Reading

Last night I attended two birthday parties, which for a lazy person like me, is A LOT of activity in one night. I had a good time (one at a bar downtown, and one at a house near my home), and surprisingly, I wasn't even that tired when we got home a bit after midnight. The Boy actually went to bed, and I stayed up and read. And read. And read until 4:15am. The only reason I went to bed then was because I felt if I stayed up any later, I would never be able to get back on schedule for Monday if I ended up sleeping all day Sunday.

This book is fascinating--at least plot-wise. I read a lot of good reviews, but didn't scrutinize any so I could enjoy the book on my own. It's one of those books where the main character is pretty much a loser who can't see how much of a loser he is. It's on his periphery; like he is miserable and hates life, but doesn't seem to have any awareness in his own contribution to the way his life is. I'm sitting here reading and waiting for the epiphany, the life-changing event where he realizes what an ass he's been, but I'm 3/4ths of the way through the book and it doesn't seem to be coming any time soon, and I've worn weary of his self-pitying ways. I kind of want to punch him in the balls and tell him what a loser he is, and to get with the program.

Also, the book seems to be written quickly without much input from an editor. There's holes and strange skips in time, like the author couldn't be bothered to flesh out various chunks of time, so he just skipped right over them. It's akin to reading jump cuts. I'm not watching a movie so I want the shit to stop.

Lastly, I have the same puzzlement over the main character as I do with Harry Potter (these books have similar themes). Neither main characters are particularly talented but everyone is treating them as if they are. Maybe I could get past his self-pitying if he actually was good at what he is supposed to be good at. But no, all his friends are really good, and he isn't feeling sorry for himself because they are good, which would make sense. He just feels sorry for himself because life doesn't make him happy. Do like I do and pop some anti-depression pills, dude. Start working and stop getting drunk.

We'll see what happens in the last 100 pages. Luke was an insufferable idiot and he managed to pull through to the other side. Right?