It isn’t very often that we have a main character who is a male and also a hopeless romantic. Nick’s that. He wants that Hollywood romance, a love to shine amongst the stars, to be envied by others, to fulfill his every lovey-dovey fantasy. But his girlfriend just broke up with him, he has no idea why, and it’s all shite. The only thing Nick can think to do, is write out their relationship like a screenplay focusing on the places where he thinks it all started to go wrong.
I have a few problems with this book. I received this book through NetGalley because I requested it and was genuinely interested in the story, but within the first chapter I had my first red flag. Nick, a twenty-something man is at an election party in 2008 when he meets Ellie. It is while they are talking that it is revealed that Nick admires the stories in Garden State and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Ellie mirrors my thoughts and calls Nick out on wanting a woman who just helps him fulfill his destiny and straighten out his life but doesn’t actually care about the woman, he denies this, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I regret that decision.
All Nick does throughout this book is act like those male characters. His introspection as to why their relationship ended was not, “I value her opinion and shall be introspective and listen to what she said to me when she broke up with me and my confidants as to their opinions on the situation.” It was a whiny, woe-is-me filled ramble where he explored his relationship with Ellie. What is mindboggling is that the scenes he describes and the conclusions he gets from them are two wildly different things. He talks about significant moments with Ellie and in those moments he is either selfish, or in his head thinking about the story as a movie instead of being present with her. He talks about how tensions are high and they’re both at fault for getting on each other’s nerves, how she’ll calm down once she realizes where he’s coming from, but there’s never anything on his end for her.
I don’t want to spoil the book so I’m not going to say what happened only that the reason for their break up while legitimate and actually justifiable in her case, was weak to what it should have cumulatively been. Like one thing was picked as the reason to end it when there were like 50 very good reasons to tack on. I didn’t like the ending and I didn’t like the resolution. And It’s really easy for me to say that I do not like Nick and that the person he ends up with deserves so much better. I can’t say I’d recommend this. Maybe to people to use as a study on characters like Tom from 500 Days of Summer. This would be perfect to add to the research for your thesis on why male characters are trash.
Check out other reviews on Goodreads, some people did enjoy this novel and maybe you will agree with them and think I’m some bitter, cynical woman (which is true tbf). This is an opinion and is allowed to be disagreed with. Want to have a passionate discussion as to why I’m right or wrong in the comments? Just type away!
Just Read It 