Review: The Traveller - Garrett Addison

The Traveller
Garrett Addison
Series: N/A
Genre: Fiction, Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Quite lovely
On Goodreads

Whoa. I'm so glad I stuck with this book. The first like 80-100 pages were so dry that I wasn't sure if I should go on, but Addison really turned the book around after that first dry stretch.

So when first reading the book, the main character, who is never named, seemed really regular. He was livin' an average life, travelling everywhere at the fancy of his boss (his boss is really effing annoying by the way), doing anything at the "anti-Christ's" every whim.

So as our man the Traveller gets called on another trip, his wife (on the first page, mind you) mystically proclaims that this trip will be different from all the rest. As you can imagine, my eyes were rolling before she even finished the sentence. In the beginning, I expected nothing more than a man's bitch-fest about his boss. Then, miraculously, the Traveller becomes a 3-D character. Gone is the shy, meager, annoyed guy who complained about his boss and tiredly went about his life, replaced by a man who was magically enthusiastic and a super maniac with his work.

So honestly the plot of the book was just alright, nothing there was overly special (although it gets a bit sinister and unbelievable at times, which is deeply contrasted with the mundane nature of the Traveller's life to begin with). But the reason I loved this book so much is the way it touched upon really sensitive and intimate topics in the Traveller's life without ever even telling us his name. It reminds me that life is mundane, and that stuff like crappy bosses and boring jobs happen in real life. Addison manages to bring about sensitive issues such as the struggle for power and the balance of work life and home life. The book renders intimate parts of the Traveller's life not so intimate, making this book seem so much more like real life than just fiction at times. The beauty of this book is really how well it captures the modern day, and I'd definitely recommend it.

The themes of revenge and power and just getting out of a boring rut are all hit upon so well by Addison - this is a fast read and one that you'll want to finish in one sitting. Thank you so much to the author for gifting me a copy of this ebook in exchange for a fair and honest review :)

- Amrutha

How do you battle the perils of mundane life?

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