Books from the Blogs: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

Filed next under the heading of books whose reviews on various blogs sold me: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, by Peter Cameron.

This is one of those books where everyone tells you it’s great, and it turns out they’re right. Eighteen-year-old James has always been a loner, always been a little depressed, but at times lately he’s been wondering if he wants to live. At the very least, he’s decided he doesn’t want to live the way his family and peers expect him to—namely, going to college, where he’ll be surrounded by all those dreaded people his own age.

James sounds stuck-up, and he is, a bit. But he’s also dealing with the pain of feeling so different and isolated from his peers—perhaps the rest of the world. Highly intelligent and sensitive, James has learned how to keep others from getting too close to him. His conversations with others are hilarious and sad, as he again and again turns others’ questions and comments back on themselves. His ridiculous conversation with his father in chapter 2, regarding whether James is gay, is what hooked me into reading to the end.

The book is definitely character-driven; it’s quiet, and only a couple of things could be said to “happen,” action-wise. Like any book about a disaffected teen boy, it’s been compared to Catcher in the Rye. In this case, it’s a very apt comparison, though to be honest, I enjoyed Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You rather more! It also reminded me of The Bell Jar, not just because of the depression aspect, but because of James’ frequent lapses into poetic musing and metaphor. When authors wax poetic, my eyes tend to skip. I had to be careful not to do so here; I would have missed some great images.

Other, somewhat silly, personal reasons for loving it: First, James’ habit of checking online real estate listings for cheap houses in the Midwest. I guess I'm justified, being 700 years old and actually somewhat ready to "settle down," but I do this more often than I should. (Even though I already live in the Midwest, non-condo real estate around here is basically unaffordable.) Second, James’ attitude toward his dog, Miró, who is given to looking at James “judgmentally.” The paragraph where Miró’s lying in the bathtub when James goes in to pee is priceless. Cameron must be a dog owner, no question.

Bloggers Who Led Me to the Book: