Book Review: How to Behave in a Crowd

Book Info:

An absorbing, darkly comedic novel that brilliantly evokes the confusions of adolescence and marks the arrival of an extraordinary young talent.

Isidore Mazal is eleven years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. He doesn't quite fit in. Berenice, Aurore, and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age twenty-four. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by eighteen months, expects a great career as a novelist--she's already put Isidore to work on her biography. The only time they leave their rooms is to gather on the old, stained couch and dissect prime-time television dramas in light of Aristotle's Poetics.

Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. But he notices things the others don't, and asks questions they fear to ask. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them if he doesn't run away from home first.

Isidore's unstinting empathy, combined with his simmering anger, makes for a complex character study, in which the elegiac and comedic build toward a heartbreaking conclusion. With How to Behave in a Crowd, Camille Bordas immerses readers in the interior life of a boy puzzled by adulthood and beginning to realize that the adults around him are just as lost.

My Thoughts About This Book:

I won't say that this book is the worst but it is far from the worst book ever but it wasn't that great either. I felt like the worst part of this book that it tried so hard to be funny. You know those annoying people that think they are just hilarious comedians, decide to tell you a joke, but instead, you wait for it to get to funny. That is this book in a nutshell, and I hate this. 

I know this isn't supposed to be a comedy but it certainly has aspects that make one think it was at least trying to be humorous. The characters are sometimes annoyingly witty, silly, and sometimes downright aggravating. The quirks these characters have turned me off from the very beginning. I hate when character quirks are forced down readers throats. It isn't fun for anyone. 

The story follows the Mazal family. They live a cute little French town. Their children are extremely accomplished, well except for one little kid who seems pretty normal.  Each seems to be prodigies of sorts. All on track to get their doctorates before the turn 25. I disliked the way this family treated their normal child. 

A horrid tragedy strikes the little family and they are forced to cope with it in their own way. Unfortunately, the family starts cracking and the only one who can help is the child they feel isn't bright and is kind of dull. Dory has his own issues, but he will overcome it all. 

I guess for me this book had a lot of potential but really fell flat for me. Nothing seemed to make sense, nothing really got started, nothing really happened. I know this book is liked by many so perhaps I am just missing something. Read it for yourself and decide. 

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for books in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.