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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Port Moody Public Library.
Sep 20, 2015gvenkatesh rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
How much you enjoy a train traveling at 100mph depends on whether you are inside watching the more interesting landscape going by slowly or outside watching the train go by in a blur. Such is the case with the introduction to the protagonist via his entire train of thought unleashed at you rapidly to start the novel. If you manage to stay on board, you get to know the character - an Irish NYC Dentist wallowing in existential angst not having found any sense of belonging or connection with anything he has tried - from baseball fandom to personal relationships. The reader is exposed to so many different inner thoughts that parts of it are guaranteed to resonate (primarily with guys) who may hence like the novel while parts of it will turn-off others (primarily gals). He is alternately witty, snarky, nit-picky and observant (but not perceptive). The advertised premise is an interesting one - someone steals his identity to create an online persona which might be a better version of him rather than trying to destroy him. It turns out to be just a small means to an end to lend a voice to the alter ego. The book is more about religion or lack of in the protagonist's search for connections and places to belong. To support this, the author assembles a work-family - a Catholic mother figure as a hygienist, a Jewish spouse figure as his office manager and ex-girfriend, a daughter figure as an assistant who like daughters of certain age refuses to talk to him and he has no clue as to what she is thinking. The problem with the book is that the characters are just props for a kitchen sink of ideas and thoughts thrown at you none of which are explored with any depth or insight. The questions aren't very original either. Is the belief in God critical to a religion? Can atheism be a religion too with a core belief of doubting existence of God? Does fandom for a sports team (or in the current generations could be to a corporation like Apple) a substitute to provide the same sense of belonging that religion does? In the end, he just punts on any of the promising themes/questions raised in the novel as if the author himself lost the plot amidst all the ideas thrown about or just ran out of steam in coming up with more ideas. It is an interesting book to read but is not satisfying like listening to a soloist whose style is to play as many notes as he can, as fast as he can. The good notes don't linger long enough to pleasure and the bad notes go away too quickly to be irritated by. Just as one starts to see a promising riff develop, it is suddenly replaced by something else in another direction. The audience can appreciate the mastery of the instrument but the performance can leave you cold at the end.