In the beginning, I thought the ironic and cynical writing was funny, but it dragged on a bit too much. I hated the God interludes, and I don't think they were necessary. it's chick lit done by a man. I've had high hopes for this book cause I loved his web site, but this book clearly wasn't it. Too witty for its own good. Which I'm sure can be taken as a compliment, just not by me. ( )

Humor is so subjective. A Certain Chemistry is about cheating. Nevertheless, it had me laughing aloud.

It's the second book by the author of Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, which I loved, but I think I liked this one even more.

There are fewer laugh-aloud bits, which is perfectly understandable--the first book had me laughing aloud on pretty much every single page. A Certain Chemistry has a more engaging plot, in addition to the humor.

I'm still trying to figure out why I was actually rooting for Tom, who's cheating on his girlfriend of five years with an actress. I'm guessing that a lot of it is the voice and the first-person POV. Tom doesn't cut himself any slack, and even when he's rationalizing his behavior, he knows he's being a shit. It's true that everyone is the hero of their own story (curse English's lack of a singular gender-neutral pronoun!) and that's amply demonstrated here. The self-deprecating wit, and his utter inability, even when he knows he's about to do something amazingly stupid, to keep from doing it anyway, are... well, if not endearing, at least something close to it.

And the periodic interjections from God, explaining how what we describe as "love" is really just a matter of chemistry and His attempt to ensure the continuation of the species provides an entertaining framework for the story. ( )

http://dhamel.typepad.com/book_blog/2...
( )

Disappointing after his first book. ( )

In the beginning, I thought the ironic and cynical writing was funny, but it dragged on a bit too much. I hated the God interludes, and I don't think they were necessary. it's chick lit done by a man. I've had high hopes for this book cause I loved his web site, but this book clearly wasn't it. Too witty for its own good. Which I'm sure can be taken as a compliment, just not by me. ( )