Central Booking

After several days of being distracted by my consulting work for Galactic Invertebrates, I have finally finished The Gun Seller.

The Gun Seller is a strange book, in a way. The first few chapters are sort of random and whimsical, with at least one laugh-out-loud line on every page. About a quarter of the way in though, it seems like it occurs to Laurie that he actually has some storytelling to do, and sets about doing it. The book grows gradually more serious from that point, until it is close to being a Robert Ludlum-style spy thriller. It also gets rather confusing (at least to me, although that may have something to do with putting the book down for a week in the middle). I had a hard time figuring out the motivations of some of the characters, and what exactly they were trying to accomplish. I suppose this may have been intentional on Laurie's part, but that doesn't make it less frustrating. For that matter, maybe he planned the progression from Comic Novel to Serious Novel.

The last chapter pretty much ties everything together, to my relief; it felt for a while that Laurie didn't know himself where all of this was going. Overall it was an enjoyable and satisfying read, and definitely one of the funniest books I've ever read. As someone who's tried to write humorous fiction in this vein, I can tell you it's not easy to balance this kind of droll, unpredictable humor with linear storytelling. Laurie is obviously one talented guy.

Next up: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, suggested by Kat from MagicKat. We went to a local used bookstore last night, and I picked up about 8 more books from my list. They all seem to be from the bottom half of the list, however, which is why I'm jumping around so erratically. Well, that and the three cups of coffee. I'll post my initial thoughts on Fast Food Nation in a day or two.

Mattress Tags: Hugh Laurie The Gun Seller Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation