Jim Cooper, a nice guy who doesn't know his strengths, wants to redo his life, so he quits his job, sells his flat, pays all his debts, and moves in with his parents. What he cannot redo is his love/obsession with Paula Fraser, the girl who left him twelve years ago.

Jim gets a job with minimum wage in a pub where he first met the selfish and headstrong Paula when he was 18. During this time, he makes friends with Paula's psychologist father, the sage archetype of the novel. From him, Jim learns that Paula is in Germany, married, and managing her own language school.

One day, unexpectedly, Paula walks in through the pub's door. Paula's school has gone bankrupt; her husband is attending his dying grandfather in Germany; and Paula admits to loving Jim. Since Paula has too many problems to clear, they decide to keep their relationship secret and on the platonic level.

The unexpected result of this relationship proves that nothing goes according to plan, and at the end, it is people themselves, not the events, that hurt them.

This is not only a love story, but a collection of quirky characters who are depicted with honesty. As a matter of fact, the strength of this book is in its secondary characters and the character of Jim Cooper.

The author of this book is Danny gillan, a Scottish musician, music tutor for the learning disabled, pub worker, and author. His works are: Scratch, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, and A Selection of Meats and Cheeses

the main character is candid, sincere, and makes the reader sympathize with him. It is a good story to read even if the ending surprises somewhat.

What I noticed is the language of the dialogue. There is nothing wrong with it when Jim uses the same vocabulary as his mates and people around him. After all, they are more or less contemporaries. But the people of the older generation, too, come up with similar quips and phrases. True, the speaker is Jim, but the dialogue of the novel needs to cater to specific traits of other characters also. Still, the language, the quips, the sense of humor in storytelling make this book worth reading.

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Created Mar 05, 2012 at 10:53pm • Submit your own review...