Love the guy, hated the book.

OK, I’ll just say up front that if I had read Between the Bridge and the River when it came out in 2006, I’m pretty sure I would have loved it and written a rave review. Unfortunately reading it in 2018, I just didn’t have that reaction.

I’ve always liked Craig Ferguson, and his sense of humour. He was my favourite part of “The Drew Carey Show,” and his most recent comedy special on Netflix, “Tickle Fight” made me laugh out loud. He’s a good guy, who’s been through some stuff and come out the better for it. Unfortunately, Ferguson’s first novel Between the Bridge and the River is just a bit too anachronistic and doesn’t hold up twelve years later.

Having read lots of Chuck Palaniuk and Irvine Welsh, I was openminded about the storyline of two sets of brothers who just seem to have a shit way of going through life, but my choices and reasons for reading any book these days are miles different right now, and I just couldn’t find anything here that made me like the characters or their way of going about their lives.

In the end, I picked up a David Sedaris book of short stories, so that I could read something light-hearted before going back to another chapter of Ferguson’s book. It was a slog, but I did it. I just can’t think of anyone I could recommend it to.

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