REVIEW - MY SWEET SAGA

Author: Brett Sills
Pages: 455 pages
Publisher: Admiral J Press
Published: September, 2011
Form: E-Book (review copy by publisher)
Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction
Amazon: Buy / $16.00

"What will it take for one outrageously underwhelmed guy to turn his snooze of an existence into something worth waking up for? For thirty-year-old Brandon, who is precociously and chronically fatigued of his lot in life, it might just take a transatlantic airline ticket—with an unexpected, unrequested, inner journey to boot. Along the way, Brandon’s ferociously funny, always frank take on everything makes for the rollicking, cheeky read My Sweet Saga. This debut novel by Brett Sills is sure to prompt more than a few shakes of the head—and at least one laugh per sentence. Resigned, defeated, and barely thirty, Brandon has been living with the benign tumor called life. His wedding to his fiancée, Clarissa, is only a few weeks away. His job as the only white guy at an African American television network isn’t rocking his world either, and the dirtiest talk around the cubicle pertains the potty training stories from his married colleague. Just as Brandon teeters on the brink of damning himself to a tragically lame career and marriage, his absent father, who four years earlier won a mega lottery jackpot, pops up with an unexpected demand: Brandon must join him on a trip to Stockholm, Sweden. Against his better judgment, Brandon takes off on a trip that may just reroute his destiny. When he meets a mysterious Swedish woman named Saga, the romantic in Brandon reawakens and spawns a quirky love triangle that embarks him on a wild ride which includes arrests in two countries, hospital stays, acts of both extreme heroism and abject foolishness, the discovery of unexpected family secrets, and entirely too much public nudity." ~Amazon

Old Town Stocholm (one of my photos)

Brandon is a perfectly normal guy or so it seems at first, he’s Jewish, dead allergic to cilantro and has a cracking relationship with his Chinese ‘Hollywood publicist’ fiancée. Brandon’s dad is a lottery winner and a total douchebag racist who disowned Brandon and who’s antics with Tiger Woods lead Brandon to pretend to work for NASA and travel to Sweden where he unexpectantly gathers a little fame and even more notoriety until they ( Sweden ) actually have to ship him off the whole country. Which leads to one of the funniest openings scenes I’ve ever read in a book!

Sill's writing is totally witty and funny and I more than ten times laughed out loud. I can't really talk about this book without words like brilliant and amazing coming to mind.

I found the language bit crude, but then again it fit perfectly within the book, Brandon’s father was annoying, his fiancée had him so whipped I was cringing reading it but what I did love when he reached Sweden! With all the Sweden detail like Ace of Base ( I use to be a fan when I was in fourth grade, and sang All That She Wants with my bestie to our hairbrushes on overnight stays… ummm yeah… ) The Old Town and street names to name few make me all giddy inside, considering I’ve visited Stockholm yearly since I’ve been 3 and its fun to see sort of American view of it. Not to mention a seriously fun one!

  

Yes, we scandinavian are notorious for not giving a shit if someone acts oddly, they just do not exist and aren't worth the stare or attention. ;) 

Ummm, it's very difficult and my swedish language teacher's favourite way to torture us student in the 7th grade.

This book had me in stiches! Extremely funny with a nice touch of dry humor evened out.

I’d recommend this book to people with a good sense of humor and loose attitude on what is appropriate to joke about and what is not. And if you live in Scandinavia, you will be wanting to read this!

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