“I won an autographed copy of this book from the Goodreads giveaway. I read another J.J. Murray book, I'm Your Girl, about two years ago. What I find so enjoyable about his books is their fairly apolitical exploration of interracial relationships. Murray never makes a big hoopla out of two people from different backgrounds falling for one another--he simply lets it happen without any sociopolitical commentary. The conflicts are, instead, interpersonal.
The Real Thing is no different. Christiana, a journalist, manages to get an interview with the elusive Dante, a boxer staging a big comeback. Over the course of their three days together, they fall in lust/love. The root story is refreshing, as the protagonists are over 30 and independently successful. Christiana, however, is sometimes prone to fits of jealousy, impulsiveness, and narcissism/vanity. She has an extraordinarily compelling back-story, and I sometimes wished that the book had explored it in more depth. I think that some more concrete links could have been forged between her tragic past and her sometimes ridiculous behavior.
Overall, this book makes for a fun beach read. The characters are fairly interesting (though I found Dante's ex-wife, Evelyn/"Evil Lyn," to be somewhat of a caricature) and the tone remains generally humorous throughout.”
MLi928 wrote this review Monday, July 5, 2010.
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