Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Sorry I Wasn't What You Needed by James Bailey

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4 Stars
 
Raise your hand if you’re the kind of weirdo who thinks a book about a man who has to return to his hometown because his father just committed suicide is the perfect selection for Father’s Day reading material?

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Nah, keep it up ‘cause I’M that kind of weirdo too!

Full disclosure time. I requested Sorry I Wasn’t What You Needed for one reason and one reason alone . . .

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Yep. It sounded like a knock-off version of This Is Where I Leave You and since Tropper hasn’t offered me up any of his tasty little creations in quite some time I am willing to accept all substitutions. And this one wasn’t bad at all . . . it was just different. Which it should be, right? I mean, if it was a carbon copy of Tropper’s style I’d probably be bitching a huge fit. This was a solid 4 Star read for me. Obviously the downward spiral to misery is my recent cup of tea . . .

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and James Bailey is definitely an author who can turn a phrase . . .

“I fan the opening with my hand to encourage the death-infused particles to disperse into the surrounding air. Many of them cling still to the faux sheepskin covers like dew, infiltrating my pants and sweatshirt almost immediately upon contact as I sink into the bucket seat.”

I also liked the fact that there was some ambiguity remaining at the end of the novel. I mean, really, on what planet does a death by suicide ever provide the survivors with the answers they need?

My only real complaints about this story were the characters. In This Is Where I Leave You (as in all of Tropper’s books), we are presented a loveable loser who you just can’t help but root for. In Sorry we don’t get this . . .

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Instead we get this . . .

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and while there was plenty of this . . .

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there wasn’t quite enough of this to balance it out . . .

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Still – an excellent read that I would recommend.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
Thank you, NetGalley!

1 comment:

  1. I just spent an hour going through your reviews. Even if I didn't feel quite the same way about a book I love your review style. We agreed on this one so I linked to your review - http://125pages.com/sorry-i-wasnt-what-you-needed-james-bailey/.

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