Reader's Diary #1082- Helen Simpson: The Tipping Point

  by  NASA ICE 

Last year I read David Helwig's Close to the Fire and it helped solidify the fact that "pompous windbag" is not my favourite literary character. Not my favourite character in real life either. The funny thing is, while I have met such people in real life, they seem cliched and fake in print. They're also distracting as hell.

It took me a couple of times to figure out what the guy in Helen Simpson's "The Tipping Point" what babbling on about. However, such people have a tendency to make me second guess myself. Was he babbling or was he simply too difficult for an unrefined mind like mine (that'll be my next album title) to understand?

Really, when you strip away all of the pretentiousness, this is a tale of a relationship killed by distance. Not the loftiest of themes after all.

Perhaps the narrator has secretly come to realize he had made a mistake but he's too arrogant to admit it. Unfortunately, he gains no sympathy from a reader who, if they're like me, thinks his ex dodged a bullet.

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