Love and Other Near-Death Experiences

I bought this book on a recommendation of another author. It takes a damn good book for another author to recommend.

I came across Mil Millington through the praise lauded on him by author Christopher Moore on his personal website. Like Moore, Millington does what few writers are able to do; put humor into literature. Though lesser known because he is from across the pond, Millington has the potential to find an audience in the States. The story finds Rob Garland, an indecisive 31 year old man, living with the reality of a near death experience. Fronting the graveyard shift of a jazz radio show, Rob spills his emotions on the air one night. This unites a cast of crazies that have shared similar experiences to Rob's experience on a quest without direction. Battling seemingly irrational bodily desires, the dreaded "fundos", and reconciling a mundane relationship, while mocking a sizable portion of the landscape of English literature, Millington's wit has a sharp point that rarely misses the mark on the first stab. But seeming to know he may have some misses, many quirks are replayed overexposing the joke. I feel the need to give a word of caution to non-British readers. Millington is decidedly English in his writing. Thus, many Americans may not know what he is talking about or calling certain people. I do not suspect this would keep American readers from enjoying the book, but the internet provides word translation sites at no cost. Most readers will see the twists in the plot coming before they happen. Yet if you purchase this book, it is unlikely you are hoping to be dazzled by the plot. To be blunt, the book is funny. It does not measure up to the work of Christopher Moore, but that is a difficult standard to meet. But in a niche of the industry where there is room for diversity and new talent, Mil Millington has made a name for himself.

First, a Public Service Announcement: Do not read this in public. It will make you laugh aloud (so your boss will realize you're reading at work), and put you at risk of snorting coffee through your nose and/or spitting it all over anyone nearby. Not to mention all those strange looks you'll get. Like Millington's previous two books, Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, and A Certain Chemistry, Love and Other Near-Death Experiences had me laughing aloud every other page, frequently laughing so hard I'd have tears running down my face and I'd feel compelled to quote funny bits aloud to whoever was handy at the time. But that's where the similarity ends. If possible, I think this is even better than the first two, and I absolutely loved the first two. Late-night disk jockey Rob Garland is losing it. Ever since... okay, it's not a spoiler because it's all right there on the cover, but since I make it a policy not to read the back covers of books because I want to get the full effect, it was a little bit of suspense you won't get if I tell. Still, if you're reading this about a book you haven't read yet, you'd likely read the back of the book anyway, right? Okay, then. I feel better now. On we go. Ever since returning some towels made him late for a lunch interview, thereby saving his life when a tanker truck crashes into the restaurant, killing everyone inside, he's been crippled by indecision: which decision was it that saved his life? Was it returning the towels? Or was it buying the towels in the first place? Or maybe it was whatever made him turn and see the towels in the shop window. Or something even more mundane. And what about the future? What if choosing black over blue ink sets in motion the events that will end up killing him? What if it's the blue ink that does it? How can he choose? It finally gets to be too much for him one night, and instead of playing jazz, he blurts out the whole story on-air. Rather than losing his job, though, he becomes instantly popular, and his show turns into a freak-show talk show with Rob as the main attraction. But this isn't a case of talking making things better, and his fiancee Jo finally tells him the wedding is off unless he gets his act together, and Rob goes off on a quest, accompanied by three people who also didn't die when they should have: a young American soldier who's appointed himself Rob's bodyguard, an acerbic and suicidal 40-year-old English teacher, and a gorgeous young Welsh Wiccan woman with warnings about a group trying to wight...er, right... the wrongs of unwarranted survival. I've always loved the butterfly-effect concept anyway--the idea that some minuscule detail could have a huge effect, and the idea that this otherwise normal person is literally paralyzed by indecision is compelling. We get pretty thoroughly inside Rob's head, and it's fascinating how normal a place that is. There's the mystery and suspense--is someone really after them, or is that just psychologi

Picked up this book in the library a few weeks ago, knowing nothing about the book or its author. What a great find! Faced with the decision of which book to choose, I'm glad I made the right choice (if you read the book, this is a (pretty poor) reference to part of the plot). In any case, I was laughing so hard that even my husband came over to see what I was reading. One caveat - the author is so British that apparently he can't even force himself to write in "American". Zach, the American character, didn't really sound like one of us. But this is just a tiny flaw in an otherwise very enjoyable read!

I've (nearly) finished "Love and..." and while that may lead you to think I'm summarily unqualified to up and "review" the book, having not even completed it, I'd say that it's the journey that counts and not so much the destination and the journey insofar has been absolutely brilliant. Keeping true to Mil Millington's own personal sense of utter irreverence, skittishness and vaguely esoteric mile-long jokes, Love expresses itself as wholly unique, smart and well executed. The main character is a bit of a nutcase, but that's fantastic. He agonizes over every smallish decision, from which pen to use to (I'd assume) how many sheets of toilet paper to soil, worried that one course of action over the next might cause him to get hit by a bus. Nevermind the inherent problem with someone who thinks so cyclically as this, (what if he were to be "bussed" while agonizing over such a decision, et cetera) he proceeds on a "quest" to find himself, and straighten himself out since a near-death experience that should have had him killed spared him after a seemingly simple, mindless choice earlier in the day. The mere fact that Mil isn't writing just another "Things My Girlfriend..." or even another "A Certain Chemistry" shows his versatility, and perhaps his openness to merely career-crushing, devastatingly short-sighted risk. It also allows his true talent to pour out. Think: If this were another 300 pages of things he's argued about, perhaps set in a slightly different setting, with a slightly longer-haired Ursula redux, how tiresome that would be. That was a great strength of Chemistry, but it's just so refreshing that he completely reinvents his storylines so that they somehow manage to incorporate his brilliant sense of humor while simultaneously doing almost nothing to remind you of his earlier pieces. I absolutely love this novel, and I'm glad Mil has decided to allow us the privilege of another look inside his bizarrely organized mind. Pick this up, for yourself or as a gift, to anyone who might enjoy a bit of "off-his-rocker" comedy that's smart (and sometimes a bit erudite) and perfect all around.