I have been having a bad stream of luck with books lately. Borrowed the audio book from my coworker thinking it would be another great Richard Russo book (Empire Falls is amazing!).... but man was I wrong. This book is full of nothing but an adult man complaining about his great life, carrying on imaginary conversations with his dead mother, and generally just being a turd in a punch bowl. I had to stop three quarters of the way in because I actually dreaded listening to it. Listened to this as an audiobook in a long drive, and found it compelling. Parts of it seemed familiar -- I wondered if they were published in a magazine as a story. I really enjoyed the exploration of what makes a marriage work, or fail, and the stories we tell, and how they may or may not reflect some objective reality. At times it was a bit heavy handed in making these points, but I kept on feeding the disks into the player.The weakest part of the book were the parts about Griffen's daughter and her friends... that didn't quite fit into the whole. The description of the parents were over the top -- funny, but not believable -- but I think that's part of the point -- Griffen is not a reliable narrator.
What do You think about That Old Cape Magic (2009)?
Dull rich white guy is annoyed by his family. Well-written whatever.
—Maseanthrope
Middle aged relationships on the edge of change.
—Clare
Not his best book. Enjoyable but nothing more.
—Esterlyn
