Reading Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan (McClelland & Stewart) is like watching a slow-motion traffic accident: you’re not sure how it will end, but you’re sure it will end badly. The main character and narrator, an English priest named David Anderson who has taken over a small Scottish parish, has never engaged with his own life; instead he has drifted along, letting circumstances determine his next move. People like this make me weary but I read right to the end and was rewarded by a tiny glimmer of hope that this time he might wake up and take control of his little life. Then I faced the question: If you dislike the main character of a book (a lot), but you read the whole book anyway, does that mean that you dislike the book and should give it a negative review?