- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (Jan 22 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060574534
- ISBN-13: 978-0060574536
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 635 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #949,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Smith has clearly taken lessons from a few successful writers of chick lit ("Days Without Sex: 0"), but his boy version of Bridget Jones lacks the key ingredient: a sympathetic protagonist. Tom Farrell, 32, lives in Manhattan and works at a publication called Tabloid (a dead ringer for the New York Post), which proudly proclaims itself to be "America's loudest newspaper." Farrell's job is that of "rewrite man," redoing stories by shaping them into salacious shorts and then coming up with eye-catching headlines. As he puts it, however, his "most time-consuming hobby is collecting ex-girlfriends," and the novel-which chronicles five months in Farrell's life-is mostly a jumbled catalogue of his failed love affairs. There's Julia, a co-worker Farrell can't get out of his head; Bran, a platonic friend he might try to get into his bed; Katie, a budding lawyer; and Liesl, an earnest German paralegal. Smith, the book and music review editor at People magazine, writes in glossy and accessible magazine prose (Farrell describes a co-worker as "a girl whose hotitude was... off the charts") and his New York patter can be clever. Searching for its place somewhere between Nick Hornby in subject matter and David Sedaris in its wit, this novel rests uneasily between the two. Publishing and journalism insiders will enjoy Smith's spot-on description of the tabloid life, but women looking for insights into the male psyche, the real potential readership here, may not take kindly to Smith's unflattering dissection of his dates. Still, this is a lively, promising debut.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Tom Farrell--single, 32, smart, caustic, and often drunk--is a "rewrite" wiz at a "real tabloidy tabloid" in New York City and in desperate need of a mate. But so intent is he on acting the part of a witty, laidback, sensitive lover boy that none of the gorgeous, intelligent, and cutthroat women he woos takes him seriously, especially his obsession, the wretchedly manipulative Julia. Basically, this debut novel is a jejune tale of unrequited love sloppily tied to 9/11. But Smith, the book and music review editor at People, is so devilishly hilarious in his parsing of his narrator-hero's romantic longings and degraded vocation (his sly co-workers are a riot), and so electrifying in his assaults on New York pretension, the inanities of new parents, bad rock and roll, the horrors of dating, and the conflicting desires for casual sex and undying love, he manages to generate a wealth of intriguing psychological and social minutiae. Ultimately, this is an amusing and endearing portrait of a near-loser about to blossom into a truly cool guy. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
My day. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
My day. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb peek at guy life,
By Mary St. Clair (Boston) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Love Monkey: A Novel (Hardcover)
I have found myself getting a little bit bored with the very slight, very predictable genre of stories about smart, stylish people dating in the big city, but Smith's novel turns the whole category on its ear with his furiously funny, savagely accurate portrayal of what it's like to be single, getting into your 30s, and yet still unattached. The women I know love this book, not only because of its many hilarious, unforgettable set pieces but because it all comes with a healthy serving of heart, introspection and self-deprecation. Beneath it all, it turns out, Tom Farrell, that cynical, joke-slinging tabloid journalist, is something of a romantic, and as you follow his funny journey you'll be hoping he finds what he's looking for.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dead On Arrival,
By A Customer
This review is from: Love Monkey: A Novel (Hardcover)
Who is this protagonist? Is he supposed to represent the common man? Are we supposed to sympathize with this fool? Is the author trying to win us over with cheap superficial humor so as to distract us from his abominable writing style? Who knows. This novel is somewhat amusing to skim through while you're on the toilet, but I can't say it merits anything more than a cynical chuckle before being tossed into the rubbish bin with last month's Cosmo. Mediocrity, what else is there to say?
5.0 out of 5 stars
a rare thing-funny and smart,
By "shlavale" (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Love Monkey: A Novel (Hardcover)
I was rooting for Smith's somewhat lost-boy hero Tom Farrell, from page one. Tom (or maybe Smith) is so brutally, hilariously honest about his own flaws (there's a fantastic scene where he haplessly tries to seduce a pretty girl by making dinner for her in his woebegone bachelor pad) that you are totally there with him when he's making poor decisions, and you hope that he finds something like love in the end. This is one of those comic novels that is actually funny, and yet there are no stupid laughs of the someone-gets-kicked-in-the-crotch variety. It's all just smart wordplay, crackling good dialogue and realistic settings inside the fast-paced world of New York City journalism. I have told many friends about this book: you'll laugh a lot, and more important, you'll care.
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