“Lost love belongs in a three-minute song, pullling back feelings from a time when they came unbidden, recalling the infatuation, the walking on sunshine that cannot last and the pain of its loss, whether through parting or the passage of time, reminding us that we are emotional beings.”
The Best of Adam Sharp is the newest release from the author of the popular The Rosie Project. It tells the story of Adam Sharp, a man who is about to turn fifty and while he is settled in his life and twenty-year relationship, there is a lack of passion and excitement. His mind tends to wander back to his mid-twenties during a three month work project in Australia, where he met an actress and embarked on an affair during his stay in the country. Now over twenty years later, he gets an email from her, which brings up many questions and leads him to wonder about the road not taken.
I really enjoyed reading The Rosie Project and the quirky/endearing aspects of that novel. While I had less than positive feelings about The Rosie Effect (not a fan of unnecessary sequels/follow-ups), I was excited to see that the author had a new book with a whole new story and characters. Unfortunately this book was a huge disappointment for me and really failed to work on any level. The first part of the novel focuses mostly on Adam’s recounting his romance with the Australian actress, Angelina Brown, which comes across as rather awkward both in actions and dialogue. The second part of the novel is where things get… weird. So very weird. It takes us back to the present where Adam is back in correspondence with Angelina, after which a series of events unfold. I hesitate to mention anything specific here because I feel it would be somewhat in spoiler territory. Some reviews of this novel have stated that the second portion of the novel reads like a far-fetched fantasy of a middle-aged man, and I would have to agree. Altogether I found neither Adam nor Angelina to be likeable characters and as the novel progressed it became increasingly difficult to read on, especially as the story went in a bizarre and cringeworthy direction. Unfortunately, this was a big miss for me.
*ARC provided by NetGalley for an unbiased review.
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