The Best of Adam Sharp: A Novel (edició 2018)

From the book jacket: Adam Sharp is content. He gets on well with his partner, Claire, he does the occasional consulting job in IT to keep busy, and while he doesn’t play the piano much anymore, he is the music expert at the local pub’s trivia night. Life may not be rock ‘n’ roll, but neither is it easy listening. And yet, something has always felt off-key. And that’s his nostalgia for what might have been, his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with Angelina Brown, a smart and sexy, strong-willed actress who taught him for the first time, as he played piano and she sand, what it meant to find – and then lose – love. How different might his life be if he hadn’t let her walk away?

My reactions
Meh.

Is this the best of Adam Sharp? Probably. But it’s definitely NOT the best of Graeme Simsion. I really enjoyed Simsion’s The Rosie Project, but this did absolutely nothing for me. Neither Adam nor Angelina seemed at all mature enough for a real love relationship. They were both self-centered and closed off from genuine connection with another person. There was no great love here that I could see. I saw two people fall in “lust,” act on it and then walk away, only to reconsider decades later. They seemed motivated by boredom (and perhaps revenge). The whole situation when they re-connect twenty years later was just strange and creepy and distasteful.

I did enjoy all the music references, though I still wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. ( )

olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/2017/08/12/graeme-simsion-orokke-holnapig/ ( )

Adam Sharp is haunted by a lost love and all the music that goes with that era. He and Angelina Brown met when he was playing piano in a bar in Australia in his 20s. She requested a song and requested to sing it herself and the attraction was instant. After a 6 month fling with all the romance, sex and freedom inherent in a nascent 20s relationship, Adam went on with his job tour and Angelina went back to her shaky marriage and they both wondered what if. 20 years later a simple email re-connects them and they explore what could have been in a weird, wild weekend in a French country house in the company of her husband Charlie. Meanwhile, Adam had a stable, if stale relationship with Claire all that time, newly ended by the prospect of job travel to America. This is nothing like the funny light-hearted Rosie books, though still humorous and entertaining. It has an edge to it, similar to Nick Hornby's writing, with a wash of melancholy, but thoughtful reflection. Adam realizes: "There was a place for lost love and it was not in a French farmhouse with a married couple struggling to get through a crisis. Lost love belongs in a 3 minute song, pulling back feelings from a time when they came unbidden, recalling the infatuation, the walking on sunshine that cannot last and the pain of its loss, whether through parting or the passage of time, reminding us that we are emotional beings." (287) Great references to music throughout and it is worthwhile to watch Adam grow up, even if it is much delayed. ( )

I don't even know what to say. Apparently Simsion decided to write a book that would cause the majority of the readers to want to find him and kick him in he shins. If you want to read about a middle aged man who after hearing from an ex fling from 20 years ago just turns into a walking and talking cliche, pick this. If you want to read some very uncomfortable sex scenes which will cause you to want to scrub your eyes from your head, pick this. The flow is off and the very little dialogue that happens is painful. Eventually the book limps to an undeserved ending.

"The Best of Adam Sharp" is a tediously long book where the main character Adam flashbacks to when he went to Australia for work 22 years ago. Adam is in a rut. About 50 years old and living with his long time partner Claire, Adam is resigned to working periodically, playing music pub quizzes, and sleeping with his girlfriend sporadically. When Adam hears from his ex called Angelina one day, he gets the fire back in his life that he needed. What goes from there is an overly long explanation of how Adam met and started seeing Angelina.

Simsion goes from present to past okay, the book is just boring though. I never cared one whit about Angelina (who is selfish as the day is long) or Adam's relationship. I think Simsion wanted you to root for these two, but since Angelina was separated when she and Adam first met, and when she contacts him years later (married with three kids) I just felt annoyed.

What makes me laugh is Adam spends most of the book justifying what is about to come. Claire who is very successful and about to sell an in demand software which will cause her to have to relocate to the US for a number of years, definitely deserves better. She is doing her best to connect with Adam. Adam is resentful (believe me) that she is contemplating leaving.

Angelina is a mess and when we get to part two with her and Adam connecting again was a mess. I maybe read while my fingers covered my eyes.

The flow was off and writing subpar. This reads like a budget High Fidelity and doesn't work. I didn't care about Adam, the songs he talks about, and how certain songs brought back memories of Angelina. There isn't anything funny in this one. If you are expecting to laugh like you may have while reading "The Rosie Project" it's not going to happen.

The setting moves from Australia, the UK, and France.

The ending was a mess. I guess the lesson learned is cheat, just don't tell your spouse about it. ( )

Adam is having a midlife crisis, wondering what might have been with an old flame. When his current and long-time flame is flickering out, he gets the chance to go for broke. The premise is interesting, and I thought the music tie-in was delightful. But in the middle of the story, starting with Adam’s reunion and vacation with Angelina and her husband Charlie, the tale loses all delight and credibility. The author takes what might have been a tender and poignant reunion, and turns it into an r-rated film. If you are expecting something as clever and entertaining as The Rosie Project, you will be sorely disappointed. I give this book two stars based only and solely on the songs that were included. ( )