Book Review: The Fake-Up
This was supposed to be my happy book. I did not expect this book to royally piss me off at pretty much every turn. I wouldn’t say that it was the worst book I’ve ever read, but definitely the most frustrating.
Floria and Dylan are dreamers. They’re creatives who are fighting to stay afloat, and they also come from vastly different backgrounds. Dylan comes from the north of England and is stoically working class, floria is more upper-middle class. Private schools, friends she’s known since prep school, and always having the bank of mum and dad to always fall back on. They have a lot going against them. Floria’s friends are rather disgustingly out of touch with reality. Trust funds, passion projects that are more tax dodges and always rely on money for quick fixes rather than relying on hard work. So naturally, they do not relate to Dylan. Dylan doesn’t really help himself; he has a massive chip on his shoulder. Rather than not caring what people think, he cares too much and therefore alienates himself further from Floria’s circle. Essentially, it’s a mess of dreams smashing with harsh realities.
I would argue that this is the anti-romcom. The fake-up follows a couple who break up, succeed in their respective fields, but decide to mess around and get back together while pretending to be broken up. I get the premise, and on paper it sounds hilarious. Sadly, it isn’t. I found that there are always opportunities to make it funny, add some slapstick humour, and close calls and other what-have-yous. I think there was one close call with some badly written humour. The focus was less on their relationship and more on the pitfalls of their respective creative fields in the public eye. Not to mention A LOT of class bashing to the point where it got boring, cheesy and cliché to the point where it falls into stereotype, an over-the-top caricature would’ve been preferable because maybe then it would have been funny. I’m starting to wonder if our author is the one with the chip on his shoulder and just living vicariously through Dylan?
This was supposed to be my fun book, but it left me disappointed. What a damn shame and what a waste of a ‘fun read’. Some people might like this book. If you’re looking for an anti-romcom, then sure, this book is for you. But I’d just finished reading some very academic books and a tragic WWII story. I NEEDED the fun book. I am not impressed.