I greatly enjoy books that I'll characterise as "coming of age" – set in school (17/18 years-old) or university or post university (20s), young people finding their way etc.
Two books that I've read in this genre that I have greatly enjoyed are The Secret History (Tartt) and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Zevin) – both well-written, generally pretty good character and plot development and characters I could really get close to.
So I was looking forward to The Shards and have so far (page 200) been deeply disappointed and, frankly, bored. I knew nothing of the author before I picked up this book, and perhaps if I'd done a little background on him my expectations would have been different, or maybe I wouldn't have bought the book at all. But the whole thing is, for me, the complete antithesis of what I enjoyed in the other two novels I've mentioned above. I loathe the characters (Bret especially although they all seem equally loathsome), the constant list of celebrities, brands, music they're listening to and the sheer tedium of their lives. Oh, and the clunky, awful teenage sex.
As I understand, this is a novel in two parts, although I think that by this point the plot is just getting going – or at least, I hope that it is. But I am close to giving up on this. Can anyone offer me any hope? Or perhaps I have to accept that this author's work is not for me.
Am I missing something? What else should I read?
(Edited to correct title of Tartt book)
by thearchchancellor