Wishes And Hopes (Book Review: Wish You Were Here)

So, before I start this review, I just wanted to write that I am disappointed with myself. I had set a goal for myself last year to read one hundred books, a goal that I had achieved the year before. But, I only was able to read 85. I gave up sometime around the beginning of December, sure that I would not be able to catch up. Still, I gave myself the same goal for 2014. I don't know if I will be able to achieve that this year, but one thing I promised myself is that I will read only what I want to read this year - no fillers, no easy reads just to be able to add one more to my list.

Mike Gayle's "Wish You Were Here" is, for me, the perfect book to jump start the new year. It's a contemplative read. They say that the best way to get to know yourself is to travel. Faced with situations and circumstances out of the norm, we are forced to free ourselves from mundane things that make us complacent. That certainly is the case for the characters in this book. Charlie, Andy, and Tom go on vacation to Crete, and come out of the experience different people. This is the first book of Mr. Gayle's that I have read, and I assure you that it won't be the last. (I may not even stop myself from instantly reading a second one.)  He is known for writing lad-lit, which some people say is chick-lit from a male point of view. I identified with a lot of the thoughts his narrator, Charlie, voiced.  There's really not much that happens in this book, but at the same time there are tons. It's an "internal" book, much of what is written is a reaction, an exploration of what one feels when faced with situations. I found myself identifying with not just one fo teh characters, and by the end of the book all of them stayed with me.