Red Dog, Red Dog

One thing that frustrates me more than anything is when I don't "get" a book.

This happened to me over the weekend when I was reading a book called Red Dog, Red Dog. I had borrowed it to keep my busy on my train ride to Montreal, and I was more frustrated than anything once I had finished it.

The saddest part is that I had really been looking forward to reading it. The back over was intriguing, the description seemed interesting and I thought all systems were go.

Its not that the book was bad...I just didn't really get the point of it. Basically it was a story about a dysfunctional family living in the prairies. But outside of that I didn't really understand it. Parts of the book were narrated by the dead sister of the two brothers, but she floated in and out and it was hard to tell when it was an omnicient narrartor versus when she was doing the narrating.

There was also no real climax. It was almost as if the climax was building and building throughout the whole novel, but it never really went anywhere. I'm still trying to work out the story in my mind, but sadly I haven't gotten far.

Are there any books you've read that have really frustrated you? Have you ever felt like you aren't really understanding the book and the message behind it?