A Better Man
This book is very cute. But it's too much. I felt I was forced to love the MCs and as such, I was compelled to resist to their charms. I honestly had a hard time finishing the book. First I thought my slowness was because my brain was catching up on some sleep after long weeks of studying for my exams or the fact I got hooked to a TV series. But then I began reading another book after finishing this one and I couldn't put it down so I stayed the wee hours with the lights on till my eyelids were to heavy to lift. Even more: that book made me feel warm in the belly whereas A Better Man couldn't even start a fire. So in the end it was the book's fault, not mine.
The main problem is that the characters were too perfect for me. Their lives are too perfect dramas. I felt for them instantly. Well, not really. I liked their interactions, I liked the "I love you"/"I love you more" sequences, I liked the premise. But something failed in the developing of it all. There were clear dots but the lines to join them all didn't draw the picture I expected.
Matt was the perfect brother, and of course, he says he's the guilty one when in fact he manipulated the evidences so he was charged instead of his brother. Of course that awakes Julian's sympathy, and everybody else's, in the process, except mine. Was it necessary for Matt to be such a martyr? I don't say there are not people out there who would willingly take the place of a loved one and even prefer it that way but here it was too superficial and artificial that after 5 years in prison there is no spitefulness (or hate) for all the lost years. I felt disappointment when there is no conflict (at all) between the brothers after all that had happened. Only honorable feeling. Nothing of what the human being shows now and then. And Julian is the abused boy who is alone in the world after the only people that loved him died: his mother and brother who also suffered under his father's hands. He needs to be petted and Matt is the one who has to do it. Cheesy as hell.
Even the mother was the perfect bitch. Too Disney-worldy for me. Why is it more evident when a woman is a bad person and we barely notice when the man is the one? Food for thought for a later occasion. Anyway, if there is a bitch in the movie, then her husband is a wimp. But of course the wimp one dares to confront Mrs. Bennet in the most crucial moment. And that way he's forgiven for the passivity during the whole children' lives. "You have been a bad father but hey, after this scene you are awesome, so let's follow the yellow brick road". I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
The brother and his fiancée and Sam and... Jeez. All of them were nice! TOO nice. It was very claustrophobic here. I wanted to throw a pinch of reality here and there to make it all more believable or at least less harakiri-inducing. I felt I was swimming in cotton candy while I was being sung a fairy tale (no pun intended).
The positive part: I liked it wasn't love at first sight and a let's-have sex just after they meet. Unfortunately nothing of this held my attention for long. Sometimes I even was bored. The book goes throughout a year: from June to June, closing the circle in 4 seasons to see glimpses of them together during several days each month. Matt is decided to built a halfway house for prisoners with no support when they finally get out of jail, and Julian is the one he employees to reform the house. I have to think very hard to remember if I had read a plot like this one and nothing occurred to me. So congratulations for the originality.
After reading this I come to the conclusion this book it not for me. And although I don't precisely dislike the author, it was a big disappointment.
