Adam is bored. Every day he goes drinking with his boring friends, in the same boring location by the boring river, and they do the same boring things. He gets urges to commit suicide because it’ll take him away from his boring life and the boring future that stretches out before him.

Read the rest of my review at: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/the-39-deaths-of-adam-strand-... ( )

This was an okay book. It definitely had its slow spots where I had to put it down. It didn't really keep my interest, and I'm usually pretty good about staying on top of books when I start them. ( )

The premise was so promising, but this book is literary Ambien.

I grew up in a small town. I remember all too well how stultifying that atmosphere can be. Which is why I moved to Seattle and have lived here for 20 years. The author brilliantly describes such stultification, but the characters and story are so freaking boring that you want to jump off a bridge yourself.

You would think a story about 39 suicide attempts, and surviving them, would be interesting. It should have been! But the book is sloooow and blah. Just "blah".

I am thankful this book was free because I would have demanded a refund. ( )

The late review is as a result of this book arriving six months after my initial request. This was probably not the publisher's fault, but the US Postal service. I finally received this book 6-11-13 in pretty bad condition. It was enclosed in a plastic bag with a note stating that the damage occurred during shipping. Luckily it was still in readable condition, even though the cover was nearly torn off and pages in the first third of the book were barely attached.
So after this long wait, I really was looking forward to this book.... unfortunately it just didn't live up to my expectations. I knew the book would be dark, but I found it quite off-putting. This novel tries, but it just doesn't deliver. The main character is someone who just seems irritating. His character isn't fully fleshed out, leaving the reader to wonder why we should even care about him. He seems completely disaffected and detached, and very quickly grows tiresome. Too bad, since the story concept was one with such promise. ( )

I've obviously lost interest in this book as it has been sitting unfinished on my bedside table for months now. I keep shifting it to the bottom of the pile, so I'm setting it aside for now and will try it again another time.

I don't know what it was that lost me along the way, but I got about halfway through and the story really didn't changed. Adam is completely unimpressed with life and it never changes. Fighting my down depression, maybe this was hitting a little too close to home.