I really wanted to like this book. I really really did. However, I didn't like it all that much. David laughed his way through it...I barely made it I was so bored a lot of the time. Overall the story was good, the characters were very likeable and you wanted to see them succeed, but I just couldn't get into the jokes and silliness that seemed to happen every other page. It just didn't appeal to me.
The basic premis of the book is that the Prince and Princess of Wales are buffoons who keep messing things up with the press. They say and do the dumbest things and have to be taken care of by "Mr. Neil" who puts before them a quest of conquering America. They arrive in New Jersey by parachute wearing only fur underwear and have to figure out how to survive. Their adventures in America demonstrate how someone with nothing can make something of themselves--even to the extent of being elected President. They learn a lot about themselves, the power of love, the power of doing for and taking care of yourself. And they learn to appreciate the people that they serve as political leaders of their own country.
If I were to give advice to Mark Helprin, I would tell him to cut the book by about 1/2. It was overwritten in a lot of places and several of the chapters, especially those that dealt solely with the policital realm, were boring and unnecessary. Since I liked the story, the characters and the overall message, I kept reading and am glad that I did, but I would have liked it to be a tad, well, a tad "less" (if that makes sense).
No comments:
Post a Comment