The Best of Adam Sharp (Graeme Simsion, Text)

This new offering from The Rosie Project’s Graeme Simsion is another poignant glimpse into human relationships—what it is to love and to be loved. Adam Sharp, a 40-something database architect, is content. He lives in the UK with a wife he loves (when he sees her), regularly attends pub trivia nights with his mates, and has his music. Out of the blue, Adam’s Great Lost Love, Angelina, contacts him, and with a single ‘hi’ brings his world grinding to a halt. His memories of their short time together in Melbourne in the 1980s reveal a brief but intense love affair, but why is Angelina contacting now? What kind of couple could they have become? Can they be that now? Readers looking for the same laugh-out-loud schadenfreude or viscerally discomforting social awkwardness of Simsion’s ‘Rosie’ books won’t find it in The Best of Adam Sharp, where Adam’s ‘what if?’ ponderings feel more confusing and frustrating. The story is littered with references to some brilliant songs from the 1960s and 1970s, and Simsion includes a playlist for readers to listen to while reading. While not as funny as Simsion’s first novels, The Best of Adam Sharp hits you right in the morals and leaves you thinking—how far would you go for a second chance?

Louise Fay is the special orders manager at Dymocks Adelaide

Category: Reviews Reviews newsletter Book review list