Sweet Thursday

2008-08-14 13:33:59.558779+00 

Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row, by Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck. I thought that would make it either very good, or very bad. I wasn't expecting it to be somewhat indifferent...

As a stand alone book, it works. However, it does make it blatently obvious that it is a sequel and assumes some prior knowledge of Cannery Row. On the other hand, ignoring those bits doesn't seem to make much difference. That's mainly because most of the book doesn't make much difference. It's a soap opera. A bit like seeing one episode of EastEnders every ten years, people have arrived, left, arrived again, been born, died, married, divorced, ill, well, and changed significantly in the meantime. But it still manages to be exactly the same as last time.

Rimmer, can't you tell the story is not gripping me. I am in a state of un-gripped-ness, I am completely smeggin' un-gripped. SHUT THE SMEG UP.
-- Lister - Red Dwarf - Meltdown

Yup. That's probably a fair assessment. Some people claim to have read it cover to cover without putting it down. I found that it was useful when I was failing to go to sleep. It's not a bad book, it's just the literary equivalent of easy listening.

In summary, if you have a burning desire to read it then get it from a library. If counting sheep isn't cutting it any more, then buy this book because it's probably cheaper, more healthy, and more enjoyable than sleeping pills.