Around The World is the story of Mark, a businessman at the head of a large PR firm, struggling with the death of his wife and looking after his son while trying to manage his work life and schedule.

I really liked Mark as a character but I found the first half of this book really hard to get into. I loved all the moment with Mark and his son, Colin, but I had no interest in all the business side which seemed to take over the book. I couldn’t keep track of all the other characters and I didn’t care about any of the business challenges.

It’s a shame really because I really loved the very final section of the book and the depictions of Barcelona were so vivid (so much so I felt very sad my visit there, which was meant to be in April, was cancelled).

I wasn’t surprised to find this was a debut by a writer who was an entrepreneur himself. He is clearly very knowledgable about the business world but unfortunately that business-focus didn’t really do it for me and I would have liked more of the story to focus on Mark and Colin.

3 stars

As this story opens, the reader is tethered to the narrator, a shameless, jet-setting executive living a life of nearly Wolf of Wall Street-level excess. The staccato dialogue is quippy and knife-sharp, effortlessly evoking a man both over-stimulated and utterly unconcerned. The world seems to be rushing around him, and the man is portrayed as both volatile and self-destructive. Throughout part one, there is this feeling of impending doom lurking behind the words, like the plot is careening towards some unknown catastrophe.

In part two, the frenetic crush of activity, chaos, and disaster is followed by a subtle unwinding. The reader is given some room to breathe; brief moments of lucidity and lyricism in which we are offered snippets of the past. The flashbacks are revealing without being overindulgent; they are woven into the flow of the narrative with little to no preamble. Blink and you might miss them.

Finally, in part three, the empathy we have built with the narrator is rewarded. The reader stays tethered to the protagonist's thoughts as we soak in his character arc. We get to watch as the point of view of the jet-setter unravels to allow the role of the single, grieving dad to come forward. We are shown a sample of the narrator's appreciation for art, poetry, and music that has been as yet suppressed--this soul food cutting through his harder outer layers.

In reflection, this story feels deeply personal to me--not in the sense that I resonate with the protagonist, but rather that his experiences were painted so vividly that I began to take on his feelings and apprehensions as my own. I think this debut from Eric Michael Bovim showed incredible strength. I can only hope to see more!

The author captured Mark's struggle between success and grief over the loss of his wife in a realistic manner. The emotion felt by Mark came across when he started his self-destructive behaviors . This is a great book for anyone that likes character driven reads.

Around the sun
Eric Micheal bovine
Adult fiction grief
June 1st 2020
Spoiler alert

This is a book full os surprises you either hate it or love it. I love it it’s about mark white who lost is wife in a car accident and bringing up his son Colin who eight years old. He hires a nanny two look after Colin while he runs his own business and go on expensive first class trips. He has his own businesses white and partners company. He the chief executive of white and partners is co workers are lars Alan sally hawthorn. The company just bought bitcoin and set up allot of technology apps and invest in first and firms invest in his. He a multi million company.
He traveled allot on business planes first class two Barcelona New York Paris California. And other luxury places he loves having coffee and champagne on the flights where he checks his email and his phone and the food his great on these flights if people offer him a newspaper he waves them off he doesn’t read newspapers as a rule. He talks about his wife allot in the book how she died and how he misses her how he loved the smell of her perfume and how they met in college and how they met. He loved poetry he had a piece published when he was young he enjoyed parties in. College his parents paid for him two go two university. He loved music. He become a journalist for two years and loved it but it was dangerous. He explain that when his wife dies he took up the idea of pills and whisky. And he not had another girlfriend since his wife died. The idea haunts him.
His colon misses him terrible he wants two spend more time with his son more than just two days a week. His plays hockey so when mark get the chance he takes him two practices and he I’ve doing these thing reading him a bed time story putting him two bed making him pancakes in the morning before school.
But he notices that colon not doing so great in school he only got a c in maths and tell him school important and he must concentrate in school. Colin says you never here you never help me and that make him feels guilty allot for not being supported. Then he had important meeting with the firm and Lars and fung got engaged in the meeting he reckons it be good press for his firm.
He loves buying expensive ties and suits for his firms. After the meeting he asked two go on tv two represent the firm but realising he taken two many pills and whisky before going on tv he collapsed in front of everyone and doesn’t go down well for his company or firm he then decided two gave a massage and that night he slept with a married woman and regretted ever since.
I love the fact you get drawn into the coffee shop the restaurant the fancy sandwiches the bakery the hot chocolate.
After thing didn’t go well in the meeting when he got home and realisers is son need him more his nanny told him he not coping when you not here he goes two cbs and buys a load of stationary supplies and a new bag for him and they have a chat. He then takes him two the doctors and he gets the cream for his rash and mouth put it on him and they spend a couple of days together in the snow storm has his company shut for a couple of day. They go two the museum Together and they happy they go two the bakery now and have pastry coffee and watch the snow for a while. Then that night mark takes him two Barbados for a couple of days they arrive the next day they have a nice house they love the beach they go on a boat trip together and when Mark discovers his son Colin says his mother on Facebook and there loads of photos of them together and they look through them.They have a lovely trip it was worth’s it.
The next days he decides thing are not going well in work or his business and he sells the business and walk away a free man and spend more time with his son and takes him on another hoiliday again and realisers it’s all about him.
I love the characters in this book I loved the writing the plot was good I love how mark white dealt with things I give this 4 stars rating.

This debut novel reminded me in some ways of the prize winning Less, by Andrew Sean Greer. That is both the good news and the bad news for me. I didn't, personally, care for either book and didn't finish this one. A character study, I found that this novel just didn't get going.