This was a beautifully written, bittersweet and funny meditation on missed chances and how perhaps it is better to look back fondly rather than to go back and attempt to change past events. The fact that this didn't resonate so strongly for me is in part Simsion being a victim of his own success - the Rosie Project was one of the funniest books I'd ever read and I had difficulty not comparing it to this - but largely due to my having unconscious expectations which weren't met. This is a good book and I think it will resonate more strongly for others than it did for me.

The Best of Adam Sharp

I loved Simison's 'Rosie' books and so was intrigued when I saw his new book was available. The Best of Adam Sharp is a very different kind of read to his other books but it's a great read.

A story of multiple adulterers, relationships, great music and what ifs. A great read that won't fail to entertain you! 4*

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

Quite an original take to write a novel interwoven with song titles and lyrics. The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion intrigued from the start, proving that what you think may be just another 'relationship' novel actually used the song titles to tell the story.
Extremely well written, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.

After a slightly slow start I really warmed to this book. What does happen when you reconnect with your lost love from twenty years ago? The real answer is messy, complicated, funny and not remotely what you'd expect.

The insights into 40 something life are just so true and do make you stop and think. Life is for living even when there aren't any answers, there's little guidance on what to do next, and music and ding lyrics seem to guide your every move.

Thank you for reminding me to have fun, live and be happy not knowing the real answers are.

The first half of this book wasn’t bad, if a bit twee. It tells of a young man Adam falling in love with an aspiring Australian actress when he’s on a contract in Australia. When the contract ends so does the love affair and although Adam moves on and has a relatively successful marriage he still looks back fondly on Angelina and the love that might have been. So far so good. I’m sure many people have an old romance that sticks in their minds and they sometimes wonder “what if….” However the second half of the book is just terrible. Out of the blue Angelina gets back in touch. Nothing so unusual there – but what transpires is really quite ridiculous and the characters lose all authenticity. I finished in order to write this review, but what a chore it was. Seems to me that a good idea went completely to pot as the author just didn’t know how to convincingly complete the novel and so got side-tracked into some very silly ideas indeed.

https://jennyobrienwriter.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/lanzarote-book-by-book/

An interesting read, especially as the story is told in first person from the perspective of a nearly fifty year old man, not a POV I usually encounter. It's a book that does make you think and I found the portrayals of long term marriages to be very carefully and truthfully written. Main protagonist Adam isn't always a particularly likeable or dynamic character but he is certainly loyal, even if that is to a long ago lover for most of the book. I did enjoy all of the song references, most of them I had heard before, but the playlist at the end has helped me find some new favourites. More serious and thoughtful than the author's previous books, so don't expect the same lighthearted feel , but a good read nevertheless.

Adored this book - and loved reading it alongside the specially-created Spotify playlist. It really brought the book to life!

Graeme Simsion's writing has captivated me since The Rosie Project, and I could not wait to read his new offering. The Best of Adam Sharp did not disappoint. In addition to interesting characters who felt real and an intriguing story of memories and hard decisions, music is a crucial part of this story. Adam relates his feelings to songs, as we all do, and finds particular resonance in those he listens to at special moments in his life. Read the book, then listen to the author's playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/thebestofadamsharp/playlist/52HEENZTAQaoMLiAnZLk3H

I know that I couldn't have expected something along the same lines as The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, but even with that thought firmly in my mind, I found Adam Sharp a little disappointing.

I know that the story has its foundations in the old 'we all have that one that got away' and the midlife crisis of facing the 'what if', but after having built such believable characters (nicely done), I found it all a bit unbelievable. Which was a shame.

A sentimental story about lost love, ‘what-ifs’ and difficult choices

Forty-something year old Adam Sharp is happy with his life and with his 20-year relationship with his partner Claire and his job as a part-time IT consultant. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, he receives a message from Angelina, an Australian actress with whom he had a passionate love affair when he was in his twenties that ended because he didn’t have the guts to commit to her – the ‘one that got away’. The two begin to reconnect and eventually, possibly due to the shift in Adam’s approach to life, he ends his relationship with Claire and accepts an offer to stay with Angelina and her husband Charlie in France for a week. What follows could end up being a ‘second chance’ for Adam and Angelina but a lot has changed in 20 years and the two of them may end up discovering that the best years of their time together have already passed.

