Review of Men's Studies

[Gabrielle Sigaki]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Men's Studies" by Whitney Hubbard.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Roger Hurtsboro works as a broker in the company Stoneburner & Chase. He has a beautiful wife named Pamela, two sons, a great job, and alcohol addiction. He goes to Brookfield, a luxury infrastructure in the Cumberland Plateau, looking for his rehabilitation with the help of health professionals, but also looking for planning his suicide and writing a letter about it. However, what he finds is a friendship with a peculiar mustached man named Jenkins Grainger, a writer of a polemic book who also took part in various types of business, from menswear to investing in the stock market.

Men's Studies by Whitney Hubbard isn't a simple book to understand. The narrative isn't linear since the story flows according to the narrator's stream of consciousness, which allows the reader to examine the characters' mental processes in detail. The narrator of the story is Roger Hurtsboro, but, in some chapters, the narrator seems to be closely describing scenes where he wasn't present.

My favorite aspect of this book was the author's ability to portray the characters realistically without unnecessary embellishments. For example, Jenkins is a man who likes to make jokes with critical insights and to help the people he loves. However, he also shows a male chauvinist side when he objectifies women and criticizes the clothes of a person his son assaulted. Therefore, the author shows that his characters aren't flat surfaces because they aren't intrinsically evil or good. They are complex, flawed, paradoxical, sometimes considerate and respectful, but also selfish and vain.

The only negative aspect I found in this book was the lack of development of some personas. For example, Pamela is the narrator's wife, but he only describes her superficially without talking about her personality or her story. Maybe this was made to create an atmosphere that represented the distance between them, but I still think that the novel could have more depth if we knew more about her and their sons. Nevertheless, the book seems professionally edited because I found some errors, but they didn't interrupt my reading at all.

Therefore, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. It's a fascinating novel with a unique writing style that doesn't follow linear narratives, but it is also doesn't bring character development of some relevant personas. I recommend it to those readers who are looking for a book that makes them question the value of human life, choices, and human relationships. However, I don't recommend it to young readers and people sensitive to the themes of suicide, addiction, violence, and sex content since they are prevalent in this writing.

******
Men's Studies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[maggi3]

This sounds like a book that explores many dark topics. I’m glad the author was able to portray realistic and interesting characters because authors too often try to make characters all good or all bad. Thanks for the review!

[ROSEY-ANN]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Men's Studies" by Whitney Hubbard.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Roger Hurtsboro works as a broker in the company Stoneburner & Chase. He has a beautiful wife named Pamela, two sons, a great job, and alcohol addiction. He goes to Brookfield, a luxury infrastructure in the Cumberland Plateau, looking for his rehabilitation with the help of health professionals, but also looking for planning his suicide and writing a letter about it. However, what he finds is a friendship with a peculiar mustached man named Jenkins Grainger, a writer of a polemic book who also took part in various types of business, from menswear to investing in the stock market.

Men's Studies by Whitney Hubbard isn't a simple book to understand. The narrative isn't linear since the story flows according to the narrator's stream of consciousness, which allows the reader to examine the characters' mental processes in detail. The narrator of the story is Roger Hurtsboro, but, in some chapters, the narrator seems to be closely describing scenes where he wasn't present.

My favorite aspect of this book was the author's ability to portray the characters realistically without unnecessary embellishments. For example, Jenkins is a man who likes to make jokes with critical insights and to help the people he loves. However, he also shows a male chauvinist side when he objectifies women and criticizes the clothes of a person his son assaulted. Therefore, the author shows that his characters aren't flat surfaces because they aren't intrinsically evil or good. They are complex, flawed, paradoxical, sometimes considerate and respectful, but also selfish and vain.

The only negative aspect I found in this book was the lack of development of some personas. For example, Pamela is the narrator's wife, but he only describes her superficially without talking about her personality or her story. Maybe this was made to create an atmosphere that represented the distance between them, but I still think that the novel could have more depth if we knew more about her and their sons. Nevertheless, the book seems professionally edited because I found some errors, but they didn't interrupt my reading at all.

Therefore, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. It's a fascinating novel with a unique writing style that doesn't follow linear narratives, but it is also doesn't bring character development of some relevant personas. I recommend it to those readers who are looking for a book that makes them question the value of human life, choices, and human relationships. However, I don't recommend it to young readers and people sensitive to the themes of suicide, addiction, violence, and sex content since they are prevalent in this writing.

******
Men's Studies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Detailed review. Thanks