Official Review: Vacation To Graceland by Phillip Cornell
Posted: 30 Dec 2016, 23:32
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Vacation To Graceland" by Phillip Cornell.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Vacation to Graceland is a short and humorous novel written by Philip Cornell. The book is written in first person and is about how a family decides to go on a trip to Memphis Tennessee from St. Louis for a family reunion.
This family isn't a normal one. Everyone has issues and problems of their own. The protagonist is young and his main motive in life is climbing up the career ladder. So, getting a leave from work is one of the first obstacles he faces and (not surprisingly), this is dealt with in a humorous manner.
The rest of the characters also play a vital role towards this novel's humour. The protagonist's mother is a self centred widow and one of those people with whom you can never win an argument with. His grandmother is on dialysis and does whatever she likes irrespective of what people tell her. The protagonist's sister, Crissy, is apparently the only normal character out of the six. Her two children- a boy and a girl never get along and always find something to fight over. You can imagine what it will be like to stuff these six people into a five seater sedan for about half a dozen hours. I can't tell you any more about the plot as that would mean spoiling the book's humour.
The novel's humour is good, it got me laughing out loud a few times while, in other times, I was giggling to myself or thanking god that I didn't have a family like this. The book also seemed professionally edited and I couldn't spot any grammatical errors or mistakes.
There is almost no suspense in this novel. So, if you are one of those avid dystopian readers who love suspense, then this isn't for you. One thing that I disliked about this book is about how the author has mentioned in the synopsis of the novel that the trip turned out to be an unforgettable experience for the family through which their blood bond strengthened. This definitely didn't happen. The author has written the book in such a way that it seemed like the protagonist had predicted that this all was going to happen if they went on a trip together. Also, he seemed really relieved when he reached home safely.
I would have rated this book 3.5 stars out of 4 if I could, but, I strongly believe that it deserves a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. This book can be read by people of all ages and the humour, like I mentioned in the fifth paragraph, was really good. I was deducting 0.5 stars because of the synopsis thing I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Overall, if you have a good taste in humour then this is a book you should definitely try.
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Vacation To Graceland
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4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Vacation to Graceland is a short and humorous novel written by Philip Cornell. The book is written in first person and is about how a family decides to go on a trip to Memphis Tennessee from St. Louis for a family reunion.
This family isn't a normal one. Everyone has issues and problems of their own. The protagonist is young and his main motive in life is climbing up the career ladder. So, getting a leave from work is one of the first obstacles he faces and (not surprisingly), this is dealt with in a humorous manner.
The rest of the characters also play a vital role towards this novel's humour. The protagonist's mother is a self centred widow and one of those people with whom you can never win an argument with. His grandmother is on dialysis and does whatever she likes irrespective of what people tell her. The protagonist's sister, Crissy, is apparently the only normal character out of the six. Her two children- a boy and a girl never get along and always find something to fight over. You can imagine what it will be like to stuff these six people into a five seater sedan for about half a dozen hours. I can't tell you any more about the plot as that would mean spoiling the book's humour.
The novel's humour is good, it got me laughing out loud a few times while, in other times, I was giggling to myself or thanking god that I didn't have a family like this. The book also seemed professionally edited and I couldn't spot any grammatical errors or mistakes.
There is almost no suspense in this novel. So, if you are one of those avid dystopian readers who love suspense, then this isn't for you. One thing that I disliked about this book is about how the author has mentioned in the synopsis of the novel that the trip turned out to be an unforgettable experience for the family through which their blood bond strengthened. This definitely didn't happen. The author has written the book in such a way that it seemed like the protagonist had predicted that this all was going to happen if they went on a trip together. Also, he seemed really relieved when he reached home safely.
I would have rated this book 3.5 stars out of 4 if I could, but, I strongly believe that it deserves a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. This book can be read by people of all ages and the humour, like I mentioned in the fifth paragraph, was really good. I was deducting 0.5 stars because of the synopsis thing I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Overall, if you have a good taste in humour then this is a book you should definitely try.
******
Vacation To Graceland
View: on Bookshelves
Like Wasif Ahmed's review? Post a comment saying so!
