by Mark Haddon
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Product Description
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A Spot of Bother is Mark Haddon’s unforgettable follow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
At sixty-one, George Hall is settling down to a comfortable retirement. When his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting married to the deeply inappropriate Ray, the Hall family is thrown into a tizzy. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.
As parents and children fall apart and come together, Haddon paints a disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Dull, Dull, Dull, 2008-11-11
I couldn't get even halfway thru this book. The characters had barely any life to them and I didn't care, or care to read, about any of them. I haven't read "The Curious Incident..." also by this author, but I don't think I want to after attemping this boring book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 This is my favorite book!I love Mark Haddon!, 2008-11-10
To start off the storyline did not attract me at all,but i loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,(Brilliant book)and figured I'll give it shot,and i was so happy i did!At first i only liked Jamie but the more and more i read i started to fall for the rest of the Hall Family were i get concered and want them to pull thro their problems,it was funny,and it gave me the ending i wanted(AND MORE!^,,^)without being cheesy,Mark Haddon has a gift for writting and at times make me put the book down and seriously think about what he's saying the depth of it when i think "Yeah this guy gets it,"
2 B honest the slang wasn't hard to get if uv read harry potter u wont feel lost and if u havent u can tell by the emotions and wat the characters are saying and what their doing and the slang isn't really important.Neway Amazing book I'd recommend this to family,friends,strangers,enemies,shemales,robots and the such.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 I Was "Bothered" Just a "Spot"..., 2008-09-02
I was "bothered" just a "spot" by Mark Haddon's latest offering, and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why. Was the book funny? Yes, in quite a few parts. Did the book seem to portray flawed and fully human characters? Yes. Was the book engaging, plot-wise? Yes, very much so!
So why didn't I like it, or at least like it enough to give it more than 3 stars? Maybe it's because I'm an American and was confused by all the British slang. Maybe I got a little discombobulated trying to keep up with all the things the different characters were doing at the same time. Or maybe, just maybe, the characters all seemed too harsh, too unlovable, and too unsympathetic. I wasn't expecting "Full House" dynamics here, but neither was I expecting a family as quite without warmth as the Halls.
George Hall, as he tries not to lose his mind, is never treated very well by his immediate family even when he's completely lucid. Sure, George is irascible and far from perfect, but I felt, and only felt, for George.
What is Jean Hall doing "shagging" her husband's business colleague when she has a husband that truly does love her even when not in his right mind? At the end of the book, she seems to resolve to stay with George more out of resignation than love, which is a terrible motive for doing so. Either you truly love someone, or you should leave them. So say I.
Katie Hall is the ultimate "Bridezilla", and her hapless fiance Ray doesn't even suspect it until the end. He still marries Katie, and I pity the future he'll have with her. Between Katie's temper tantrums and those of her young son, Jacob (not to mention wiping the latter's bottom), will Ray ever come to figure out that Katie doesn't really love him? (Note: Their 'falling in love' part doesn't seem convincing to me, Mr. Haddon.)
I didn't even mention Jamie, or the boyfriend that dumped him and then came back to him for--I still can't fathom what reason. What the dvukh?!?
My verdict: Skip this one, or borrow it from the library or your friends!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Nicely written but sags in the middle, 2008-08-24
I read "A Spot of Bother" ostensibly for the purpose of airport entertainment and had not read Haddon's debut work "A Curious Incident" The good in this book as that the narrative flows effortlessly, and the voices of each character, especially around the wedding near the end is creative and enjoyable. Haddon has genuine sympathy for his characters and their various foibles. Detracting from it is that through the middle of the book George's voice is monotonous and depressing and the portrayal of Jamie the gay son is self obsessed with more gay action than I had bargained for. (Having enjoyed Colm Toibin's The Story of Night" I felt that the Jamie character was a bit too PC.)
That said the narrative style really is what carries the reader over the finish line.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
One very funny book, 2008-05-29
This is one of the funniest books I have read in a long while. Mark Hadden has a great touch in pointing out the bizarre in every day life, in an appropriately understated way. Other reviewer have covered the stories and characters, so what I would add is that I found this book much funnier (laugh out lout funny) than some of the other reviewers.
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