Share This Review
Jimmy is friends with some people he does not like. That sets up who he is, if that gives you anything to go on. He hangs out with them because he needs friends, basically, and they are dropped off the planet a short while after they’re introduced. Our Jimmy doesn’t believe love exists (he is also a 27 year old virgin), and I guess his friendships were so inconsequential that dropping them offered no ill effects to Jimmy. He talks about never having a girlfriend, which I can understand; he’s not exactly romantic. In fact, he comes off as robotic. Jimmy also tutored at a college, which was his job, and Rivera literally spent pages giving the reader a transcript of a session. It had nothing to do with the plot in any form or fashion. This was a style Rivera repeated.
The only high points I found were parts in which Jimmy revealed real human emotion. He did it very rarely, but when he did, I found myself agreeing with him. Mostly, however unfortunate, those were such fleeting moments. I forced myself to finish this.
Sara is introduced pretty quickly as a girl he was infatuated with at college. He calls her up and she goes on a date with him. Sara is attractive and very smart and social, while Jimmy is quiet and logical so much that it gets in the way of everything he does with her. Sara, I guessed throughout the whole book, didn’t have high self-esteem, as she invites Jimmy to live with her after that first date. In fact, everything moves fast in their relationship, which I never saw as a romantic one no matter how many erotic words Rivera tossed in. Their love was stale and completely unbelievable. Sara was always too good for him, and she fell for him for no reason other than Jimmy liked her and was a gentleman.
This book ended on such an odd note, a note so inconceivable, I hardly believed that was the end. Every relationship Jimmy has, whether with his family, friends, or Sara, all seem like they mean nothing to him. When he lets go of a person he does not miss them. It was like he wasn’t human, and reading this was like reading a detailed script for something like going to the bathroom. Jimmy just wasn’t human enough. He definitely proved that no, this ain’t a fairytale.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
***
Buy "Life Ain't A Fairy Tale" on Barnes and Noble