Reviews

Willing: A Novel by Scott Spencer

lisawhelpley's review against another edition

4.0

Wow, the writing was FANTASTIC. Good story, and great writing that kept me interested and reading.

marthagal's review against another edition

3.0

My two complaints about this book would be that it starts a bit slow and I hate it when authors don't use quote marks.

The second half was hilarious and weird and I highly enjoyed it. Made me think about acceptable moral behavior and prostitution.

sandeestarlite's review against another edition

3.0

Avery is a train wreck of a man. We meet him as yet another relationship goes south, blamed on his upbringing/mommy issues. He ends up on a sex tour, ostensibly to write a book that will solve all Of his money issues. He swears he won't have sex, but that seemed like the author attempting to leave a 'will he won't he' dangling out there. Given his character, you can see where Avery will end up. The writing is decent and some of the characters were fun to hate.

conceptsoftime's review against another edition

5.0

My interpretation of the plot twist...

After avery joined the sex tour I thought that the plot had turned to a dream sequence - which had started with him getting a head injury and perhaps being asleep in the hospital. And as the story progressed there were many clues that supported this - his conversation with his girlfriend, the lack of Castle's reflection in mirrors, his mom joining him, and then his memory and reality/stability getting increasingly distorted toward the end. I thought this trick was too gimmicky and hoped that he would not just wake up at the end and realize it was all a dream.

And it wasn't a dream, indeed. It was his dying dream.

suzmac's review against another edition

3.0

The writing is enticing. First person narrative of the kind I appreciate. Smarmy, insightful, funny. Guy with messed-up childhood needs a change in love and real estate. Storyline is a bit unseemly but takes on masculinity as a topic (wow) so the author deserves some latitude, right? First chapter was so charming... I was sure story would pitch downhill from there. But it didn't go in the 'this is my life story' direction I expected. Definitely worth a look.

djrmelvin's review against another edition

2.0

This is a novel with a great idea for a plot suffering from multiple genre disorder. Is it farce? Comedy? Literary fiction? It's possible for a book to be at least two of those things, maybe all three, but this book doesn't quite achieve any of them. Avery Jankowsky, a freelance writer who's not quite making a living as a writer but is doing too well to quit, tells us the story of his many fathered childhood; his disappointing attempts at relationships; and how they all lead him to take an all expenses paid sex tour. Skipping along through Scandinavia with his fellow travelers, Avery always seems on the verge of breaking out of his self imposed dreariness. If he had, we'd have a funny book. If he discovered he couldn't, this could have been a story of a man accepting his life for what it is. Instead, we get a bunch of characters doing exactly what you knew they were going to do the moment you first read about them, and an ending that puts the story almost exactly back where it started.

moreadsbooks's review against another edition

2.0

For the love of god, people, USE QUOTATION MARKS! They are a functional tool of the English language, they are not optional!