"Susan was a princess and I was the equivalent of a swineherd."
I read this what seems an age ago and am ridiculously behind in consolidating my thoughts about novels read to date. My chief takeaway from this book, that I selected due to its inclusion in the David Bowie list, was something along the lines of 'really well written' but ' this protagonist is a dickhead'.
Joe is everything I hate. He reminds me of my womanising Uncle (who might just share the same name). Not particularly bright, ruled by his pants and over-inflated sense of self, gets away with appalling behaviour.
The blurb describes it as the tale of the "original angry young man", clearly I am over that kind of voice. Joe Lampton is the kind of guy that makes you wonder why you aren't a lesbian, he is two-faced, untrustworthy and unlikeable. The strength of the writing is in the fact that these aspects are felt so keenly.
4 out of 5 - young, dumb and full of....
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