"I Suck at Girls" Review

"I Suck at Girls"
by Justin Halpern

Publisher: It Books
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Source: ARC sent by publisher

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Summary from goodreads.com:
Soon after Sh*t My Dad Says began to take off, comic writer Justin Halpern decided to propose to his then girlfriend. But before doing so, he asked his dad's advice, which was very, very simple (and surprisingly clean): "Just take a day to think about it." This book is that day. Crossing the warmth of The Wonder Years with the candour and observational humour of David Sedaris, this follow-up to the hottest comedy debut of last year is a hilarious, toe-curlingly true book about life, and love.

My Review:

You may have heard of another book by this author, "S*** My Dad Says." The book started as a Twitter feed, became a best selling book, and then became a tv show staring William Shatner. A lot of this book is more "S*** My Dad Says" but there is a lot about the author's experiences in dating too.

The advice and snippets that the author's dad actually says is awesome. It's so quick witted and funny, and most rings true. However, I think the snippets might be better as actual snippets, such as quick tweets, and one-liners. The rest of the book is only ok.

I really don't like separating books by gender, but I do think the book might appeal more to men than to women, especially softies like myself. Some of the book is just "TMI" for me personally. That's probably why I would have preferred just to read the snippets from Justin's dad. On the other hand, the book was a really quick read, and aside from a few cringe-worthy moments, I never really felt like I didn't want to finish the book.

As much TMI as there was in the book (does anyone else find this happening a lot with memoirs?), the overall message of the book was very sweet and heart-warming. I think this was really the charm of the book.


Bottom Line:  A great book for fans of the author's work, and for those who want to read more "S*** My Dad Says."

6 comments

  1. I love memoirs, so I've been wanting to read this. :) Maybe I'll read the kindle excerpt before purchasing it, just to make sure it's my style. haha

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  2. I've seen this one around and I've been meaning to pick it up.
    I see what you mean about the TMI - sometimes I just don't want to know lol but I would probably expect it from this book because of the title.

    You are a softie :-)))) I should filter books for you lol

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  3. I'm not usually big on Memoirs, but I did enjoy Are you There Vodka and The Glass Castle, so I may have to venture more into this genre. Thanks for the heads up on the TMI.

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  4. Ok so maybe not, more for bf then

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  5. Mhmm.
    I've always liked the tweet feed but I never thought it would work in a different format - like I tried to watch the show a few times and it didn't work.


    Too bad the book didn't work for you :(

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  6. I finished it last night ... it's a hoot!

    http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2012/07/book-i-suck-at-girls-2012-justin.html

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Thanks so much for your lovely comments!