The News Where You Are is one of those books that is not bad at all, it won't blow anyone away either and could be described as a gentle, inoffensive read.
The main character is Frank; a news presenter who has been in the business for 20 years. He is famous for his bad one-liners which he pays someone to write for him earning himself a bit of a fan base among students. When his old mentor Phil dies in a strange accident Frank, in his humdrum way, grieves for his friend while tracking down relatives of a man, Michael, who died alone.
Frank is one of the good people and so is his wife and daughter and so is almost everyone else in the novel. The themes of loss and change involving buildings, memories and people are very prevalent that they were almost forced onto the reader but unfortunately these themes did not quite satisfy me.
Overall this was an enjoyable enough read filled with likeable characters and plenty of humorous moments. This is not a novel filled with plot, instead it focuses on some colourful characters and Franks musings about the past and renewal.
The author début novel What Was Lost has had rave reviews and I will certainly be checking that out.
Verdict 3/5
Posted by Jess
this sounds cute. while a book does, of course, need plot, I do tend to quite like character based novels.
ReplyDeleteThis book was the first victim of my stict new abandonment policy. I enjoyed What Was Lost a lot more - I hope you do too.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to decide whether I want to read this or not - I think you've convinced me to give it a try. I often enjoy gentle, character-driven novels, as long as I'm in the right mood!
ReplyDeleteOh no, what a shame this was so 'meh!' - I really enjoyed 'what was lost' - thought it was really original - and was looking forward to this!
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read this because I loved What Was Lost so much and yet everytime I go to the bookshop (and I am allowed to buy books too now finally) I simply dont pick it up and I have no idea why because its been on my wish list for ages, I just cant get too excited about it oddly.
ReplyDeleteI rather like these more quiet reflective reads and will be reading this one before too long - its on my tbr pile I think. A nice review.
ReplyDeleteFrom your review and other comments here I just cannot make up my mind if this should be added to my ever growing wish list or not. By coincidence I have just received via Bookmooch her début novel. Maybe I should just wait and see how I get on with that!
ReplyDeletebrizmus - I agree, I tend to prefer character rather than plot novels but in this case the main themes weren't quite enough for me. Enjoyable though.
ReplyDeleteJackie - I liked the writing in this one so I am 100% sure I'll enjoy her debut novel more. The curse of the 2nd novel eh!
Helen - Oh its perfect for a cozy night in but there are alot of novels that would be perfect for that.
Lyndsey - from alot of the reviews I've seen, ppl who read What Was Lost was disappointed in this. I didn't have that one to compare it to but I enjoyed it enough to read What was lost. Who knows though you might like it just as much.
Simon - if you enjoy your gentle Agatha Raisin books then you may well enjoy this one (not that Ive read any Agatha Raisin books to compare so feel free to totally ignore that!) But I think alot of ppl will come to this one because they loved What was lost.
Tom - I think british ppl will get more out of the main themes of this one like the knockin down of ugly old 60s buildings etc so I hope you enjoy it.
LindyLouMac - loads of ppl loved What was Lost so I'm sure you will as well, I'm certainly looking forward to reading that one also now!