Review: Brand New Friend

Synopsis


When Rob's girlfriend asks him to leave London and live with her in Manchester not only will it mean moving cities and changing the only job he's ever had, it'll also mean leaving behind his best mate in the entire world. 

Believing that love conquers all and convinced of his ability to make new friends, Rob takes the plunge. 

Six months, and yet to find so much as a regular drinking buddy, Rob realizes that sometimes making friends in your thirties can be the hardest thing to do. With drastic action needed, his girlfriend puts an ad in the classifieds for him, but after three excruciatingly embarrassing 'bloke dates' Rob begins to truly despair. Until his luck changes . . . There's just one problem. Apart from knowing less than nothing about music trivia, football, and the vital statistics of supermodels, Rob's new friend has one huge flaw . . . She's a girl

Review

I love Mike Gayle for two reasons: one, his books are funny and two, he understands dialogue. I loved His and Hers and Mr Commitment  however Brand New Friend is rubbish, completely and utter nonsense.  Actually it is beyond rubbish, it was so rubbish I fell asleep whilst reading the book albeit it being that I read it whilst I was tired and commuting from work. This is the second book by Gayle that I haven't been inspired to rave about, the first one was The importance of Being a Bachelor which was also a tad bit dry and bland.  Brand New Friend is worse and here's why and for brevity I will list the reasons.

1. Brand New Friend sounds like every other Mike Gayle book (I've read so far.). It has the same stereotypical block characters with similar settings and similar conversations. 
2. The concept could work but it doesn't. It is cliched and lacked feeling. It felt at times that Gayle had given up and was recycling old material whilst watching an episode of Hollyoaks with his mates in a pub somewhere in Manchester. 
3. The book reads like an outline of what the book is about, it lacked content. Some chapters are way too short. I usually love short and snappy chapters but a page is a not a chapter unless you're writing a short story. There is also a half page chapter that made little sense. 
4. And lastly the characters are stale, Rob is caricature and Phil, the only redeeming character in the book wasn't utilized. 
5. And finally the women in this book are ridiculous, self pitying and lacking in personalities. 

I should end by saying that I still love books by Mike Gayle.

Review: Mr Commitment by Mike Gayle

Synopsis

Duffy is engaged. He accepted Mel's proposal. But the trips to Ikea, dinner parties for couples and talk of babies are giving him itchy feet and now he's not sure if he can say goodbye to his extended adolescence and face up to that final walk down the aisle. How does he know if she's The One? Can he cope with responsibility? Does he have what it takes to become Mr Commitment? Because if he doesn't, he may just find that he's lost Mel, for ever.

After twenty-eight years of shirking responsibility Duffy's finally realising that he can't extend his adolescence forever. His low-paid temping job is threatening permanency. His gradually receding hairline is depressing him greatly. And if that's not enough, his long-suffering girlfriend, Mel, wants to get engaged.

Trips to Ikea, dinner parties with married couples and talk of babies, however, are giving Duffy cold feet. He doesn't have many worldly goods to share - apart from the remote control for his TV, the beers in the fridge and his record collection - but can he really put his hand on his heart and say 'I do'? He knows Mel's the one for him, so why is it he'd feel happier swapping 'Till death us do part' for 'Renewable on a four year basis'?

But the choice is: all or nothing. So after a lifetime as Mr Irresponsible does Duffy have what it takes to become Mr Commitment?

Purchase

Review 

A work colleague once told me a story of how she got her husband to marry her. She said she hounded him for years, begged him and finally he relented. She said it took courage, prowess and blackmail. In her mind that was the only way of dealing with a commitment phobic man. With this in mine I embanked on reading Mr Commitment with a mindset that Duffy, the main character would be allergic to all things commitment related. My colleague was right, when it comes to commitment phobic men, a little blackmail and courage goes a long way.

After his girlfriend proposes to him Duffy who is unsure of marriage begins to question his life and his dreams. His quest for answers takes him into night clubs and Ikea and with the help of his boisterous loving sister he matures and faces his responsibilities. This is a wonderful venture into the male brain.

Mike Gayle is a wonderfully funny author.  It's no secret that I am obsessed with Mike Gayle. His books have the ability to make me laugh unreservedly. He is the type of author who has mastered humor whilst dealing with everyday issues. I've read many reviews who refer to his books as male chick lit. I'm not quite sure how that works but I don't think this is any way chick lit. This is funny, well written, contemporary fiction and to call it anything else would be insulting to the author and his readers.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a funny read and wonderful characters.

Review: His and Hers

Synopsis

From their first meeting at the student union over a decade ago, Jim and Alison successfully navigated their way through first dates, meeting parents, moving in together and more . . . Then they split up and divided their worldly goods (including a sofa, a cat and their flat) into his 'n' hers. Now, three years on and with new lives and new loves, they couldn't be happier. 

Until a chance encounter throws them back together, and causes them to embark on a journey through their past to ask themselves the big question: where did it all go wrong, and is it too late to put it all right?

Review

Back when I was in a relationship I didn't quite understand how couples stayed together. I struggled to keep the relationship going, always in fear that it would end soon. I used to watch all kinds of couples, the kissing couples, the touchy feely couples, the couples who stood miles apart but still managed to say to the world that they were still a couple. I would wonder how and why they stayed together. The problem is that No one ever talks about staying together, they talk about chance meetings and falling in love but no one ever talks keeping it together. They perfect the beginning, gloss over the middle and before you know it, they are grey and old and talking about falling in love all over again.

I read His and Hers with this in mind, the story kicks off with the death of Disco, Jim and Alison's cat. These two ex lovers meet up to say their goodbyes to their cat. Gayle explores simply how they met, how they fell in love, how it fell apart but also how they try to make it work past the honeymoon period. I was consumed with finding out why these two seemingly perfect individuals couldn't make it work. What happened to drive these two apart? Mike Gayle explores what went wrong with Jim and Alison without intruding too much into their lives. When I read this I felt like a bystander watching as these two lived their lives, I could imagine them on the train as the touchy feely couple, on the bus home as the kissing couple and also at home in a kitchen with friends.

Usually this kind of book would be filled with melodrama and a dramatic ending but not His and Hers. Gayle excels in the simplifying relationships. His and Hers is simple story of a man who meets a women, they fall in love, get married and break up. There is no over the top ending or melodramatic music playing loudly over the closing credits. This book is funny, addictive and the most realistic portrayal of a relationship I've read in a long time. Relationships, ever afters and all that malarkey that is associated with life, he demystifies. Sometimes relationships end because the other person stops trying or falls out of love. In this case Jim becomes dissatisfied with the life he wished for, the ever after becomes a prison of his own making and decides to leave.

The story concludes anticlimactically with an open end.  The anti climatic end to this book although I found to be depressing is very true of life. Life isn't a soap opera, we don't run off into the sunshine holding hands while skipping to fairy tale music. We make conscious adult decisions with no symphonies in the background.  This story will transcend time.