The Antagonist by Lynn Coady
Randomly picked his up from the library as the premise sounded intriguing - "Now pushing forty, he discovers that an old, trusted friend from his college days has published a novel that borrows freely from the traumatic events of Rank’s own life. Outraged by this betrayal and feeling cruelly misrepresented, he bashes out his own version of his story in a barrage of e-mails to the novelist that range from funny to furious to heartbreaking."
It's an epistolary novel, which I usually liked. But the emails in the books didn't sound like emails at all... and I got irritated by the guy writing these emails and I just couldn't continue anymore. I suppose since I don't have much time now with a baby, I just have less patience... not that I didn't abandon books before, but I have gotten even more picky than before.
It did have some good reviews on Goodreads - so it's probably just me.
It got me thinking though - this is a female author writing a male protagonist. So can an author write a novel from an opposite sex protagonist convincingly? Or about experience they haven't experienced (or have done thorough research on?) I am thinking that if I had written a book about motherhood before I had a child, I think I'd have failed badly. The love I have for my child is not something I'd known prior his birth. Granted, all those cliche I hear are true, but you are skeptical about them until you experience it yourself... Or I suppose that's why I am not a writer since I can't put myself in someone else's shoes?
0 Star - Did Not Finish
Note - The book was borrowed from the library.
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