Schroder by Amity GaigeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you're planning on reading this book, this is where I guess I'm supposed to write the words "spoiler alert," because I plan on discussing how the story plays itself out. So if you care one way or the other about knowing the resolution of this novel, stop reading my humble review now.
This story of the American Dream gone bad does hold the reader's interest, for the most part. I did find myself wanting to know what was going to happen to Meadow Kennedy and her fatuous father, Eric. I'm not sure whether Gaige wanted me to like the protagonist or not. I can tell you that I didn't. I found Eric Kennedy/Erik Schroder patently un-likeable. I wanted things to work out for his little girl, and I found myself wanting Eric to be apprehended. Maybe he does love Meadow sincerely (albeit difficult to believe any assertions made by a self-proclaimed liar. It's like Spock's paradox, when he makes Harvey Mudd's fembots blow their perfectly logical circuits, when he tells them in his sexy, knowing way, "Listen carefully: Everything I say...is a lie."), but even so, Eric is a classic Narcissist, and all roads, even the suffering of his own child, circle back, ultimately, to how it will affect him.
It's unusual to say this, but I liked the book well enough, without liking the main character at all. If I was supposed to be rooting FOR Schroder/Kennedy, then this novel is an abject failure. If I was supposed to enjoy his collapse, then Bravo, Amity Gaige.
Not exactly a recommendation, I know. Read it if you care to. I'd be interested to hear what you think of it.
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