Excellent but plot too long, worked out conclusion ( )

I summed this novel up elsewhere as "a book about a middle-aged IT geek who gets a call from his long-lost TV star girlfriend who wants him to go to France and conduct an extra-marital affair with the full knowledge of her ex Rugby-playing husband". That should give an idea of just how believable this story is, when boiled down to its essence. Part 1 is pretty good, as Adam Sharp reminisces about his youth spent consulting in Melbourne, and a chance encounter with Angelina, an actress whom he had to leave behind.

Part 2 is, frankly, ridiculous. Angelina invites the now 50-something Adam to France to conduct an extra-marital affair with the approval of her husband, under his very nose. They have a torrid week rekindling their Melbourne fling, whilst husband Charlie looks on. Adam wonders why this invite came just at the time that he separated from his long-time partner Claire, and things are gradually revealed.

If you can manage the huge suspension of disbelief that Part 2 requires, then this is an interesting story about loves lost and found. There is a fair amount of mawkishness to get past, as well as Simsion's excessive wallowing in the soundtrack of Adam's life. ( )

Love there's a Spotify playlist. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I thought the author dealt with some of the complexities of reaching middle age and how the decisions we make in our 20s affect the formation of our adult identities. On the other hand, i wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters, and I thought the relationship at the heart of the book was a little lackluster. ( )

From the book jacket: Adam Sharp is content. He gets on well with his partner, Claire, he does the occasional consulting job in IT to keep busy, and while he doesn’t play the piano much anymore, he is the music expert at the local pub’s trivia night. Life may not be rock ‘n’ roll, but neither is it easy listening. And yet, something has always felt off-key. And that’s his nostalgia for what might have been, his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with Angelina Brown, a smart and sexy, strong-willed actress who taught him for the first time, as he played piano and she sand, what it meant to find – and then lose – love. How different might his life be if he hadn’t let her walk away?

My reactions
Meh.

Is this the best of Adam Sharp? Probably. But it’s definitely NOT the best of Graeme Simsion. I really enjoyed Simsion’s The Rosie Project, but this did absolutely nothing for me. Neither Adam nor Angelina seemed at all mature enough for a real love relationship. They were both self-centered and closed off from genuine connection with another person. There was no great love here that I could see. I saw two people fall in “lust,” act on it and then walk away, only to reconsider decades later. They seemed motivated by boredom (and perhaps revenge). The whole situation when they re-connect twenty years later was just strange and creepy and distasteful.

I did enjoy all the music references, though I still wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. ( )