In None of This Was Planned, reporter Mike McCardell writes about the people he’s met while trying to get stories on the streets of Vancouver. The characters he talks about range from inspirational to odd.
When I read the title and found out what it was about, I was excited to read this. And while I started off loving the stories, I was disappointed as the book—McCardell’s 11th—went on.
The feel of None of This Was Planned is very conversational; it seems, for the most part, like someone who is telling all of his life stories to the reader. Now, while this is very nice and relaxing, it gets old about halfway through the 319-page book.
I also found that the author threw in too many references to his previous books, which was unpleasant. It felt like McCardell was trying to make me go buy them, and it left a sour taste in my mouth.
There’s decent writing in None of This Was Planned and I quite enjoyed the first half of it, when McCardell wasn’t spending too much time talking about his other books. None of This Was Planned’s downfall is how similar all of the stories felt in the second half, along with the large amounts of what are basically advertisements in the writing.