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377 ratings, 3.04 average rating, 109 reviews
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published
January 9th 2007
by Hyperion
binding
Paperback, 288 pages
isbn
1401308724
(isbn13: 9781401308728)
description
The "poignant and hilarious" (Newsday) story of one woman's twelve months of dating anyone -- absolutely anyone -- who asked her out ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 544)
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Leah by:
Peter
The premise is very interesting: a young women decides that her standards for dating are too high (and thusly leading to her overall unhappiness and lack of love). She decides that, for a year, she will abandon all of her ideals and simply say 'yes' to every man (and woman!) who asks her out.
The problem with the books premise is, of course, a sort-of catch-22. In one sense, The Year of Yes is empowering to read as a single woman: to see another woman throw caution to the wind for love and ha...more
The problem with the books premise is, of course, a sort-of catch-22. In one sense, The Year of Yes is empowering to read as a single woman: to see another woman throw caution to the wind for love and ha...more
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So this books sounded good in theory. A woman decides that for one year she will accept date from anyone who asks her, man or woman, homeless crazy person, 60 year old man who does not speak English, it doesn't matter, she'll date them. I found the author annoying and a lot of the book ridiculous. I wanted to finish is (or maybe I just wanted it to end!) so I figured I'd give it 2 stars, but really not that great.
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Read in January, 2008
The author is my cousin who I haven't seen since she was one. I picked it up in a voyeuristic sort of way, wondering what she would say about her family, particularly her father who was my first cousin, who I also only met a few times. He recently committed suicide and I know so little about him and what happened, why he became a total recluse. Maria's stories about her father made me cringe, his hurtful, thoughtless words that stung her enough she chose to include them, to inform the reader as ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
No One
My book club chose this with the expectation of a fun, light read as we approach warmer weather.
At the time of this writing Headley, an NYU student, decides to spend a year saying "yes" to all offers of dates for a year. As one would guess, she ends up dating a lot of weirdoes. Headley's writing gave me the impression that she's a smart-alecky know-it-all who's desperately trying to flaunt how intelligent she is. She certainly lacks commonsense at every turn. Her over-the-top...more
At the time of this writing Headley, an NYU student, decides to spend a year saying "yes" to all offers of dates for a year. As one would guess, she ends up dating a lot of weirdoes. Headley's writing gave me the impression that she's a smart-alecky know-it-all who's desperately trying to flaunt how intelligent she is. She certainly lacks commonsense at every turn. Her over-the-top...more
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Read in February, 2008
One of my college professors knows the author, so that's only 3 degrees of separation. And I like the idea of saying yes in life, even if I'm not dating.
I really enjoyed this humorous memoir. Lots of food for thought, particularly after listening to "Think Out Loud" on OPB about the recent trend of fictionalized memoirs. This is certainly written from the author's point of view with a healthy dose of poetic license, but I throughly enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed this humorous memoir. Lots of food for thought, particularly after listening to "Think Out Loud" on OPB about the recent trend of fictionalized memoirs. This is certainly written from the author's point of view with a healthy dose of poetic license, but I throughly enjoyed it.
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Annoying New York/Manhattan vibe, another memoir by a young author with a gimmicky hook/premise: say yes to every date for a year. Unintentionally funny at times, as when making out with a homeless guy is rendered as some sort of epiphany experience.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
young single women
This was a really quick, easy read about a girl who was fed up with her choices in men so she decided to accept every date offer she received for a year. It didn't have a lot of substance, but definitely made up for that with fun.
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Read in November, 2008
At first I didn't think I'd be able to finish reading this book. The dark, gothic type culture that Maria is interested in while in New York is so unnatural to me, I felt sick for the first 2 chapters. But, I started looking at it as an episode of Sex and the City, and it made it a little bit better.
The book has a good idea behind all the sex and dating. She learns a lot about herself...which I think is ultimately all she wanted to do. There are portions of this book that really hit home, a...more
The book has a good idea behind all the sex and dating. She learns a lot about herself...which I think is ultimately all she wanted to do. There are portions of this book that really hit home, a...more
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Read in November, 2008
Somewhat self-indulgent? Yes. Somewhat overwritten? Yes. Somewhat contrived? Yes. However, I found this HIGHLY amusing and a genuine page-turner. Plus, the self-indulgence, the overwriting, the contrivance conspired to allow me to brush off the author's attempts at pathos without any noticeable effect on my mirth (it's a sad fact that if I sign on to read a book about how you will go on a date with seriously anyone with wacky consequences, I will not be all that up for tales of you...more
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Read in November, 2007
I enjoyed the style of this book: twitchy at times, often witty, Headley has a nice voice for storytelling. Quick paced, just like the city in which she lived in, the book tells the story of a girl bumping around, meeting and unmeeting people, each making some kind of impression on her outlook. The point isn't that she dated a string of strange people, that she met her husband in the end, although this did tie in with her preferred happily-ever-after scenario, but instead, that she opened up ...more
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I wasn't expecting much out of this book (grabbed it off my roommate's bookshelf as I needed something to read to sleep) but found the premise and the first 50 pages witty and amusing. And then things got bad. Her literary references, which announced "I'm a smart, well-read girl" and made me feel like part of the club, were not enough to prevent her cute tangents from becoming annoying, somewhat irrelevant, and a bit poorly written. She also sounded more and more naive and unforgivabl...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
I really liked the premise of this book. Maria is 21, in Nyc, and unhappy with her love life so she decides to say yes to every offer for a date for an entire year. True story! It's really funny and parts are sad, and overall you feel like you really get to know the author well and relate to her neuroses. Because I have too much time on my hands and am a dork, I made a soundtrack that would go well with the book and the character.
