Monday, October 5, 2009

Review: No Mad by Sam Moffie


Aaron Abrams is headed home to share the wonderful news that he has sold his book when he walks in on his wife and his brother together. Gathering up a few scant belongings and his beloved dog, he leaves the house, determined to drive to New York, meet his agent, and move on with his life. This trip is just the first of many for Aaron as he truly is the nomad of the title.

I didn't love this book although I was hopeful that a road trip novel would indeed capture me for several happy hours. Instead, Aaron's trip was like an aging frat boy's dream road trip. From the female cop with whom he smokes a joint and has mind blowing sex to his agent's assistant, who has a rather distasteful g-spot and with whom Aaron considers a serious relationship, and all the rather numerous women in between, this was definitely a male fantasy road-trip novel. Aaron's character had a few quirks that got old after a while as well, such as his insistence on teaching everyone with whom he comes into contact the Jinx game and his insistence on the Newman's Own Virgin Lemonade. Perhaps these quirks were intended to show Aaron's playful side but in the one case, I hear enough "jinxing" in my own house on a daily basis from the tweens and on the other, it seemed a detail that smacked of overkill or product placement. It was just too much. I will say that the premise for Aaron's book, echoed slightly in the novel's plot, would indeed be an intriguing one. I wish I'd been able to read that one instead. And while this wasn't the book for me, perhaps a different (male) target audience would be happier with it. Certainly the reviews at amazon disagree with my take so peruse those for a differing opinion.

Thanks to the author for sending me a copy of the book for review.

2 comments:

  1. Phew, I thought it was just me! I think you said it very politely...it is definitely a male book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The maleness of the book isn't what bothered me. I read a lot of similar books. What got me was the weird use of bold and underlining. It felt like I was reading the New York Times or something instead of a road trip novel.

    ReplyDelete

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