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katykelly's review against another edition
3.0
Darkly amusing story about religion, academia and family.
"Eight months before he became a suicide bomber, Prin went to the zoo with his family." Quite an opening line. Especially when we learn that Prin is a Catholic, devoted father and husband, and now trying to tell his children about his cancer diagnosis. Just how will this opening translate into the 'eight months later' promise?
It takes the entire novel to reach that point, by which time I'd almost forgotten. Caught up in Prin's world of his academic work into seahorses in Canadian literature, the threat of unemployment after his college faces possible closure, and the emotional struggles of meeting an ex-lover as part of the team looking to shut down his workplace. The 'suicide bomber' plotline seemed to vanish until the very end.
As I was listening, I did find it quite amusing, but I couldn't tell you now much detail about why. The ending did strike a chord and was well-played, however. And I would want to know how that plays out in the next book, but the rest of the book didn't particularly stand out for me. I liked the 'seahorse academia' theme, a few funny scenes relating to this.
The narrator (Audible version) was quite slow in his reading, I had to speed it up quite a lot to keep interest and flow going, and this didn't affect the clarity at all.
For me, the idea had promise but it was slow in getting to the point I was interested in. The final chapters did come to life, however.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample reading copy.
"Eight months before he became a suicide bomber, Prin went to the zoo with his family." Quite an opening line. Especially when we learn that Prin is a Catholic, devoted father and husband, and now trying to tell his children about his cancer diagnosis. Just how will this opening translate into the 'eight months later' promise?
It takes the entire novel to reach that point, by which time I'd almost forgotten. Caught up in Prin's world of his academic work into seahorses in Canadian literature, the threat of unemployment after his college faces possible closure, and the emotional struggles of meeting an ex-lover as part of the team looking to shut down his workplace. The 'suicide bomber' plotline seemed to vanish until the very end.
As I was listening, I did find it quite amusing, but I couldn't tell you now much detail about why. The ending did strike a chord and was well-played, however. And I would want to know how that plays out in the next book, but the rest of the book didn't particularly stand out for me. I liked the 'seahorse academia' theme, a few funny scenes relating to this.
The narrator (Audible version) was quite slow in his reading, I had to speed it up quite a lot to keep interest and flow going, and this didn't affect the clarity at all.
For me, the idea had promise but it was slow in getting to the point I was interested in. The final chapters did come to life, however.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample reading copy.
jodarroch4's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
aspygirlsmom_1995's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
dylandarezzo's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
catherinefisher55's review against another edition
3.0
I was really enjoying this book until the last bit.
ejb44's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Original Prin centres itself on Prin, a father, professor and Catholic, after his cancer diagnosis. Vowing to improve the quality of his life and prioritise his relationship with others, his university are faced with financial troubles. The person hired to solve the problem - his sexy ex-girlfriend Wendy.
I had really high expectations going into this book, considering the blurb begins with “8 months before he became a suicide bomber”, however, while the effort is clearly there and the themes are the perfect combination of interesting and timely, I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work. The magnitude of topics of covers, deep thought on religion, family and relationships, being faced with death, I felt the book didn’t really do any of these justice as the middle section of the novel just lacked purpose and direction.
The first and last section of the book is brilliant, because I felt it was really in line with the themes that Boyagoda wanted to get across, however, the middle section sometimes felt like it was a filler for the powerful end and beginning. While it did have some interesting conversations about religion and how that shapes his life as a first-generation immigrant in the world of academia in Canada, it just didn’t feel as nuanced or impactful as it could have been.
Additionally, I didn’t really find any of the characters particularly likeable, not that they were bad, but just a little boring and not worth reading about. Perhaps because the book is mainly meant to be focused on the essence of the conversations happening and the greater meaning of it all but reading about life purpose in characters who weren’t themselves that interesting made the conversations feel like they weren’t worth reading.
Lastly, I think the book felt too quirky and odd to be a contemporary novel. While that may sound like an odd comment, I think Prin was too confused in his own writing, to the point where I question if this character is so made up he has gone past any semblance of relatability to a purely theatrical existence. From swinging to bad lecturer, bad husband, bad at philosophising about his religion and not the greatest Catholic, it just felt a little childlike. I would have liked these adult conversations to take place more amongst actual adults – I think the focus on satire and humour was prioritised over character building a little too much.
Overall, there were sometimes where I laughed a little, but the newspaper reviews on the cover, “richly funny” and “painfully humorous”, are just not words I would describe this book. The balance between humour and poignant themes like religion as a person of colour and a migrant, along with navigating western life just hasn’t quite been achieved in this book for me, but I’m looking forward to reading his debut novel Governor of the Northern Province.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Violence
marsha1268's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
cindyp's review
4.0
"Eight months before he became a suicide bomber, Prin went to the zoo with his family." Prin, a deeply devout Toronto family man and college professor, lays bare his hopes and fears in a heartfelt and unintentionally funny internal dialogue, questioning his place in his faith, his family, and the world. The Catholic university where he works is in danger of closing, and its plans to sell the campus to a dubious company in the Mid-East lead to an existential dilemma for Prin, a man who over-thinks everything. This book, the first in a planned trilogy, is a funny and thought-provoking story about faith, love, and campus politics.
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