New Soul...Yael Naim
The First Cut Is The Deepest...Cat Ste...more
New Soul...Yael Naim
The First Cut Is The Deepest...Cat Ste...more
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
people looking for love
I had high hopes for this book because of the heavy promotion in magazines, on tv, and word of mouth. It wasn't what I had expected. I expected it to be a little more sociological and analytical about attraction, relationships, etc. Instead, it was styled as a memoir. However, Headley had trouble finding her voice and deepening her introspection. Rather than a memoir, it read like a novel written in the first person. I wanted her to switch to the third person so that I could get more into ...more
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Read in March, 2008
Even though I'm completely irritated by this book, I'm still going to keep reading it. The premise is hilarious and really quite inspiring in a way, but I had no idea there were so many WEIRD people in the world. And the decisions she makes...well, let's just say that they're not ones I would make. And I'm getting a little tired of the references to French literature and other high-flying fields that I know nothing about. Nevertheless, I want to know who she meets next...
*update* I quit readin...more
*update* I quit readin...more
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Read in December, 2007
This book came up as a suggestion in one of my bookclubs a year or so ago...where it was soundly rejected since it was still only available in hardcover at the time. Then this past December it was selected as the monthly pick in a different book club.
It seemed like a fun concept for a memoir-- the author was sick of not finding Mr. Right and decided that for a year she would say "Yes" to anyone who asked her out. The author was witty and there were some funny bits to the memoir......more
It seemed like a fun concept for a memoir-- the author was sick of not finding Mr. Right and decided that for a year she would say "Yes" to anyone who asked her out. The author was witty and there were some funny bits to the memoir......more
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I so wanted to like this book. The concept is great and the author is a undoubtedly a great talent. However, she's also so freakin' in love with her giant literary brain and apparently hotness that I had a hard time liking her. That's a problem when you're reading a memoir. there were times when I laughed out loud but more often I was groaning inwardly at her meek tries to be charmingly self-depreciating. Self-depreciation only works when you actually think it's kinda true. Her attempts read li...more
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Read in May, 2007
I enjoyed this book simply because it was so far outside of anything I would ever want to experience!
At the age of 20, the author was living in NYC. In the hopes of finding true love, she decided that for an entire year, she would go out with ANYONE who asked her. (She did put a FEW limits on this.)
She went out with some truly bizarre guys, some of whom you'd pretty much only meet in a place like NYC!
She did end up finding a prize, but not in New York.
The one thing I found disturbing ...more
At the age of 20, the author was living in NYC. In the hopes of finding true love, she decided that for an entire year, she would go out with ANYONE who asked her. (She did put a FEW limits on this.)
She went out with some truly bizarre guys, some of whom you'd pretty much only meet in a place like NYC!
She did end up finding a prize, but not in New York.
The one thing I found disturbing ...more
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Now I understand all those empty-headed women in college who majored in dating. Headley dates and dumps a long string of men, pausing only to cobble together a book full of her weirdest experiences, minus any self-reflection. It's freakily interesting, until she meets a man as ruthlessly self-absorded as she is, who dates and dumps her. The book then devolves into self-pitying garbage. Until, of course, she accepts a proposal from an older man, who rescues her from her self-imposed misery, po...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
women who have ever lived in new york city.
I've been feeling rather uninspired and closed off lately, and on the cover of the paperback version of this book, it said "this book makes you want to be young and in new york city," and that was exactly what I needed. I don't know that I'd go so extreme as to spend a year taking dates from every man I ever meet, but it definitely made me have an open mind about dates and dating. A lot of the dates she accepted didn't lead to romance, but a good story and a strange friendship, so perh...more
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Read in January, 2007
I think I thought this was something else, and while I finished reading it, I was skimming pretty heavily. She has a chatty, breezy style that I enjoyed (but that I didn't find as nearly as novel as all the reviewers seemed to--perhaps they should haul themselves into the new millenium and read a few blogs, because it was just that sort of style) but ultimately, I just wasn't all that terribly interested in the dating trials of an NYU student. Been there, done that, and there's a reason why it's...more
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