To me it sounds like he's looking for a new beginning and he'll do anything to get to that new beginning.
The book thing can be turned from literal to metaphorical.
He's literally stuck in a book where the bad guy just friggin wins and he's too sad to push on into the rest of the book because it's so hard to deal with that the good guy we all root for has tried hard and still the villain got his way.
Metaphorically he can be the guy in the book who was topped by the villain and he's too sad to continue trying so hard. But he decides he's going to push through and get to his part where life gets better for him and triumphs whatever is bad in his life.
To me it sounds like he's looking for a new beginning and he'll do anything to get to that new beginning.
The book thing can be turned from literal to metaphorical. He's literally stuck in a book where the bad guy just friggin wins and he's too sad to push on into the rest of the book because it's so hard to deal with that the good guy we all root for has tried hard and still the villain got his way.
Metaphorically he can be the guy in the book who was topped by the villain and he's too sad to continue trying so hard. But he decides he's going to push through and get to his part where life gets better for him and triumphs whatever is bad in his life.