A long way down.

Last night Chris and I went to our first discussion meeting for the book group we recently joined. The book was A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby. Every time I read one of his novels I am left pretty ambivalent. I'm not a fan of the self-consciously stylized pop culture references, the ones that say "I'm smarter than you" even though the references themselves aren't that smart. I'm really not a fan of the flat character perspective, which issue was all the more prevalent in this book because the story is told not just from one flat character's perspective but from four. Someone last night described this book as the reality show of books. I hadn't thought of it in those terms but I think that description is pretty apt. Maybe that's why I've read most of his stuff even though I don't think it's particularly good.