author: russell smith
completion date: 18/08/10
mehtod: purchased
i was so looking forward to this novel. i love reading russell smith's column in the globe and mail. he's snappy and witty and a bit of a dick. so i thought this would translate into a funny and sharp novel. i was wrong. i was so wrong that i'm kind of put off with myself. even thought there's no way i could have known i feel like i should have. it was so much more of a let down having thought that it was going to be at least an ok book because he is obviously a good writer.
one of the main problems is justin himself. justing being the protagonist. justin is a dick and actually kind of a pervert. his entire life revolves around wanting to have sex with this really messed up girl, jenna. one of the reviews on the back said 'this is a man who clearly understands and loves women' but it feels like someone who doesn't like or understand men. justin starts out as this totally square guy and then thru jenna he gets into this world of pit bulls and drugs and guns. it just seems too far fetched. the only likeable thing about jenna is that she is beautiful (according to justin, but she sounds more trashy). she's one of those bitchy stupid people that blames all her problems on everyone else, can't hold a job because she thinks everyone is against her, everybody is mean to her and she shouldn't have to answer to anybody. instead of making a badass character, these features amount to just making a whiny bitch that i was really sick of about halfway through the novel. and without liking either of them i didn't know how to relate to the book. i had no reason to care about these dumb, selfish people.
the sex scenes that he writes are also terrifying. they are just upsetting and really weirdly written. they made me feel so uncomfortable and i ended up just skipping them after a bit because there were WAY to many of them.
russel smith just disappointed me so much in this book, but the one thing that was neat about it is it almost reads like an homage to toronto. i am familiar with the area where justing lives, and where they hang out, they mention restaurants i have either walked by or eaten at, which was really cool because it gave me a reason to be absorbed in the novel. but i just hated the characters so much that even with this degree of relatability i still hated it.
xo-ellebee
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