It's astonishing how years just rush by. If time was an ocean, then right now I feel that each wave is a year taken from my life...and I stand on the shifting sand, and marvel that horizons have never felt so different as they have now, and time never so fleeting as it does now. Why such deep thoughts on a Sunday, you may ask? There is a reason. I read the C Words
by Mark Mason. No, the book does not inspire such profundity. Nay nay. What made me think about time was that I bought this book in July 2007, and now three years later, I turn to it. Finally, that book must have thought! "My purpose in life is about to be fulfilled!" What a sad little purpose though it served. The C Words is a forgettable little book. And the C words here are : commitment, coupledom and children. So now you have a clear idea where Mark Mason is heading. We have Alex, young 30 something, who is on this quest to find love without the three Cs attached to it. Then we have his colleague and friend, Tony who you know is this wonderful bloke, but who sadly doesn't have the nerve or courage to speak to a woman and woo her over. They both fall for the beautiful American, Elisabeth while on a trip to New York with their boss Miles. The boss incidentally, is trying to sell his company to the Americans with a little bit of subterfuge thrown in. How do I describe the rest of this novel? It's a bit like yesterday's leftovers really. Take a little bit of humor, a little bit of love, thrown in some serious thoughts about life, sprinkle some slapstick comedy and layer well with trite melodrama and voila! You have the C Words!
It all gets too predictable. A bit like reading Home Alone instead of watching it. The jokes are not really that funny and the sentimentality wouldn't make even my Grandma cry. Mark Mason tries very hard with this book, but I felt like I had flat beer, stale pancakes and sour tamarind all at once.
Verdict: Avoid.
Rating : 0/5
Oh that doesn't sound very appetizing! :(
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