I really struggled with this book. I liked the title and picked it up in Edinburgh just because of it. I expected a lot more than just some anecdotes of some brit misbehaving in New York. I really dislike the story teller. He is a narcissist asshole with a very juvenile sense of humour. He uses the book to analyse his lack of success in his promising journalism career in New York and dishes out on everyone he meets. The trait he finds in the people he meets (narcissism) he is very guilty of himself. He backs up his observations with quotes from various magazine articles, but I didn't buy any of it. The book still read like it took him 400 pages to find an excuse why he didn't hit it big in New York.
What annoyed me a lot and I think is a good example of his behaviour: he was in his mid thirties and didn't have a girlfriend. He couldn't land a girlfriend in New York - nobody was impressed by his stupid lines, sexist jokes or anything else in this middle aged, balding, short guy. So he asked women in his "target group" to participate in a focus group to discuss his shortcomings and only invited women under the age of 35 - so younger than himself. Only Candace Bushnell was asked to participate as well, even though she was older than that. He makes it explicit that she wasn't in his target group but valued her opinion. God forbid that a mid thirties loser with an attitude problem and male pattern baldness date anyone older than him. He ended up being completely surprised and hurt by the women's talk about him - he never thought they wouldn't consider him boyfriend material, so vaught up in his own belief was he.
Another nice example of him simply being an arsehole but instead of acknowledging that, he wonders why he didn't make it: He is jealous of Alex, a fellow brit and someone he calls a friend. His analysis: he is a sycophant who will try to get on the good side with any celebrity and then use them for his plans. Any what does Toby do? He pretends he doesn't know him when they meet and tries to fuck him over several times out of jealousy. How much worse can you act towards someone you know?
If he had given the book a "look what an arse i used to be" spin, I might have bought the story, but he's still trying to make it sound as if everyone else is wrong and he was just out of luck. ( )

A funny light book about a British journalists escapades in New York in the '90's. Some attempts at seriousness don't go well with the rest of the book but it doesn't take away from it too much. If the book is true (as it claims to be) it's sort of sad - but I guess that's the point. ( )

Fascinating in its description of the shallowness of a certain tier of NY life in the the late 1990s. Although I found his unflinchingly ruthless descriptions of his various cockups funny, its the little personal anecedotes about his family which I found endearing - particularly his internal tirade when someone comments about his looking after his father. ( )

Penny

An extremely funny offering from Young, filled with bizzare anecdotes and madcap adventures with the glitterati of New York. Laugh out loud funny, yet leaves one feeling a bit empty inside. ( )