Rate this book

Tutti Mi Danno Del Bastardo (2012)

by Nick Hornby(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

8823506182 (ISBN13: 9788823506183)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Guanda

review 1: After finishing "Stuff I've Been Reading", I was rather interested in Nick Hornby's other works. "Everyone's Reading Bastard" is a short story by him published in June 2013. Elaine is a newspaper columnist who's in the midst of divorcing her soon-to-be ex-husband Charlie. She starts to write a column about him, named "Life with an Ex. He’s Gone but Not Forgotten." and talks about his failures and flaws in every aspect of their married life. How Charlie reacts and tries to get on with his life is the part the author focuses on.I don't like it; it was a disappointment. It's not about the likability of the characters (I don't have to identify or "like" a character to like or read a book. Don't want to be friends with Humbert Humbert or Acheron Hades either, you know...), bu... moret I don't feel them either. They are cardboard cutouts, not living, breathing entities. Hornby is not really telling a story, he's describing and analyzing his characters, dissecting their relationship with each other. Some could say - because it's from Charlie's point of view - that he's the one analyzing everything, because he IS an analyst in his line of work. Still feels a little too limited, too emotionless and fabricated to me. "Everyone's Reading Bastard" sounds more like a concept, a story idea or exposé of a novel to be written in the future. There are a few good scenes (Charlie and his phone calls with his mother about the column), but all in all a too short and rather forgettable read.
review 2: Charlie gets divorced from Elaine and, suddenly free of her ex-husband’s presence, Elaine begins writing about Charlie in her weekly column titled “Bastard” published in a national newspaper. And, much to Charlie’s horror, she is writing about everything – his bad habits, his sexual performance, his parenting faux pas - everything she hated about him and their marriage. And now everyone can read about it!Nick Hornby’s struck upon an interesting idea for a story but it quickly becomes clear why this became a short story and not a novel – besides the setup, nothing much happens. Charlie is publicly shamed for being an inattentive lover, a less-than-brilliant father, and a philanderer, but otherwise the concept doesn’t advance much beyond the column being published each week and Charlie being embarrassed every time. And then it ends rather abruptly.I thought the scene where Charlie and Helena, the victim of a competing column written by a vengeful husband called “Bitch”, awkwardly get together in a hotel room one afternoon was funny, and the story is amusing enough for the most part. But it’s not up there with Hornby’s better short story efforts like the brilliant “Otherwise Pandemonium” and “Not a Star”. less

Download links for: Tutti mi danno del bastardo

Advertising