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Domestic Violets (2011)

by Matthew Norman(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062065114 (ISBN13: 9780062065117)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: First off, this is a bad title and cover. Before I finally started it, I thought for a long time this was chick-lit, for lack of a better term. Good thing I read other people's reviews. Turns out it's very Tropper-esque, which is quite alright by me. The first half of this book is pretty funny. The back half though, dragged for me. It felt like it was wrapping up for a long time, and then somehow the end felt dragged out even more. But then it got emotional in a good way, unexpectedly, so that was nice. In the end I liked it, and would check out the author's next effort, which hopefully has a stronger last act.Also, personal pet peeve: I cant stand when movies and books say "in a movie, X, Y and Z would happen", or "in a book, this would happen", and then add, "but this is... moren't a book. It's real life". Stop doing that. This book did it a lot.
review 2: While I was reading this novel, I couldn't help but think of Richard Russo's STRAIGHT MAN. Both great books, both eerily similar. Imagine my lack of surprise when, in the "meet the author" section in the back, Norman gushes about his man crush on Russo.Does that mean I think this book is bad? Of course not. I think it's a fine novel with a funny MC and some great language. I also think it's Russo's style. Was this done on purpose, to be a kind of parallel drawn between the MC's authorly ambitions and Norman's own experience? No clue. I suppose it would be funny if that was the case. less

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