If you asked me how I felt 10 minutes into a break-up, I might say things that I would never say outside of that space. But really, I think the stories show a rawness of emotion that can be a little off-putting at times. From The Heart almost always means serious, possibly involving angels. Which isn't something we're used to saying with comedy. I felt like the writing came from the heart. The book is kind of brilliant in the way it turns feelings, which are just that, and makes them into reality. He's not so bad.' The joke here isn't 'Hitler! That's funny!' The joke is the idea of irrational hatred that FEELS legitimate taken to a completely farcical level. All your mutual friends are like, 'I think you're overreacting. The point of the Hitler story is that, basically, when your ex starts dating someone new it always feels like that person must be the worst ever. And within a single, narrow category: As a straight, white man in his 20's or 30's. And I think the purpose, the over-arching theme of this books is the idea of what it FEELS like to date. This is a book that has a short story where a man goes on a date with a troll. Now, what I'm not doing here is tossing off an accusation of misogyny by saying that the content isn't serious and is therefore not subject to the same rules. The premise of a scared straight for relationships? That shit's funny. I'll admit it, I just thought the book was goddamn funny. Character, male OR female, doesn't have a lot of room to move in this book. The jokes in this book are strongly premise-based, backed up with some snappy dialog. The stories serve the jokes, the characters serve the jokes. However, I think this is done with purpose. I can't disagree that the characters are one-dimensional. If I thought about it as me, I would think, 'My girlfriend makes the same money I do, and she pretty much insists on paying more often than not by PHYSICALLY taking my wallet away from me.' That sometimes it's a man who wants to take a woman to a fancy place as a way of demonstrating his economic status. 'This is the kind of place you're going to have to take her to every Saturday night! Because when you're in a relationship, Saturday night is date night!'Ĭhristian tried to keep it together, but when the guard shoved a menu into his hand and made him read out the price of the steak au poivre, his lips began to quiver.Ī conscientious treatise on gender politics would be sure to point out that women pay for meals. 'Look at this fucking restaurant!' a red-faced guard had screamed at him as he shuffled through the candlelit bistro. So, for example, in one of my favorite pieces, we get a Scared Straight type of program, but instead of keeping criminals off the streets, adult men in long-term relationships are screaming at teens about the dangers of commitment. I feel like it's a common thing to see in comedy, the use of stereotype as a shortcut. For example, in saying that men do not like to take women to expensive dinners. For example, in saying that women like to be taken out to expensive dinners. This book definitely puts women in categories. I'm going to bust out the Merriam-Webster here and define misogyny: Women are very one dimensional and vapid and emotional throughout. I also feel the need to point out that reading this as a woman is this: It would be misogynistic if it weren't so clear that this was clearly written by a man who has experienced a lot of rejection in his life and is incredibly bitter. I'm not attacking this reviewer, but I think it's a good summary of the sorts of things people are saying: This is a direct pull from a reviewer below. Here's what I'm seeing in a lot of reviews.

Man seeking woman book