Books like This is the Life

The blurb on the back cover doesn't really do this book justice. Having said that, my husband asked me what it was about and my own description at the time seemed rather unprepossessing too. You just have to read it - the skill is in the writing, the constant humour, and the voice of the narrator who starts off as an average bloke, a bit socially inept, but becomes ever so slightly creepy as the book goes on. It reminded me a lot of Zoe Heller's excellent 'Notes on a Scandal'. It's hilarious in a cringemaking way - the narrator lurches from one social embarrassment to another, including a particularly toe-curling lavatorial incident. An intriguing mystery is set up, too, and I would have given the book five stars had this been tied up in a more efficient manner. It's one of those books where an awful lot is left to the reader to interpret. I think I understood it, but I guess I will never know for sure whether my interpretation was right.