This evening was the fourth meeting of The Blue Mountains Book Club and the feature book for this month was 88 Lines About 44 Women by Steven Lang.
With quiche in one hand and red wine in the other we had a wonderful discussion. I will admit that we slipped off onto tangents quite frequently, our favourite books and life in third world countries being the most popular, but we all had our own opinions of Lang's work, some good, some bad.
In our small turn-up, four ladies, we had three who enjoyed the book and one (me) who did not.
88 Lines About 44 Womenby Steven Lang
Genre; Fiction/Drama
Publisher; Penguin/Australia/2009
Pages; 258
ISBN; 978-0-670-07283-5
Plot; Lawrence Martin was once a famous musician who travelled the world, performing for screaming fans. Now he is spending his days strolling the Scottish countryside.
You see, Lawrence needed to get away, he needed to get away from his life. He needed to escape the shameful events of his past, one shameful action he will never forget.
But as love enters his life again he is forced to confront his past, and those people in it.
My Thoughts; So, as I have said, I was not a big fan of this book. It promised so much and gave so little.
When you begin to read a book about rockstars, drugs, sex, model girlfriends, murder, you automatically set yourself up for some "juicy stuff". This book didn't deliver that. Yes there were glimpses of the adventurous past, but not enough to excite me.
For me there was no climax, no point at which my heart raced or my breath quickened. There were hints at possible moments of exhilaration, but the book ended without those moments coming to fruition.
To me, this book was a massive party over which a wet blanket had been thrown.
At times I found it hard to follow, as did others in my book club. There are constant shifts in not only time, but locations as well; the now, the distant past, the recent past, Scotland, Australia. At the start of each paragraph I had to take a moment to think, "Okay, where and when are we now?"
What all the book club members did agree on was that it was refreshing to see a man discuss, and be candid, about relationships. Stereotypically, this is the realm of women's literature, so it was a nice change to read about relationships through the eyes of a male. Especially after having read the neurotic tangle which is Eat, Pray, Love.
To whom would I recommend this book? I am going to go out on a limb and say this book is the male version of "chick lit". A relationship based drama which would provide a good weekend worth of reading to a male needing a break from the typical "masculine" read.
Happy Reading!
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