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A review by obsidian_blue
The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook by Matt Dunn
5.0
I went to the bookstore a few weeks ago and bought a lot of new books, i.e. never read the author beforehand. I saw this novel and decided to give the book a chance. I am glad that I did this little experiment since I have really enjoyed reading this novel and the next two in this series starring Eddie Middleton.
In The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook, the main character Eddie gets a "Dear John" letter from his long-time girlfriend of 10 years, Jane. Jane leaves Eddie for Tibet for three months. Additionally, Jane, tells Eddie that she left him because of him. Listing all of Eddie's flaws and why she felt the need to move on inspires Eddie to transform himself in the 3 months that Jane is gone into a boyfriend that she will want to be with. With the help of his best friend Dan, Eddie goes on transformation alphabetically for Jane.
I have to say that I really did like/love this novel a lot. Matt Dunn definitely writes very well and there are several laugh out loud moments in this novel that left me gasping. The characters such as Eddie and Dan were very well drawn and I wanted to read more about them (why I bought the other two books via my Kindle right after I finished with this one). I loved each chapter beginning with the current date since we have Eddie counting down to Jane's return from Tibet.
Eddie is definitely a sympathetic character. You feel for him while he goes back through what exactly he did wrong that made Jane leave him. Frankly I don't think too many men would do something like Eddie and would probably be thinking "good riddance."
Dan was outright hilarious. Seriously I would have loved a book told from Dan's point of view because though it was often offensive he definitely gets women more than Eddie does.
The only reason why I gave this 4 and a half stars was that the woman in this novel that Eddie is doing this for, Jane, was just written badly. Jane is a full blown caricature of a shrewish woman come to life. I think it would have made it a stronger novel if we had a prologue showing Eddie and Jane together and them being happy. Having Eddie flash-backing or chatting with Dan about Jane did not make her a real character to me. Frankly, I had a hard time understanding why Eddie was so in love with Jane based on the remembrances that are shared with readers. It would have definitely made the ending stronger if we as readers got to see why Eddie was so in love with her at first and what made them work and we could get his dithering about what he wants his next steps to be when Jane gets back. For me, the ending was a forgone conclusion because of the above.
That said, I am very glad that I picked this book up!
In The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook, the main character Eddie gets a "Dear John" letter from his long-time girlfriend of 10 years, Jane. Jane leaves Eddie for Tibet for three months. Additionally, Jane, tells Eddie that she left him because of him. Listing all of Eddie's flaws and why she felt the need to move on inspires Eddie to transform himself in the 3 months that Jane is gone into a boyfriend that she will want to be with. With the help of his best friend Dan, Eddie goes on transformation alphabetically for Jane.
I have to say that I really did like/love this novel a lot. Matt Dunn definitely writes very well and there are several laugh out loud moments in this novel that left me gasping. The characters such as Eddie and Dan were very well drawn and I wanted to read more about them (why I bought the other two books via my Kindle right after I finished with this one). I loved each chapter beginning with the current date since we have Eddie counting down to Jane's return from Tibet.
Eddie is definitely a sympathetic character. You feel for him while he goes back through what exactly he did wrong that made Jane leave him. Frankly I don't think too many men would do something like Eddie and would probably be thinking "good riddance."
Dan was outright hilarious. Seriously I would have loved a book told from Dan's point of view because though it was often offensive he definitely gets women more than Eddie does.
The only reason why I gave this 4 and a half stars was that the woman in this novel that Eddie is doing this for, Jane, was just written badly. Jane is a full blown caricature of a shrewish woman come to life. I think it would have made it a stronger novel if we had a prologue showing Eddie and Jane together and them being happy. Having Eddie flash-backing or chatting with Dan about Jane did not make her a real character to me. Frankly, I had a hard time understanding why Eddie was so in love with Jane based on the remembrances that are shared with readers. It would have definitely made the ending stronger if we as readers got to see why Eddie was so in love with her at first and what made them work and we could get his dithering about what he wants his next steps to be when Jane gets back. For me, the ending was a forgone conclusion because of the above.
That said, I am very glad that I picked this book up!