Logan Pyle is a 30-something grad student-turned-stay-at-home-dad. His wife is buried in her work as an attorney, his father recently died after a long illness, and his son is exhibiting some irritating regressive behavior. To say Logan is having a rough time is an understatement.
Despite his pitiable circumstances, I didn't care for Logan throughout much of this book. I wanted to see him stand up for himself, make a decision..."man up", if you will. When he catches his wife in a delicate situation with another man, Logan finally takes a stand. Unfortunately, he does it by loading up his son and heading out of town, at which point, I actively disliked him for awhile.
It says a lot about the quality of writing in a book when I never particularly liked any of the characters, but I still liked the book overall. I think maybe it's okay not to like them, because Miller portrays these characters as genuine people. They are dealing with real-world issues, many with no clear-cut right or wrong, and react to them as real people might. Things don't always wind up neat and tidy in life, and the same holds true for Logan and his family.
I have to say, though, I really liked the Logan I saw emerging at the end of the book. He seemed to be taking control over his own life and actions, which was obviously missing in the first half of the book, when he just reacted to the things that happened to him. I ended with hope that Logan was back on the right track (though I'm less sure about his wife...I still didn't see her taking responsibility for anything that was wrong in their family).
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.
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GIVEAWAY
The publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is offering a copy of Brand New Human Being to one of my readers!
To enter, just leave a comment on this post. Be sure to leave an email address if it is not linked with your profile so I can contact you for shipping information.
I will select a winner at random at 10:00 p.m. CST on Sunday, June 17, 2012.
Because the book will be shipped directly from the publisher, this giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. (Sorry, international friends!!)
Good luck!
hm...sounds like an interesting book! pick me, pick me! i would love to win! :)
ReplyDeleteThe storyline is intriguing and I'm curious how this book ends. I like that the main character is male since so many of the books I read 'star' women. It sounds like He's going through some heavy, intese stuff and feels kind of alone. And boy does he snap!
ReplyDeleteCharacters are important to me and, although I don't have to like them, I need them to be well-developed and relatable. I agree that when you don't like the characters but still like the overall book it speaks to the high quality and authenticity of the author's writing.
I enjoyed your review and you piqued my curiosity in this book. Thank you!
Thank you for hosting a giveaway of this book, too. Please enter me in it!
Aimala127(at)gmail(dot)com
I have difficultly connecting with books when I don't really like the characters so I'm glad to see that you started to like Logan by the end. Thanks for being on the tour!
ReplyDelete