Slow to get going; slow to show ‘action’

‘Darius The Great Is Not OK’ is a well written, semantically correct novel, which flowed (albeit slowly) and was easy to read. It has two main themes running through the book - a) the questionable relationship between Darius & his father and b) his relationship with two bullies at school. These two alternating themes are linked by Darius’ work and interest in tea. The story is written in the first person from Darius’ perspective, and initially progress seemed slow with nothing really happening, but alternating repetitions of the two themes in a lethargic, apathetic nature. I thought I might give up on reading the book, but decided to persevere to see if there was any improvement - which there was, but not noticeably until the last ‘chapter’ when the family are flying in to Tehran. At the end of the excerpt, when the family are about to disembark for the final time, I thought “great, now we should see the promised action and change of character promised in the ‘blurb’ sheet.’ But the excerpt ended. So, for that reason only, I would like to finish the book.