Hi readers,
Though I didn't think I was going to do it, here's a book review for you! Firstly, let me say that my mum found this book for sale in a library close to where she was working last week and thought it'd be a laugh. She knew I'd done internet dating in the past - how I met my last two ex-boyfriends and been on some boring dates with a few guys before too- and the fact I'm currently waiting to sign up for it again. I just need to get myself more together and figure out what I want to do for the next few months and years.
This book is one man's humors memoir about his experiences internet dating and the women he encountered. Sean is asked by the editor of a magazine whom he currently works for to do a piece about internet dating. With all his expenses, including the first few dates, being paid for, he decides to give it a shot and I guess this is the book he ended up writing afterwards! It is also about his past relationships, growing up, his travels, reflections on relationships and women and some psychological stuff.
I would say that whilst the audience does seem to be middle-aged/older men, women would also find this book useful. It gives some insight into a man's head, but it's not as deep as say Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus and those kind of books. You know those types of books that actually analyse the way and differences between the thoughts and reactions of men and women. This book uses those points more to back up what'd being said.
The book opens with Sean debating if and how he should propose to his girlfriend. That leads into the whole world of us getting to know him and he being assigned to discover internet dating. To me it felt true to the experience of online dating; the whole looking at profiles and photos, deciding who you like and if you'll match. Then messaging them and waiting ages, but more likely never, to hear back from them and getting messages from random people too. It has changed the way people now meet and date, but as Sean states, it's made it freer. In the past, for me, it's just been so much easier to meet people online. I guess, I might have to write about my experiences in my life up date posts when I decided to give it ago again!
I really enjoyed the way Sean writes. I guess because he's a journalist and has had novels published, the flow and humor are naturally there. There's one part that's going to stick with me because I was reading it on the bus and I just burst out laughing. He had put his height wrong and made himself one foot nine instead of five foot eleven! I also enjoyed his description of the women's personalities and he does meet some crazy ladies; like the one who stalks him and sends him birthday cards, the one who's living with a bunch of cats and the one who doesn't like soup. Of course, it being a very 'for lads book' there's a heavy focus on women's bodies and sex, but I just overlooked that stuff.
Actually, I found his past interesting and though it's interwoven between him talking about these relationships, he brings it into make connections between why he thinks like he does. He's also spent a lot of time traveling and just embracing life and though that's not something I can connect to, I could understand his experiences from doing that. I understood his heartbreak a lot more too and that's something I did deeply connect with.
If there's one thing that bugged me it was that the flashbacks/reflections of past relationships and the thoughts he has come in-between the 'now' relationships/scene, thus making it very non-linear. I get way he does this because he wants you to read on and because it's making reference to things. I guess if this was a linear memoir it might get a bit boring, but I think it was more to do with the fact that these flashbacks are too long. Not that I forgot where he was and who he was with, but I just thought that in real life you might not have so many flashbacks to past girls all the time whilst you're dating a new girl...or maybe men do that? I don't know.
Overall, at it's core Millions is a man's reflection on love. I think that if you are interested in internet dating or are currently or maybe just you fancy a laugh at someone's struggles with relationships and to met some interesting characters then it's worth reading. But if you want to figure out why your other half behaves the way they do then go for one of the more psychological aimed books.
Thanks for reading be sure to check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/
Next week: hopefully another book review! I just got gifted an e-book by the author in exchange for a fair review. Something I've not done before and I'm looking forward to it! See you next Monday for that.
Image from: http://www.popmatters.com/review/millions-of-women-are-waiting-to-meet-you-by-sean-thomas/
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