How to Be Single

Zesty and I went to Costco the other weekend and I bought a lot of stuff. Well, not a lot of stuff, but I was kind of like a kid in a candy store because I'm not a regular Costco shopper. So, for the bookish girl, seeing giant stacks of books incites a certain kind of glee, so of course I piled a bunch of 'off the list books' (ones that we don't publish or that I can't get reading copies for) into my cart. The first one I tackled was Liz Tuccillo's How to Be Single. (Yes, I'm still on the chicklit kick). What a disappointing book. It's stereotypical, bland, relatively plotless and utterly unbelievable.

The premise -- five single women in NYC in their mid-to-late 30s love, redemption and self-satisfaction -- falls short of actually show more driving the action of entire novel, so Tuccillo invents an entirely ridiculous 'adventure' for her main character, Julie Jenson. See, Julie's unhappy being a publicist at a publishing company so she decides, on a whim, to march into the publisher's office and pitch a book about "How to Be Single." Julie will travel the world and meet all kinds of single women from all kinds of different countries and then she'll write a book. It's Eat, Prey, Love in spades. Only it's not because what it means is that Julie, THE MAIN CHARACTER AND NARRATOR, introduces the action and her four best friends who only know one another through her, and then LEAVES THE CITY. But she still TELLS THE STORY.

So that means all the stories are told from Julie's point of view, even though she's not anywhere near the action of the other four characters: lawyer Alice (who left her job to be on permanent "man" hunt); Georgia (whose husband recently left her and the kids to take up with a samba teacher); Ruby (overweight and depressed about her dead cat); and Serena (a hippie cook who works for a famous family only to leave to try and become a swami). The whole book is full of situations that are completely and utterly unbelievable. Of course, Julie meets a wonderful man in Paris with only one hitch; he's married, but wait! It's an open relationship! Yawn.

And we could run through the bland things that happen to the other four women but it's not worth the energy it would take for my fingers to type it out. Not one aspect of the book (until we get to the VERY end) is about the women living happy and fulfilled single lives. They're hysterical, depressed, somewhat crazed, and on the hunt for the "right" man the entire time. Tuccillo doesn't break down a single cliche or take the story in any remotely original direction. And, I've got to say, it's honestly some of the worst dialogue I have ever read on paper. For the most part, I wasn't remotely interested in what happened to a single one of these women. Because they didn't feel real. They didn't feel passionate. They were stereotypes of women I see in sitcoms. They were Rachel and Monica, Miranda and Carrie, and with none of the quirks that make those characters endearing or original.

I have to say too, that the premise of the novel, when you first pick it up, is interesting, and I would have enjoyed it a lot of there was a whiff of these women embracing their single lives and actually growing from beginning to end. I've already given my copy away and I don't want it back. show less

Maybe because I have never really been single, I just found this trite. From the perspective of being married, I want to tell these thirty something women to grow up and get over the princess in waiting attitude. I feel like most of the women have completely unrealitic expectations of what love and commitment are. Really if the reason Julie can't get a guy is because she is only a size 6 and has celluite - then how does that explain the hordes of happily coupled/married size 12 and up women?Julie in particular is shallow and unlikeable, even before she decides that her true love lies in an already married man (no matter how open his marriage may be). I mean, really? I am wondering why she even bothered leaving her hotel when show more "researching" - somehow I think speaking to less than a dozen people in an entire country does not count as thorough investigation.The girls who are left at home are much more interesting - Georgia falling apart in the wake of her husband leaving her, Ruby contemplating single motherhood, Serena acting like a total flake and Alice holding on to an ideal in the face of reality.There were moments in this book - warm and humourous, but overall I think this book is irritating and I am not the least bit suprised that Julie remains single. show less

Liz Tuccillo deftly captures real women's experiences, thoughts, fears, and feelings in her debut novel How to Be Single.

Women who are 25 and already married or who are 38 and single (like the characters in the novel) will both be able to relate to the women portrayed in this book because deep down all women seem to share the same fears whether due to their real current situations or fear of what the future might hold. Ms. Tuccillo truly has a gift when it comes to being able to tap into the fears and anxieties of today's modern women and convey the same in her writing.

The fact that Liz Tuccillo really did traverse the globe researching how single women live all over the world adds glitz and fun to the novel. We, the reader, are show more treated to glimpses of how women live in Reykjavik, Beijing, Sydney, Paris, Rome, Rio de Janiero, and New York. The locales are exotic and the tales heart-wrentching and uplifting.

Like Sex and the City (for which Liz Truccillo was Executive Story Editor), How to Be Single is sure to strike a chord with women everywhere.

After reading How to Be Single, you will feel like you know Liz and wish that you really did. show less

I like that this book did not have the chick-lit/romance happy ending. Throughout the book the people Julie talks to push her to think about love and what she believes. Is it a numbers game, the more you are out there the better your chances? or is it more magic than that?

I think that Liz Tuccillo actually went to all the places in this book, and talked to women around the world about being single.

This book was a decent read. It was hard to get into but the idea of the book was a good one. Basically a woman in her late-30's decides to figure out how single women all over the world handled being single. She visited France, Australia, India, and a few other places. It was a good idea. Along the way, you also get updates on her friends back in New York (this is where the book was a little thin and harder to read) and their problems with their singledom. If this sounds familiar it is because Liz Tuccillo is one of the writers of the book He's Just Not that into You and also a writer for the show Sex in the City. Her writing is good, there are just parts of the book I did not find entertaining.

I went into this book with a completely different take on what this book was going to be like and was a bit disappointed. I was expecting more of a laugh out loud comedy but that's not what this was. Yes there were funny parts but it was more depressing than funny. Not my favorite but an okay book.

Chick-lit with travel.

The abreviated audio CD was read by Judy Greer in a rather twee voice that grated at times, but my expectation of chick-lit was somewhat tempered by the travel aspect.

Thirty-something Julie decides to travel around the world with a view to writing a book about how single women deal with their situation in various countries.
She leaves her four single friends, with all their various problems, and travels from Paris to Rome, India to China, Brazil to Iceland, interviewing single women (very small samples, it must be said!). She manages to fall in love with a married man, experience varied highs and lows during the journey, and returns to New York in a slightly better mental position than when she left.

The author did show more travel a fair bit before writing this novel so the travel aspect should be reasonably accurate, reflecting her own experiences. I fear that the main content that was abridged from my audiobook was possibly a fair chunk of the travel detail, which would have been a shame. However, although I enjoyed listening to this while driving, it's not a book that I shall be in a hurry to read in full. show less