Although this was enjoyable enough to read, I was still fairly disappointed in it, even taking into account the fact that I didn't expect too much out of it in the first place (for self-preservational reasons, since Haddon's first novel is one of my favorites). See, it turns out that the detached, observational tone of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which I thought worked so brilliantly for that book's narrator, is actually just the way Haddon writes. All the time. Even though every chapter of this book was from a different character's point of view, all of their stories and emotions were presented in that (now familiar) flat, dispassionate manner.

So not only did A Spot of Bother fall well short of the precedent set by The Curious Incident, it also threatens to slightly lower my opinion of that book. Well, I just won't let it.

[2.5 stars]

The front cover on this page proclaimed that this was "brilliant... very funny". I picked it up hoping for a light-hearted spot of fun, but oh boy.

The book detailed a family drama wherein an old retiree turns hypochondriac, thinks that he's got cancer and will drop dead soon, and slowly begins to lose his mind; his wife is unsatisfied with their marriage and decides to start an affair with her husband's ex-colleague; their son is gay and has had a tumultuous experience with romantic/sexual relationships; and their daughter is a single-mother whose relationship with her current fiancé is on the rocks. (Made this paragraph into a run-on sentence as a way of honoring the many such sentences in the book).

So, it wasn't very funny at all — the incidents of wry humor were also very subtle, and occurred at the very end of the book for the most part. My primary emotions whilst reading the book were sadness and disappointment.

However, the story was quite decent, and I don't regret reading this, even if it has left me with a somber outlook, and a defeated acceptance of life circumstances.

intellectual and humbling.

if you are searching for a novel that mirrors "the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime" you will be disappointed. haddon's writing can be respectively diverse.

so realistic, and very vivid. the family dynamics are spot on. haddon says what we are all thinking and are too scared to say ourselves. i found this book discarded in a used book-store and read it over the course of 6 months because i didn't want to end it. open your mind and turn the page.

Having read The Curious Incident as a kid and having absolutely adored it, I knew that I was in for a treat when I discovered A Spot of Bother, but perhaps I underestimated just how great it would be. The story follows George, a recently retired middle class English man, and his family, going about their normal lives, with one glaring difference; George has discovered a lesion on his hip. He is dying of cancer. Or at least he believes he is.

George is a hypochondriac with a very British stiff upper lip. He desperately tries to go about his life as though nothing is changing. He keeps working on the studio he is building in his garden. He listens to jazz and helps with the preparations for his daughter's wedding, until he starts to find himself hyperventilating in the garden, walking out of a shop wearing a pair of trousers he hasn't paid for, standing in the shower with a pair of scissors hovering over his lesion.

Meanwhile, practically unnoticed by George, his family is in tatters. His wife is having an affair, his daughter is about to embark on her second marriage, to a man with 'Strangler's Hands', and his son is too embarrassed by his family to allow them to meet his boyfriend.

This book is another excellent exploration into mental health issues by Haddon. It gives the victim a voice. And that voice is sometimes uncomfortably hilarious, briskly understated and nakedly vulnerable. George is not the crazed madman we are used to reading about. He is not other. He is the most normal man you could ever imagine which is what makes this story so much more compelling, believable, and often difficult to read. But if you want to be challenged, this is definitely a book for you.

What a great book to start off 2018 with. It was hilarious and heart-felt at the same time. Couldn't put the book down at all.

Like most everyone else, I read this after reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" - which I loved. It's not that I expected this to be anything like that, but I wanted to see how this would compare. With the former story, most of it is written through the thoughts of Christopher, a young teen with autism. A Spot of Bother is more a journey through the days of a somewhat typically dysfunctional family, with the father -George- going through an emotional crisis which leads his thoughts into periodic downward spirals. Haddon excels in handling these voyages into the swift descent from reality with gentle humor, while juggling this with the rest of his family's crises. A good read.

I'm so disappointed, as I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and was hoping for something equally good, but this just didn't work for me on any level.

For starters I was expecting funny, but I didn't find so much as a single chuckle in this book. And the characters... It's not just the dad having problems. The whole lot of them could do with extensive psychiatric care. Honestly, all anyone ever does in this book is whine. Except when they're yelling at each other. Or throwing stuff.

Not for me, sorry.

משעמם וכל הדמויות מעצבנות.
לקחתי בזכות המחבר אבל נשברתי באמצע.

if you can get past the first 200 pages, this turns out to be a vaguely compelling read. but really, getting through the 1st 200 pages of someone's book, just for the remaining 80 pages isn't my idea of a fun time. if only it was a nice little novella or short story! it ultimately was an ok experience for me, just lacks the charm & focus of haddon's earlier lovely CURIOUS CASE...too bad!

This book was so funny and a total joy to read. It's been quite a few years since I read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time". I don't remember it so well except that I enjoyed it. I picked up this book because I already knew I enjoyed the author. I laughed out loud frequently while reading it, which I don't do often. Haddon's choice of words and the way he describes feelings (the way we think about what we are feeling inside our heads) is absolutely perfect. I had to turn down the corners of quite a few pages to mark the spots so I could go back and re-read certain turns of phrase and funny lines. The story itself is amusing -- a bit of a perfect storm with an impending family wedding, the main character losing his mind, and lots of relationship difficulties, not to mention lots of those stupid everyday idiotic things that muck up our lives. Highly recommended.

Put the book down and go to bed, Treva. No, really, though. Okay, how about now? No, seriously. Now. Okay, the birds are singing and the sun is going to rise in less than an hour. STOP READING. GO TO SLEEP.

I have owned this book for such a long time. I picked it up after reading (and loving) The Curious Incident.... Somehow, though, I've never gotten around to reading it. In my new effort to find a good balance between library books and books collecting dust on my shelves, I decided to try the audio version. I've been having a lot of luck with audio books lately and this is no exception. I like the narrator and it is turing out to be quite a good pick for audio. I don't have the audio cds--I am trying the wma version downloaded from the library website to my phone. It works out well not having to keep track of all the different discs. I am listening to the unabridged version.