two out of five stars

book review
the tourist

by Jeff Hobbs

this book was just ok. on my last trip to the library to return the help i had to actually go inside the library. ...majority of the time i have a book being held for me, but on this particular trip i knew i had some overdue fines so i decided to spend sometime inside searching for some new books. i enjoy doing this because it is habit to always go to the same type of book, or the same author over and over. on this trip, i wanted to go away with something new. while strolling the aisles i stumbled upon the tourist, read the back and thought "i'll give it a try." i find big differences between female and male writers, and i liked that this book was written by a male because i do lean more towards the female authors. one thing that i don't take notice of too heavily when it comes books is the artwork on the front. because majority of the time it doesn't mean anything. you know the saying "don't trust a book by it's cover". for this particular book cover, it definitely means something, and it becomes clear when reading the first chapter of the book. i'll let you ponder what those 2 chairs might be representing.

this story takes place in current day NYC. it's about 4 college "friends" who all grew separately after graduation then find themselves connected 6 years later(or something like that, i can't remember how many years after graduation this story takes place). the tourist is a story about growing up, traveling, working in corporate america, love affairs, lust affairs, and never really knowing the full truth. the whole book is really sorta random.
the 4 main characters all attended and graduated from Yale University, they all know of each other, but they don't really know one another. so because their aren't any super strong ties amongst the four of them you don't ever get to form a close relationship with any of them as the reader. the only thing that all of them have in common are their days at Yale.

it is a secret that the reader and narrator knows of that moves this book along. wondering how the other 3 friends in the story will find out about the secret is what kept me reading. the story itself is interesting, but i think their are a few random parts i could have gone with out. for example one of the friends brothers gets drunk, falls off the top of a building and dies. the death had no place in this book, it didn't prove a point, and no real lesson was learned from it.

with such randomness going on i wouldn't recommend this book.

treadmill 22min
dance jam 60min
treadmill 15min
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