Customer Reviews

Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life

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

 

 

Mil Millington's latest book is about time traveling. Not of the strict science fiction type, but of the type that occurs normally to every one of us without noticing.

Chris Mortimer is a 25 year old guy in the 80's who wakes up one day and all of a sudden realizes that he is 43. He finds himself working a job that he hates and next to a woman he barely knows but who has been his wife for fifteen years. He decides to reconnect with old friends and get to know his "new" self, and to try to find out what he has been up to for two decades. During his quest, he discovers that he has become a very different person from the one he hoped to become when he was in his twenties. On his way to becoming a grownup, apparently, life happened.

"Are you -are we, all of us - formed from a character that is innate, or are we the product of the experiences we've had? Nature or nurture?" - Chris wonders. The book is thought-provoking, funny, and brilliantly written. On the surface it entertains with its plot and characters, but on a deeper level it raises interesting questions. Are we the cumulative result of all the things that happen to us? How much of who we are inside is influenced by the body outside, and where that body finds itself?

If you have read the Mil Millington books that have been published in the US, you know just how funny he can be. He's one of my favorite writers. "Things my girlfriend and I fight about" actually caused me to have abdominal muscle pain from laughing so hard. Consequently, I was delighted to find that there was another book I hadn't read and happily sent to the UK to get it. It was apparently one of his first books and he has improved a lot. Not even worth finishing. Sorry Mil. 2 stars because it's better than being poked in the eye with a sharp stick, or reading a lot of really terrible books.

I love Mil's website and first book and this one is maybe his best yet. Very funny - see his treatise on the rushed one at the end of chapter 16 in particular. Anyone who believes in Mil's philosophy that the secret to a successful relationship is to become embroiled in a bitter struggle to the death will enjoy this one.