This was an enjoyable, easy-to-read story that managed to remain light-hearted but also touched on a lot of complex issues involving relationships, morality and the impact that decisions can have on the course of our lives. I really liked the way that songs were included and referenced throughout the story, linked to certain people or events in Adam’s mind as this is something that was very relatable and a testament to the emotional power that music can have over us. It also added an extra dimension to the story and gave the reader the chance to get an additional perspective on the thoughts of the eponymous character. The idea of being given a second chance is also extremely intriguing as everyone has at some point thought ‘what if?’ about certain choices in their lives and, in this story, we get to see what plays out when Adam is potentially offered the opportunity to rewrite the past. I found that the title was also quite poignant, as it gives the impression that the time he spent with Angelina was ‘the best’ years of Adam’s life. The fear that the greatest moments of our lives have already passed us by or even been missed due to our decisions is one that I feel affects almost everyone and this story makes you consider these possibilities and addresses these feelings through the characters.

However, despite a thought-provoking concept with plenty of emotional dilemmas, I felt that the characters themselves in this story let it down a bit for me. Even though the book was written in first person from his perspective, I struggled to fully engage with Adam and found both him and the other characters to be a bit selfish and fickle in their behaviour. Towards the end of the story it seemed as if they were going round in circles with their decision making, which made a few of the chapters quite repetitive and dragged out the ending. Every small thought or choice in Adam’s head seemed to be over-analysed and built-up in his narrative to a point where you felt that he was never actually going to make a concrete decision and when he did, it felt anti-climactic. Also, whilst the first part of the plot, which describes Adam and Angelina’s meeting and relationship, was sweet and sentimental it was not as romantic as I felt it maybe could have been, meaning I personally didn’t feel fully invested in the great love affair. The second half of the book was more dramatic but, without revealing any spoilers, I unfortunately just couldn’t come to terms with some of the characters’ behaviour and their reactions to some of the events that occurred just didn’t seem to gel with their established personalities.

Overall, whilst this book was enjoyable to read, I found it difficult to connect to the characters or really understand the reasons behind their various choices which meant that it didn’t have the huge emotional impact on me that I felt it was aiming for. I also thought that the ending was a bit of an anti-climax with some of the issues raised by the story not being fully addressed. Despite this, it made me think about a lot of things and was both creative and engaging to read, so I am giving it 3 stars.

Daenerys

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.

I was disappointed by this in comparison to the Rosie novels. The second half felt disjointed and the characters not plausible.

Having read and laughed at ‘The Rosie Project’, I guess as I started to read this, I expected more of the same, but it isn’t.
Adam Sharp is a nice character, and age wise I could empathise with the story of getting back in touch with an old love, who was potentially the love of his life.
I liked the constant musical references, as they were pretty much the soundtrack to my twenties too, but basically I found Adam a bit wet. I just wanted to push him along , and get him to show more oomph!
I did, however, want to see how everything turned out, and overall it was an enjoyable read. I suspect there will be further developments in Graeme Simsion’s style of writing, to challenge the reader further.

When Adam Sharp was in his twenties he went to Australia and fell in love with Angelina Brown. She was married, he had a plane to catch, but he’s always believed she was ‘the one’.

Fast-forward a couple of decades and Adam’s life in England isn’t exactly falling apart, but neither is it really going anywhere, so a surprise email from Angelina precipitates a new fitness regime and causes him to abandon his pub quiz team and longstanding partner.

So far, so predictable perhaps, but Adam is a very likeable, well-drawn and nuanced character, who gives the novel some depth and carries the reader through some second-half plot developments that, frankly, come close to straining credulity.

He is also a part-time piano player and Angelina sings, so music is neatly and very effectively threaded through the book as a background to their affair and, certainly in Adam’s case, his life.

As a meditation on the power of the past and the choices we make it’s hard to imagine anyone who isn’t of a certain age enjoying this novel, but if you’re in your forties there’s a good chance you’ll find it very readable. It’s nicely reflective, has a genuine warmth and is sometimes rather moving.

Summary

I really wanted to enjoy this book; I loved Graeme Simsion’s other works and so was pretty excited to hear that he had a new book in the works. Unfortunately, The Best of Adam Sharp did not live up to expectations and I ended up frustrated and forcing myself to read it to the end.

The Best of Adam Sharp follows a middle-aged man who suddenly hears from a woman he once had a short fling with 22 years prior to the novel taking place, one who he has unresolved feelings for. An innocuous email exchange quickly develops into something more and Adam Sharp finds himself taking a step back and looking at his life through completely new eyes.

There will be mild spoilers in this review and a lot of my reasons for disliking this book are personal preference for the types of stories and characters I like to read and themes I just can’t get into.

Plot

I think, more than anything, it was the plot of this book which caused the frustration I had towards it. All the principle characters in this book were married, or close enough, and the novel was essentially one of infidelity, coming across as a strange, disturbing fantasy. This really come to a head in the second half, to the point where I seriously considered not finishing this book, or flinging it across the room (which, given that I was reading on a kindle, would not have been a great idea).

