Anyone who’s dabbled with internet dating has a story to tell but few tell them as well as Julie McDowall.Her online dating blog was an instant sensation when she charted her bizarre and hilarious experiences in search of the perfect man. Or at least a man who wasn’t a total freak. Or, failing that, a freak who was freaky in the right ways…
Now for the first time Casting The Net – Volume 1 presents the unexpurgated true story of her ongoing quest, including all the material deemed unfit for a family news site.
Join the eloquent, witty and intrepid McDowall as she tackles The Janny, The Accountant, The Comedian, Foxy Doctor, the inimitable Shug — and her ultimate nemesis, The Clown.Purchase
Review
The painful world of online dating with its rules, games and overzealous personalities. No wonder almost 40% of women are single. Channel 4 recently had a Mating season (a series of shows hylighting the horror that is online dating) where we saw first hand the horrors of first dates, if you missed the brilliant First Dates, I will sum it up in few words: cringe, cringe and more cringe. The individuals who appeared on the show were somewhat normal however compared to the characters in Casting the Net. The Janny, The Accountant, The Comedian, Foxy Doctor, the inimitable Shug are very unsuitable, in the world of online dating, they are the type of men to avoid.
Casting The Net explores Julie's disastrous dates with The Janny, The Accountant, The Comedian, Foxy Doctor, the inimitable Shug. In a virtual sea full of men, Julie manages to find the unsuitable, the boring and the completely clueless. It is an honest, painfully funny account of the misery of Internet dating. I was also blown away by the first paragraph of this book "He loved Stella more than me, so it had to end". This book begins with an Julie making the conscientious decision to leave her alcoholic boyfriend. Her single status leads her onto online dating. It is a multifaceted book exploring one woman's recovery from an abusive relationship to her trying to finding her way through the sea of unsuitables. There's a little desperation about her search for a relationship and like most single women, she's willing to try as many types of man as possible in search for a good man.
I read this as a piece of fiction, it was my first introduction to this author and the more I read the more I wanted to find out about the author. After a quick search I found out that Julie McDowall writes a blog for a Newspaper (Herald Scotland) on dating. Her blog is delightful and very open. This book is very similar if not identical to the blog, this does not detract from the book. Julie McDovall is a brilliant author, she is humorous but truthful. I have to say however I wished this volume was longer, I was gripped, the characters are brilliant, the dialogue true to form, this book was a real joy to read.
Digested Read
"And it wasn't just Stella, either. He loved Budweiser too, and Miller, and Kronenbourg. He loved all cheap drink. He was a booze whore and would go with anyone if the price was right. There was even a brief dalliance with cider when it was on a special offer but a few bottles made him queasy, so he returned to his beery lovers and wallowed and boozed and got further lost to me with each passing day"
"Now, I like the freaks and I'd rather have a dead fox text than some simpering 'hey
babes, saw this sunset and thot of u' crap. But even though Foxy Doctor had told me where he
lived, how much he earned, told me of his divorce and his new personalised licence plate on his
car, he wouldn't tell me what he was called. Even now, he was boldly texting me pictures of the
interior of his home, yet felt cagey about revealing his name. It was like strutting down the
street naked, but keeping a wee hat on for modesty."
This one looks really tasty, thanks.
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