Title: Charlotte Street
Author: Danny Wallace
Type: Fiction
Page Count: 410
Rating: 4/5
This is pretty much the closest I ever come to reading a contemporary novel, but I’ve got to say I was pretty happy with it. I’ve actually had this one lying around for quite a while now, in part because I was a pretty big Danny Wallace fan back in the day and I’ve read all of his non-fiction. This is his first novel and so I guess that’s why I was putting it off.
But it turns out to be pretty fun and quite quirky, as well as a super easy read. In other words, it was just what I needed at the time when I picked it up. As for the story line, I think there was potentially a worry that it would come across as kind of stalkery, because it is. But Wallace knows that, and so too does his main character.
Basically, he’s fascinated by this woman and ends up accidentally in possession of a disposable camera that belonged to her. He could just do nothing of course, but where’s the fun in that? And so instead, he decides to try to track the woman down instead. And that’s pretty much as much of the novel’s plot as you need to know before you go ahead and pick it up.
Because it’s Danny Wallace, it’s also pretty funny, and indeed it’s one of those where the journey itself is more fun than the destination. With that said, it still does a pretty good job of building a little bit of tension and a lot of intrigue, and the result is a pretty strange book that feels familiar and yet unique at the same time. I’m impressed, even though at times, the writing doesn’t quite come across like a true pro.
So would I recommend this? Yeah, of course I would, and I’m particularly pleased because finishing this one off takes me down to 33 unread books and I’m really starting to scrape the barrel. I’ve not been expecting much from each of the books I’ve got to recently, especially from ones like these which have been on my to be read pile for so long.
Yeah, I’m happy with this one, and I’m pretty sure Wallace has a newer novel out too. I think maybe Cats and Camera read it. I shall have to do a little research.
