Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book., 6 Jan 2007
I thought this book was fantastic!
The book is an easy read, and I found it very difficult to put down. It's about Richard, a wealthy but lonely man in LA who needs to do something more with his life. You don't feel particularly sorry for him, but get intricately involved in his life, as he develops a friendship with Anhil, who sells donuts and provides wisdom, and from there seems to pick up people along the way who are in need of a friend, as is he. The people he meets are very interesting, and vividly described, so that they become your friends too. The book also explores Richards relationships with his family; his brother, parents, ex-wife and son.
As it's set in LA it also describes how life differs there - the Beverley Hills way of life, with constant sunshine, a focus on looking good, eating healthily and 'being someone'. (Its references to Malibu Beach and Santa Monica and the pier brought back great memories of a holiday I went on to those places last year).
Ultimately however, it shows that people are all individual human beings who need friends and need to be loved, and it doesn't matter where they come from or how rich they are, they all have the same needs.
It was a joyful, uplifting book, which didn't preach, but just told a story which was funny to read and sad to have finished. So quickly over! Read it in the depth of winter to cheer you up and bring sunshine into your life, or on holiday as an easy, relaxing read. It will fit the bill.
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46 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I don't think it'll save anyone's life, 7 Mar 2007
This book is rather strange. Novak the main character is having a sort of mid life crisis. He has cut himself off from the world and the book tells the story of his attempt to rejoin normal life.
However this is LA and nothing is normal. Novak encounters some frankly bizarre situations some of which are totally unbelievable, other are funny and others are just warped.
The characters are interesting but I just couldn't get that excited about them or the plot.
I have to admit I was drawn to the book due to the pictures of donuts on the front. Shallow I know.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only a best seller because it's a Richard and Judy book, 6 Mar 2007
I, personally feel that this book would have slipped through the net if it hadn't been for all the hype attached to Richard and Judy book nominations.
It was an easy read, but left me feeling a bit empty, like I wasn't sure why I'd bothered.
We meet Richard Novak, a reclusive on-line investor, as he starts to show all the signs of the onset of a heart attack. As a result he is forced to leave his enclosed world as he calls an ambulance and goes to hospital. This seems to have been a bit of a wake-up call and he decides to change direction and make something of his life. Then it all starts to become a bit unbelievable as one calamity after another hits his house and he becomes a bit of a local hero / superman figure. The odd bit of assistance here and there would have been fine, but to have managed quite so many good deeds and heroic actions in such a short space of time was rather stretching belief.
The one aspect of the book that I did enjoy was the repairing of bridges between himself and his son, who he'd left with his wife after the break-up of their marriage.
The finale is suitably over-the-top, a fitting end to a strange book.
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