We had our book group last night and discussed our latest joint read – “A Visit From The Good Squad”. It was recommended to me by a male friend of mine who had read that it was one of the top books recommended by a collective group of authors – which to me was praise indeed.
We had a very interesting discussion about it – one friend absolutely loved it – said it was immensely clever the way she weaved an intricate story through the book, that she had to keep referring back and that the characters were therefore fascinating.
I on the other hand did not understand it at all. I didn’t get the characters and consequently (possibly) wasn’t that interested in working it all out. One whole chapter was in picture/graph format and I know we were meant to be understanding the mind of an interesting child but I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I am clearly not clever enough.
Her style is very contemporary and some sections were very readable – like when Kitty the actress ended up being flown out to meet a notorious dictator or when Dolly managed to destroy her career – but to be honest, most of it was too farfetched. The style reminded me of the Babycakes books….
Anyway, if any of you have read it and can offer any insight into what on earth she was talking about I’d be most grateful.
Our next book is Escape From Camp 14 by Blaine Harden which sounds incredibly harrowing – an account of one man’s escape from the North Korean Gulag. I listened to it being read out on Radio 4 last week. It sounds horrendous.
But important.
