SHORT & SWEET REVIEW: HOW TO BE SINGLE BY LIZ TUCCILLO

Note, the format of my Short and Sweet reviews differs in that they simply comprise the book blurb and a short response (hence, the short and sweet).

I wondered how much I’d be able to relate to this book, especially after seeing the trailer for the upcoming film (starring Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson). In the end, it didn’t matter – the book made me laugh, in a good way. Here’s the blurb:

Julie Jenson is a 37-year-old book publicist in New York. She’s also single – and has been for six years. When her friend Georgia’s husband dumps her for a samba teacher, Julie gathers her four single girlfriends for one momentous night of New York singlehood. Following a night that started with Steaks & Martinis and ended with topless bar dancing and a trip to the hospital, Julie decides that she’s fed up with New York’s singles scene once and for all. Her friends are all beautiful, smart and successful – but between the five of them, there’s more dysfunction and disappointment than she can handle. So she quits her job and sets off to find how women around the world deal with the dreaded phenomenon of the Single Life. From Paris to India, to Iceland and back to New York, Julie finds out how to make her crazy life work.

Written in Tuccillo’s pitch-perfect and hilarious voice, HOW TO BE SINGLE is the ultimate novel for the single girl in us all.

If I’d seen the film trailer before I read the book, I probably wouldn’t have bothered reading it. However, from what I can make out, the two are quite different. Liz Tuccillo has written a sharp, funny and at times, insightful, book about being a single woman in the 21st century and how it differs (or doesn’t) around the world. She highlights differences in thinking and expectations about love, fidelity and relationships, some of which are surprising and others simply amusing.

Available from good bookstores (RRP $22.99AUD). My copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster.