Rating: 2/5
Review:
Very disappointing
I was very disappointed in The Good, The Bad And The Little Bit
Stupid. I thought Marina Lewycka’s last book, The Lubetkin Legacy
was excellent – witty, sharply observed and penetrating in its
analysis. This is nothing like as good.
The story is set in
immediate post-referendum Yorkshire where the Pantis family have been
riven by Brexit arguments and where fraud of all kinds is evident.
This includes fake insurance claims, dodgy “lottery wins”, claims
made in the referendum campaign and so on, as the ageing Pantis
parents split up and their children, especially Sensible Sid, try to
cope with the changes in their lives. I’m afraid I found it
thoroughly unconvincing and just plain dull much of the time.
Lewycka can still come out with a ringing phrase, like one character
describing another as “that useless leeching lump of self-regard,”
but in spite of good prose I found the characters pretty thin
caricatures and the whole thing felt rather familiar and as though
I’d read about it before. There are some farcical “comic”
scenes which were plain silly rather than comic, and so on. I’m
afraid I just gave up around half way, which is unusual for me, but I
just didn’t care any more.
I’m sorry to be
critical of an author whose work I have enjoyed in the past, but this
one really didn’t do it for me.
(My thanks to
Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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