- This will sound funny, but the name. Seriously, how can you not want to read a book named Mr. Toppit?
- Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
- On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Summary from GoodReads:
When Arthur Hayman, an unsuccessful screenwriter turned children’s book author, is accidentally hit by a cement truck in London, his dying moments are spent with a passing American tourist, Laurie Clow, who is fated to bring posthumous fame to his obscure series, The Hayseed Chronicles, and the enigmatic and sinister Mr. Toppit who is at the center of the books. While Arthur doesn’t live to reap the benefits of his books’ success, his legacy falls to his widow, Martha, and their children—the fragile Rachel, and Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the fictional Luke Hayseed, hero of his father’s series. But others want their share of the Hayseed phenomenon, particularly Laurie, who has a mysterious agenda of her own that changes all of their lives as Martha, Rachel, and Luke begin to crumble under the heavy burden of their inheritance.
Spanning several decades, from the heyday of the postwar British film industry to today’s cutthroat world of show business in Los Angeles, Mr. Toppit is a riveting debut novel that captures a remarkable family and their tragic brush with fame to wonderfully funny and painful effect.
My Review:
Much like Christopher Robert Milne experienced, the fictional Luke Hayward has his life put down on paper by his father, Arthur Hayward. The result? The story told in this book.
To be honest, I flip-flopped back and forth between liking this book and wanting to just give up on it. It wasn’t an easy read and there were some rather crude parts that had me feeling uncomfortable (and the end result will be me not recommending this book lightly). They were completely unnecessary and I am rather sad that I even had to experience them. But then, there’s the story of this family, this broken family all revolving around a father that it seemed none of them had paid attention to during his lifetime.
Every character had his or her flaws, but the most lifelike character was, to me, Lila, the German friend. Charles Elton did such a magnificent job detailing her behavior, her style of dress and her manner of speech so well that I couldn’t help but picture her and know exactly what type of person she was. Every time she burst into the scene I couldn’t help but laugh and enjoy myself immensely.
I think this story is fairly realistic, I sympathized with Luke’s feelings of resentment toward the book, his motives for feeling that resentment and I sympathized with Laurie’s decisions regarding the story, even if I didn’t completely agree with them.
Overall, while not a gripping story, it was an interesting one and I wanted to see it through.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
