150/111 - The Lie by Chad Kultgen

The reason I bought this book is that was bored at work one day. When I go out for breaks and go for lunch, I always have my iPhone with me, even if I don't always have a book with me. I had downloaded a few samples of books onto my iPhone in the last few months, and when I was out one day on a break and I was bored, I decided to start reading one of the book samples on my iPhone. I chose this book because I felt fairly confident that it would be funny, as I have read one of his books before.

I started out by reading the sample on my iPhone and then thinking, I would like to read the rest of this. However after having a look on the Waterstones website and Amazon and finding out that it would take several days to arrive I decided to purchase it on my iPhone right then and there and give it a go. I asked a couple of people at work whether they though it would be a good idea for me to try and read a book on my iPhone and the answer was pretty much a 'no' from everyone. But as it turned out, I didn't find the experience to be all that bad. It was great for nipping out for a quick break, I could just slip my phone out of my handbag and give it a quick read, although the temptation to spend longer on my breaks was pretty string, especially if I was at a good bit, however I liked the fact that it kept me able to read in any given minute I might have available.

Overall, it was a pretty good experience, and I think I would do it again, however I still think that I would have chosen the paper copy of the book had it been available to me on the day.

I really enjoyed the book itself, and I was debating over whether to go for The Lie or Men, Women and Children, which I'm probably going to read next, but I did enjoy this. It follows the story of Kyle, Heather and Brett who are three students about to go to university. Kyle and Brett are best friends, with Kyle being the nerd and Brett being incredibly rich. Heather is the girl that Kyle falls in love with and who Brett despises (as he does with all women) and the book is broadly about the ideas of truth and love and the paths we have set out for our lives.

I really enjoyed the various voices of the characters, and Heather's was especially funny, although she is a horrible person. She is so utterly wrapped up in what people think of her, looking good to all her sorority sisters, making sure that she doesn't show any real emotion or feeling, and she is incredibly materialistic. I wasn't quite sure what to make of Brett's voice in that obviously he is incredibly misogynistic, and the way in which he views and uses women is pretty disturbing, and the voice felt quite similar to the narrator in Average American Male.

The ending of the book was a little bleak, which I'm fine with as that sort of wrapped it up really nicely, and I guess my only criticism of the reading experience is that when reading it on a device, I obviously could see my page number county getting towards the end, but I didn't really feel like I was reaching the end in the same way I would if I was reading a paper book, which I didn't really like as much.