Running away - Leslie Thomas (OK)

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Little John
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Running away - Leslie Thomas (OK)

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Just discovered this has been on the kindle since the end of 2019. Of course a lot has happened since and not all of it conducive to reading.

I was a big fan of Thomas when younger but the books appeared, to me, to have dried up. Now I'm surprised to find he wrote a lot behind my back. And Running Away was one.

Nicholas Boulting has a surprising success with his first novel but is struggling to fulfill the promise of his second. Until life gets on top of him and the final trivial straw prompts him to up and away, late at night, leaving his suburban home, wife and two children behind.

Planning to fly to Luxor, he ends up in Spain with an under privileged family who are escaping a bad husband and father; and a group of war veterans who should really be in Italy.

All pathetic failures of one sort or another with plenty of pathos and black humour.

But the story really starts when he runs away for a second time. This time to the wilds of Norfolk where he meets the woman who inspires his second and even more successful novel.

An interesting bit was when he worked that particular "real life" encounter into his new book. Later, his wife asks him to read a passage from the book and the book within the book was better.

I struggled to find the relevant bit further back on the kindle, to compare the two versions of the same encounter; wondering how similar they were.

Weird that the éxcerpts from the frictional book were more enjoyable than the actual book itself. Or is that too complicated to take in?
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
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marymary
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Re: Running away - Leslie Thomas (OK)

Post by marymary »

Maybe trying to show that he can still muster greatness but his fans require less.
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