The Book of Boys (Just for Girls)

Jamming freshly sharpened No.2 (NOT No.1 or No.3) lead pencils into my ears. Being slowly lowered, feet first, into a vat of ravenous piranha fish. Binge watching Richard Simmons exercise videos. These are all things that I would rather do than read a book about a woman’s first few boyfriends. However, having known the author for over 35 years (wow...we’re old!), I felt obligated to support a friend. Assuming it would be pure drudgery, I dove in, just to get it over with. When the very first sentence contained “broad maple trees” and “fragrant dogwoods”, I thought that I was in for 268 pages of flowery, overly sappy, chick writing. But a funny thing happened on the way to the recollections. I started to really enjoy my drive down nostalgia lane. Having the author’s actual voice narrating inside my insanium cranium is much better than the guessy voices that I often assign to unknown writers, and certainly preferable to the default of my own voice. Also knowing that I was going to make a few cameo appearances as Pete’s (uhm...I mean Peter’s) roomie kept my interest level up.From the opening scenes, it’s apparent that she is going to be completely open about her insecurities and mental anguish. It would be hard for me to publicly express all of my vulnerabilities unless I thought it might better the world, or it was mondo cathartic. Anywho, she lays it all out there: extreme jealousy, an occasional lie (oh my!), and the never-ending self-consciousness about Hefflefinger Syndrome (see book for actual name of syndrome, and description). A far cry from the usual misandristic man-bashing of a typical torch tome. The “boys” do get their share of getting dissed, but it was fairly balanced with her shortcomings as well. This openness and honesty added tremendous believability to the story. It never felt one-sided. There are a couple (that I noticed) instances of foreshadowing, one of which is absolutely cosmic (no spoilers here!). Reading about places that I cuisined and people that I hung with over thirty years ago was awesome. Mass-quantities of whack-a-doodle memories came surging back into the insane membrane! Getting behind-the-scenes commentary from all of Carol’s home-ettes firmly establishes the truth of all stereotypes about women...l knew it!Very well written, fast-paced, interesting and insightful (especially the often-impenetrable feminine mystique), I recommend this book to any gender of adult-ish age.Jeffrey Hart(a.k.a. Milkcow)

My daughter and I both read this book and we both enjoyed it from our different perspectives. I am a 40 something adult and reading it brought back the poignant memories of the teenage years and finding my place in the world. My daughter is just embarking on those teenage years and finding her place in the world. I like the message that a girl should be picky when looking for the right man to spend her life with.

I truly enjoyed this book; funny, honest, sweet, but not overly so. I hope to see more from this author.

Very well written. An outstanding read!

As much as I would like to be, I am not a huge reader. It takes a lot for me to stay interested long enough to not only turn the pages but finish it. Going down memory lane can be a problem when your memory is not what it used to be. We have all experienced some of what this author did I think, but she happened to remember it with detail, and with enough honesty and spunk that I even laughed out loud a few times. I definitely suggest anyone read this book, quick easy and fun.

This is a story, told with humor and insight, about complexities in the teen relationships and about insights on how to listen to your heart on the journey to find the one who is right for you.