Author: John Kenney
Publication Information: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster. 2013. 308 pages.
Book Source: I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads program free of cost in exchange for an honest review. The book arrived as a paperback edition.
Favorite Quote: "I do think we get second chances, fifth chances, eighteenth chances. Every day we get a fresh change to live the way we want. We get a chance to do one amazing thing, once scary thing, one difficult thing, one beautiful thing. We get a chance to make a difference."
Finbar "Fin" Dolan is a middle aged man approaching forty, working at a Madison Avenue agency, and living alone. He is somewhat successful in his career. He has recently cancelled his wedding but holding on to the paid for honeymoon tickets, hoping somehow to use them for a vacation. He is somewhat getting involved with his co-worker. He is somewhat estranged from his family.
He is pulled out of his "somewhat" life when he has to cancel his Christmas vacation to finish a campaign for a client who makes diapers and when he learned his father is dying. The book proceeds along these two lines. One is an entertaining look inside the advertising world. The other is a sad story of dealing with dysfunctional family dynamics and coming to terms with family and the past in order to move forward.
The book is somewhat entertaining and somewhat sad. The dichotomy of the story for me continues throughout the book. I would have preferred it to be one or the other rather than trying to be both. I suppose the idea of truth - facing it, telling it, and believing it - is the central idea that ties both story lines together. For me, the two story lines are too distant for that to be completely successful.
Finbar "Fin" Dolan is a middle aged man approaching forty, working at a Madison Avenue agency, and living alone. He is somewhat successful in his career. He has recently cancelled his wedding but holding on to the paid for honeymoon tickets, hoping somehow to use them for a vacation. He is somewhat getting involved with his co-worker. He is somewhat estranged from his family.
He is pulled out of his "somewhat" life when he has to cancel his Christmas vacation to finish a campaign for a client who makes diapers and when he learned his father is dying. The book proceeds along these two lines. One is an entertaining look inside the advertising world. The other is a sad story of dealing with dysfunctional family dynamics and coming to terms with family and the past in order to move forward.
The book is somewhat entertaining and somewhat sad. The dichotomy of the story for me continues throughout the book. I would have preferred it to be one or the other rather than trying to be both. I suppose the idea of truth - facing it, telling it, and believing it - is the central idea that ties both story lines together. For me, the two story lines are too distant for that to be completely successful.
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