Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer

This was another book I had on my list from the year-end reviews.  The action starts when a man accidentally sees another man hurting a seemingly harmless dog and decides to intervene.  The story is about what happens to each of them, and what the impact on each of their lives and relationships this meeting has.  It is also about the background each of the men has.

I though this book had great potential.  The characters were guided by very strong moral directions which made them easy to connect to or root against.  I also enjoyed the drama and build up that the author represented with internal dialogue.  However, something did not work for me overall in this book.  The main character’s girlfriend was a very spiritual person who writes self-help books – think Elizabeth Gilbert.  But she was also overly sexual, which I couldn’t help but be distracted by and suspect the male author of fantasizing a bit.  I also didn’t love the book as it went on: the final third was not that compelling and some of it seemed reasonably predictable.

I think I’d try something else by this author but this one didn’t do it for me.

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