Customer Reviews

The Great Indoors

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As I was reading The Great Indoors, I couldn't help thinking that it's the kind of novel Anne Tyler might have written, if she were English and still learning her craft as a novelist. As in most Tyler novels, many of the characters are members of an extended family who continue to play the roles assigned to them in childhood well into their adult lives. As in many Tyler novels, the most appealing male character is a shambling misfit with an unconventional job (magician at children's birthday parties). And, as in many Tyler novels, a less-than-perfectly-adorable pet animal plays an important part in the story.

In comparing The Great Indoors to an Anne Tyler novel, however, I don't mean to raise unreasonably high expectations. Durrant isn't (yet) as skilled a novelist as Tyler, and she doesn't tell as satisfying a story. The Great Indoors rambles along until it seems as if Durrant decided she had written enough pages, at which point it stops - with a plot twist at the end that seems to serve no purpose other than to say, "the end". And the heroine's boyfriend (not the magician, another guy) is such a controlling, manipulative jerk that it was impossible to believe she didn't see through him. (Yes, I know the world is full of controlling, manipulative jerks to whom otherwise sensible women are inexplicably attracted, but that doesn't mean I have to find such a relationship plausible in the pages of a novel.)

So, on balance, The Great Indoors merits three stars - but it has enough promise that I'll read Sabine Durrant's next book, and hope to be able to rate it higher.

After reading, and enjoying, "having it and eating it" I was anxious to read this book. However, this book was hard to get into. I didn't really feel the need to keep reading to see what happens next. The story was full of details about settings, and I don't really care for so much description. The ending was vague. I'm not really sure what the main character did at the end when presented with a situation. The ending seemed rushed to wrap everything up and in doing so left me thinking, "huh?"

It reads a little slow. Hard to get into at first, but stick with it. I really like Martha the main character and can identify with her

This book was so boring. I got at B&N for $5. I should have gotten the coffee drink instead. The book meanders and teases you with plot but nothing ever happens and you're left with an unsatisfied feeling. Take a pass.