Title: The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury
Author: David Desmond
Pages:224
Genre: Fiction, Humor
Yearly Count:12
Oliver Booth craves wealth, acknowledgment and prestige yet he goes about it in all the wrong ways. The more he scams and tries to pry up into the world that he admires the more it detests him and his slyness. He is the arrogant owner of a supposedly high-quality shop filled with "hecho en Mexico" reproductions. His luck goes from bad to worse when one of the bigshots- Margaret Van Buren sends him and his new assistant to France to purchase some furniture for her guest house. Booth's arrogance even when he has no clue of the language, culture or area get him into even bigger trouble. All his problems are not without the meddling of his assistant, who more than anyone would like to see him fail.
Oliver Booth is not a character with good qualities, and then when his assistant enters the scene I had high hopes for him. Once I saw that his only intent was getting whatever he could claw away from Booth in order to impress their boss Mrs. Van Buren I lost hope. I need at least one person in the book to look at and admire, this one was just a rat race. As much as I know that is probably more realistic, this didn't do it for me. I was expecting more depth than this gave, more depth of character, more depth of something and it was not there.
In parts it was funny, but soon bashing on Oliver Booth's weight wasn't humorous anymore. I started to feel worse for him because it seemed that everyone wanted to tear him down. It distressed me more than made me laugh. I understand that he got what was coming, but it was too much to watch. Not my cup 'o tea.
Was it yours? Tell me about it.
Other Reviews:
Ramya's Bookshelf
Bermuda Onion's Weblog
The Book Nook
Book Chatter and Other Stuff
6 comments:
I have not read this book, but it seems like this is a commentary on the rat race itself...which is obviously very dismal, but I agree there should be at least one character to like or cheer on.
This book was okay for me. Funny in parts, but way too silly in others.
I enjoyed the book.. it is one of those books where you really shouldn't think too much while reading..it is a really quick read though!
I thought this book was amusing, but in small doses!
This book didn't really do it for me
My review was more in line with yours. I didn't like any of the characters, thought the "satire" was too over the top, and I got so tired of everyone trying to teach Oliver a lesson when they could have just left him alone.
Post a Comment