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Der Gute Dieb (2009)

by Matthew Dicks(Favorite Author)

3.68 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

3442373050 (ISBN13: 9783442373055)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Blanvalet

review 1: I can't quite bring myself to give this five stars. It was delightful, and I really, really enjoyed it and I will definitely be recommending it to people, but there just wasn't enough there there to bump it up to 5 stars.The first person narration was spot on for this novel and I found myself cheering for Martin the whole way. I also especially liked watching him grow as a person as he slowly moves from somewhat artificial connections with his clients to actual, real human connection. Really great. Read it.
review 2: A good read, yes... Somewhere between As Good As It Gets, a great film about how love can be the best agent for change, specifically in regards to serious illness & Klosterman's The Visible Man, one of my favorite books regarding morally questionab... morele career choice involving secretly spying on others in their private lives; while not necessarily a violent wrong, wrong nonetheless. (Obviously similar to Monk... But I feel like the media over sensationalized that one, negating what it or really like to suffer from the disorder; at least a serious version of it... ) The first thing I would like to say is that Martin does not have the symptoms to be diagnosed. At the most he has some serious anxiety in specific situations. Other than that, he is simply a lonely, socially awkward, shy guy with intelligence along with imaginative ideas for his life choices. That being said, his "tendencies" are not easy to change & it was quite beautiful to watch him gradually become a better man, first when he sees his clients in need, then as he falls in love with Laura. (Yes, I am referencing the line, "You make me want to be a better man" from As Good As It Gets). Something Missing was also quite hilarious at times, reading like a satire. So, why, one might wonder, is this only a three star rather than a five? Well, unlike The Visible Man, this is a debut. Unfortunately, it shows. Much of the novel is numbingly predictable, although the hilarious vignettes & creative adventures Martin finds himself in mostly overshadows this. The foremost foundation in writing is to "show, not tell". Here, the author does some showing, and a lot of telling. To every detail. A play by play. Not leaving anything to the reader's imagination. Even telling things he showed already. Both the predictability and tendency to over tell are most evident in the chapters with dialogue, at the end of the novel. The author has characters rebelling entire scenes; Laura's words seem literally taken from a textbook stereotype; Martin's client-turned-friend tells him things likewise from a personality textbook, as if he is a child. As the main character, Martin, already realizes, the elaborate, methodical, over attention to detail is not always something good. The unnecessary restating, the telling of something better left to the reader's imagination... In this case, something is not missing. Something is extra... less

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