Review 15: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

Title: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
Author: Peter Cameron
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Rating: 6.5/10
"How do I know what I will want in my life? How do I know what things I will need?"
The Lowdown:
James Sveck, an intelligent 18-year-old, has no clue what the heck to do with his life. All he knows is that he wants to buy a house in the midwest, which no one understands, including his sister and his mother. How could they? His sister, at Barnard U, is dating a married professor who eventually dumps her. His mother, who is on her third failed marriage, after her third husband steals her credit cards to gamble away in Sin City. After getting the good news that he got into Brown U, James doesn't even know if he wants to attend college... after all, hanging out with people his age is ABSOLUTELY mortifying! What will James do?
The Good:
A. I guess I have to praise Cameron's efforts to create a new Holden... a smarter, gay, and more confused one, I guess.
B. The synopsis was written in an interesting way.
C. The sub-plots were more interesting than the main plot.
The Bad:
A. The book is nothing like it promises. Funny??! Please. Sure, sometimes there are moments of "witty" sarcasm, but I understood nothing, and hey, I read Catcher in the Rye and totally enjoyed it.
B. Let's think for a second. How similar is this book with J.D. Salinger's masterpiece? Slim books, confused narrators, confused about sexual orientation, scared of adults, and absolutely no plot. Is this a total rip-off of Catcher in the Rye?
C. The title of this book also comes from a poem thingy, just like J.D. Salinger's title! Another pathetically strange similarity.
D. The plot. There was no point in it. I was waiting for it, waiting for it. No climax, no denouement. No thrills or chills.
The Consensus:
If you are a lit. prof., then maybe you'll enjoy it. That's like a longshot. This book is, in my opinion, a pathetic attempt to re-create a great masterpiece. I don't know what people see in this book that makes them ooh and aah, but I really hated this book.