Him Her Him Again The End of Him by Patricia Marx
I try to read and review books that most people I know haven't already read, 1) to give the authors more exposure, and 2) because once everyone I know has read a book, I don't see much point in checking it out myself. This results in a lot of enthusiastic group conversations where I stare blankly at the wall and mumble something about the book having a "nice cover."Sometimes I'll meet the actual author of said super-popular book, and she is so stunned to find someone who hasn't read it that she immediately becomes my best friend because she knows that I'll always love her for herself.
Okay, that never happens. Usually she asks me where the restroom is.
Reason #1 doesn't really apply here, because someone with a Huffington Post column and a cover quote from Steve Martin ("I laughed at its audacity then cried because I didn't write it") doesn't need a whole lotta help from me.
In fact, if Steve Martin and Umberto Eco got together to write a chick lit novel, this would be one of the results. The other results would no doubt make a great documentary.
Anyway, the book. Have you ever committed really pathetically outrageously formidably catastrophically stupid acts because you were in love with someone who didn't deserve it? If not, you've missed the world's best source of comedy material. But don't worry--it's never too late to meet some jerkoff like Eugene.
Eugene is a pompous twit whom the unnamed heroine of Him Her Him Again The End of Him meets while doing grad "work" at Cambridge University. It's hard for the reader to understand what she sees in him--which is exactly the point. Him Her Him Again The End of Him is an anti-romance; the reader spends the entire book praying for the relationship to finally end. And when it does...it's one of the most satisfying moments in all of bookdom (<
Him Her Him Again The End of Him was the funniest thing I've read since Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane, and that's saying a lot. The only part that disappointed me was when the book ran out of pages. Stupid publishing wankers.
P.S.: Ignore the Amazon customer reviewers. They just didn't get it. If you find comedy writing to be shallow, then yeah, avoid this book. And have my pity.
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