most of their life was OK. They would actually be floored by it and probably unable to cope. I can't imagine that anyone would leave their kids with him or let him go back to teaching! I know I should have put this to one side but the writing wasn't good enough for me to ignore this. Although bits were genuinely funny and I even giggled a couple of times I found some of the humour a bit forced or just not funny. I also found some of the characters unbelievable, especially the children. They were idealised beyond belief and behaved impeccably for most of the book. I thought about how if I had a parent who couldn't even remember who I was I would have completely freaked out. I also would not have coped so well with visiting a dying grand-parent. I also wasn't happy about how much his character was changed by it. The book seemed to be saying that the only way to change yourself is to erase yourself. It was easy to read and he's obviously a good writer but I think this book was misjudged. I wonder if there was a better way of doing this book, more as a black comedy and without the happy endings. If there was a poll I would probably give this a 4 or 5. Has anyone else finished it? Maybe someone else really loved it! |
Sep 2015
2:35pm, 17 Sep 2015
429 posts
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Unity
I go along with you Nemo. In fact I had trouble getting into the book to begin with. Much of it I found rather trite. However, at various later points it did give me ideas to think about, particularly the different views of the "truth" and trying to see things from another's viewpoint.
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Sep 2015
10:22am, 21 Sep 2015
7,848 posts
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Columba
While I agree with most of the above, I read it as something light and frothy (and "feel-good" about marriage) and consequently wasn't bothered by the lack of realism.
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Oct 2015
10:16pm, 7 Oct 2015
18,641 posts
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McGoohan
I am in two minds about this one. O'Farrell knows how to turn a funny sentence. As a parent of (almost) grown children who played lots of Pokemon cards, I loved the bit about the rules of court being like Pokemon. In fact it was pretty consistently funny/witty throughout. Not sure about the plot though. I had the slight problem that half way through, my wife nicked it and read it, so I had to pick it up again and had lost my thread a bit. This is relevant because t'missus had a criticism I might otherwise have overlooked. This was that J O'F had constructed the book based on his research and then as the novel was required to delay the ending, we'd get another set piece. Case in point 'I can't remember sex' so we get a set-up based on that. Or My biggest problem though is that I didn't believe the sequence of events. Right from the beginning I was thinking, 'The wife has a new boyfriend, hasn't she?' and it was ages before this was revealed to the reader. Lots of facts about his life that we are slowly drip-fed seemed to me like they would have been told to him right away. Having said all that, I enjoyed it while I was reading it. I've set up a poll for this now. 6/10 from me. |
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Oct 2015
12:04pm, 8 Oct 2015
8,005 posts
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Columba
(Was there supposed to be something after that "or", McG?)
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Nov 2019
7:12am, 26 Nov 2019
3,622 posts
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westmoors
I finally got round to reading this. Found it very easy to read and as a source of entertainment I really enjoyed it.
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Nov 2019
8:28am, 26 Nov 2019
42,278 posts
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McGoohan
Wow, this is a blast from the past westmoors 
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Nov 2019
9:30am, 26 Nov 2019
3,623 posts
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westmoors
I know. It finally got to the top of my kindle list!
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Nov 2019
9:36am, 26 Nov 2019
42,280 posts
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McGoohan
Having just reread my review I remember almost nothing about this book! No idea what was supposed to come after the ‘or’.
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