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I Terribili Segreti Di Maxwell Sim (2010)

by Jonathan Coe(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

8807018101 (ISBN13: 9788807018107)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Feltrinelli

review 1: I had really liked Jonathan Coe's other book 'House of Sleep' and I was looking forward to read this book. The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim was very engaging. The way it was written invokes empathy from the readers, whether you like the character or not. About three quarter of the book, I decided that I didnt like the character (yes it took awhile. The writer was that good to keep you intrigued and sympathised!). Whilst I really liked 'House of Sleep' and thought the twist at the end was so powerful.... this book also has a twisted end. Except, I felt cheated. I ended the last page with a 'What the F was that?' feeling. I enjoyed reading it while it lasted, but absolutely disappointed with the ending. I felt after so many twists that the book had at the last quarter of ... morethe book, that final twist was a blow and the author was just pushing it abit too far. There was no sense of peace when i finished reading it.
review 2: TTPOFMS is told from a first person perspective with shifts to other perspectives through letters, journals, etc. Max is a 48 year old loner who makes most of his connections through social networking (don’t we all?) but is somehow unable to form real bonds in the real world. The book opens with Max observing an interaction between a mother and daughter in a Chinese restaurant that is as warm and intimate as it is alien and odd to max. Max is on sick leave from his job as the after sales liaison for a big department store. He finds himself working for a “green” toothbrush company, on a trip across the Shetland Islands as part of a misguided ad campaign: “We reach furthest.” On the way, he forms an unhealthy attachment to the voice of his GPS on the company Prius, as he diverts from his goal to visit lost people from his past, including an old crush, and friends long lost or forgotten, all the while eluding the one thing that might complete him: meaningful human interaction.On the entertainment/readability scale, this book rates very high. It moved along, it held my interest, and even tied into a subject that I had done some reading on—the story of Donald Crowhurst, a sailor involved in a round the world sailing race back in the late 60’s (this whole adventure was written about in a great book by Peter Nichols called A Voyage for Madmen). Crowhurst faked his voyage, spending months idling around in the Atlantic Ocean, sending fake progress reports and faking his logs, never completing the trip around the rough waters of the Antarctic Ocean which was the agreed upon route by all participants. Max feels himself turning into this character as he makes this voyage in the Prius which parallels Crowhursts’ fake voyage.I did think that this book lost some of its focus about social media and its role in destroying our ability to interact; it became more about Max’s own unique dysfunctions and family. It could have really gone somewhere had it explored the social media versus disconnected humanity a little further. But overall, I still enjoyed it. less

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