The first half of the book was fun; I’ll give it that. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Adam and Angelina in the past and what his life was in the present. I liked the idea of an old flame resurfacing and it prompting someone to improve their life, from their job to improving the relationship with their current partner. Simsion is good at describing the relationships between people in a fun, light-hearted way and I did think the first part of the book was good. I just could not stand where the book went and I just could not enjoy the book for trying to make me root for people I would consider awful in real life.

Characters

Where the plot was the biggest let down, the characters were a close second. As I’ve mentioned, I liked them to start with, but as the book went on I ended up going in the opposite direction to the point where I hated both Adam and Angelina, mostly Angelina as she was the driving force of this, but Adam went along with it and so deserved a lot of the (dis)credit as well.

Part of this could be because the characters didn’t really have any depth. While they did start off with potential, all they became by the end were pretty shallow people, with not much too them. The only character who did survive with any shred of dignity and humanity was Adam’s partner Claire. She was the only one who didn’t engage in any cheating and whose only ‘flaw’ was that she wanted to move to the US to continue developing her career. Sadly, she did not feature much and was more of a background character.

Final thoughts

I have been fairly negative with this review, but after finishing the book, I could not bring myself to like it. I don’t enjoy books where there is infidelity, more so when you’re expected to like the characters – I won’t and never will like them, and the storylines just irritate me. Simsion does write really well and that is the one saving grace for the novel; his writing brings his stories to life and I think, if he had written any other story, I would have really enjoyed it. In this case, the story just did not gel with me. It happens from time to time and, sadly, there’s not much one can do about it. In my opinion, The Best of Adam Sharp was not the best of Graeme Simsion.

Adam Sharp is gaining on 50 and re-evaluating his life, when his first love Angelina gets back in touch. Since leaving her in Australia many years ago, life has sort of chugged along; partner Claire has become more of an acquaintance in recent years, he has the pub quiz and his piano but something feels off. Is Angelina the key to changing his life? An enjoyable, easy to read story peppered with musical references. This is a far more sober and reflective narrative than The Rosie Project though; Adam is a middle aged man who has never quite fulfilled his potential. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the book, but during the second half as Adam becomes embroiled in Angelina and Charlie's marriage, I'll admit to finding some scenes uncomfortable and I found myself not really liking Adam or Angelina. That being said, this is a believable portrait of a middle aged life and the regrets that come with looking back.

I have read The Rose Effect and the The Rosie Project and thoroughly enjoyed both books but The Best of Adam Sharp is a totally different story. It centres around Adam who works in IT and is approaching his fifties and in a stale relationship with Claire. When he was in his twenties working in Australia he met Angelina, a glamorous soap actress and has a brief passionate affair with her when she is going through a rough patch with her first husband, Richard. She goes back to Richard and Adam moves on eventually going back to Britain.
Fast forward to the present and Adam receives an email out of the blue from Angelina inviting him to visit her and her second husband Charlie at their holiday home in France.
Charlie seems an older and more staid person than Adam but what follows is, to my mind scarcely believable.
Adam and Angelina resume their affair with each other. Charlie treats Angelina as a sort of trophy wife indulging her to a ridiculous and I mean ridiculous degree. She always seemed to be a strong character in the past but she allows herself to be treated appallingly to my mind.
The only redeeming feature of the book is that the ending ties up any loose ends in a satisfactory way.

I read this book based on the fact that I'd loved Simsion's books. It is the tale of a man getting back in contact with a woman with whom he had a relationship as a young man, second chances and rose tinted spectacles.

It is an enjoyable read, but slow. Not a book I could sit down and read in one go, more of one which I picked up and put down.

This was a moving, poignant love story which started in Australia in 1989. Adam is English, from Manchester and staying there for 3 months. He meets a beautiful TV starlet Angelina - the high maintenance spoilt brat who feeds on constant adulation and they fall in love. There is no commitment as he leaves the country and I was reminded of the ending of the "The Bodyguard" as he leaves. I could almost hear Whitney Houston singing "I will always love you." Afterwards it was like Rod Stewart's "The First Cut is the deepest" as neither of the couple seem to properly get over each other. As a baby boomer it was a nostalgic journey as Adam defined his old love affair with music that I know and love well. I was a teenager in those days glued to a transistor radio listening to Radio Caroline out in Morecambe Bay, followed by being a fan of Magic 828 on the radio, recording on a tape recorder, then cassettes, then buying CD's and now downloading the 60's and 70's music from Amazon. Many changes, but that music still lives on for me: some with accompanying memories. I was puzzled how Angelina was able to contact Adam by email after 22 years apart. It was questioned briefly by Adam but never explained. Perhaps there's something I don't know! It would have seemed more credible to get a message on Facebook to someone in your past. Towards the end I thought it was a bizarre, uncivilised arrangement in France but it was impossible to predict the outcome. Thank you for letting me read it.