Monday, July 4, 2011

Ex-Boyfriends Handbook

So this was a book that I finished reading last week.  But it is still worth writing about.  :-)  This book was so funny that I had to sober up and read a more serious natured book before writing about this one.  I would have told you the whole story if I didn't distance myself a bit.  :-)  :-)  :-)

So this book is called The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook: Eddie will do whatever it takes to become her Mr. Right by Matt Dunn.  The title pretty much says it all - Eddie will do whatever it takes to get his girlfriend back - and he does!  But the journey to becoming Mr. Right is so funny!  The writer must have really vivid memories of starting an exercises routine and what it feels like from getting sick to his stomach to the soreness the next morning.  :-)  I remember when I was in my mid 20's and tried to take an advance ballet class (after all, I had only taken a 3 year break) for the first time.  Everything that Eddie went through on his first day of working out happened to me during that dance class - yes, even getting sick to my stomach.  I laughed because I could relate to that pain - especially the soreness the day after - where it even hurts to blink your eyes!  Yes, I've been there.  But then I've also been there when it all starts to get a bit easier and Matt Dunn makes that funny as well.

So not only does our out-of-shape, abandoned by his girlfriend of 10 years, friend Eddie start to get back into shape, he gets new furniture, a new car, gets rid of the glasses and gets his teeth fixed.  Oh yeah, he also spends a small fortune on a new wardrobe as well.  He does it all for his ex-girlfriend and hopes that she will go back to him.

Well, it may have been sweet that he went through so much in order to get his girlfriend back, but as he starts to transform himself, he starts realizing other bits about himself.  Like - is this ex really worth it?  Did she really love him to begin with?  If she did, it shouldn't have mattered that he gained a bit of weight and didn't care what he dressed in, did it?  All of the usual questions that you'd expect to come from a transformation like this comes out - but the writer did such an awesome job at making it funny.  I have to admit that I found myself laughing out loud - a lot! - while reading this book.

Now, on about some of the other stuff that I like to mention after reading a book - the story itself and the flow of the writing.  Yes, all of that was good... the story itself was a bit predictable, but the writing made it worth sticking to it and getting to the end.  The story flow was nice and smooth and at least I don't remember anything that got on my nerves.  I was so curious to see if what I guessed was going to happen at the end that it didn't make a difference if it was choppy.  Now that says something to me... if I didn't notice, the writing and story have to be good.  I don't read funny stories like this very often so it was a lot of fun and I didn't pay much attention to much other than the characters and what antics they were up to.

This is going on my "must read again" list - and out of the hundreds of books that I read each year, not very many get on that list - but I know that I'll need some inspiration when I get this 40 year old fat body back at the gym to get back into some kind of shape that hopefully will not resemble a beached whale.  :-)  :-)

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