Day: May 3, 2017

The Best of Adam Sharp

Author:  Graeme Simsion
352 pages in Kindle

Published: May 2, 2017
Dates Read: April 20- May 1, 2017

My Rating: 3 stars

Book Summary from Goodreads:

On the cusp of turning fifty, Adam Sharp likes his life. He’s happy with his partner Claire, he excels in music trivia at quiz night at the local pub, he looks after his mother, and he does the occasional consulting job in IT.

But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been: his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with an intelligent and strong-willed actress named Angelina Brown who taught him for the first time what it means to find—and then lose—love. How different might his life have been if he hadn’t let her walk away?

And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously?

My Review

When I found out that Graeme Simsion had written another book that was not one of his ‘Rosie books’ (The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect) I wanted to see what it was about!  The description of The Best of Adam Sharp had me interested in reading it. I found out that music is mentioned throughout the novel.  That was a plus as well!

The book begins in present day where Adam Sharp is living with his partner Claire for twenty years.  They are just going through the ‘swing of things’ with nothing much going on in their lives or with each other. Then out of the blue Adam gets an email from his old flame Angelina that is just one word: “Hi”.  He decides to return the email and they begin to correspond.  It eventually leads to Skype and then Angelina suggests that they meet up for a week; yes, she is married and her husband will be there too.

The novel goes back in time to the 1980s when Adam and Angelina first meet.  We get to experience their affair back then which is necessary with the course of the novel.

This is all I will mention about the plot. The Best of Adam Sharp is about life, relationships, and music.  Should the past be left in the past or is the chance to see ‘the one that got away’ again going to be worth it?  What or who does Adam want?

I loved all the music that was referenced in the novel. I did not know all of the music as it goes as far back as the 1960s. For reference there is a play list of the songs at the end of the novel.

Unfortunately, there was a lot I did not like about the novel.  I did not like the fact that Adam kept conversing with Angelina without telling Claire and there was a lot of flirtation going on.  As I was reading I wanted to tell him to stop temptation.  The characters were also not that likeable for me. I was curious what was going to happen so I kept reading.   Then at 60% into the novel it went in a direction that I was not expecting and certainly did not want to read.  It became a little bit risqué and controversial for me.  I kept reading to see how it would end, and around 90% it got better for me.  Though I felt indifferent with the characters, I could ultimately agree with the ending.

The novel is well written, but overall it was not for me.

The Best of Adam Sharp is very different from The Rosie Project.  Do not go into Adam Sharp expecting the same kind of book or you will be very disappointed.

**I received an e-arc from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.  Thank you for my copy!