How to Be Single
by
Liz Tuccillo
It's the most annoying question and they just can't help asking you:
Why are you single?
On a brisk October morning in New York, Julie Jenson, a single thirty-eight-year-old book publicist, gets a hysterical phone call from her friend Georgia. Reeling from her husband's announcement that he is leaving her for a samba teacher, Georgia convinces a reluctant Julie to organize a
...morePaperback, 404 pages
Published
June 10th 2008
by Atria Books
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I can't quite figure out whether I want to give the book two stars or three. On one hand, each character - filled with pathos and false bravado, reminded me of well... me. And all my female friends. On the other hand, it felt ridiculous and contrived (which naturally upsets me). And at the end of reading the book, I'm torn about whether or not I liked the book.
This was an essay disguised as a novel,and reads like a non-fiction, which works for the book. I didn't hate the book - it flows well en...more
This was an essay disguised as a novel,and reads like a non-fiction, which works for the book. I didn't hate the book - it flows well en...more
This book is Sex and the City meets Eat, Pray, Love is the best way to describe this book. You have 5 women focused around the central character, Julie. Julie works for a publisher and is off to write a book about being single across the world after a humiliating night out. Her friends that barely know each other in the beginning become her Sex and the City girls.
Alice is a Legal Aid Attorney who quits her job for a new career in dating. She meets a wonderful guy and is tired of dating - will sh...more
Alice is a Legal Aid Attorney who quits her job for a new career in dating. She meets a wonderful guy and is tired of dating - will sh...more
This was an awesome, fun, inspiring read. It's about a 38-year old woman Julie. She's single. She has 4 single friends, and she decides to travel the world to write a book about single women in different countries. Among the places she visits are Rome, Ireland, India. In each country she meets all kinds of women, and in each country, women have a different take on being single. The author actually did do the research - her information in the fiction book was real. And I found it fascinating.
I l...more
I l...more
Tuccillo's estrogen-fueled storyline of five single friends in New York looking for love is just what a day at the beach ordered. (Wait...wasn't there a popular cable t.v. series about single women in NYC? Oh right, Tuccillo wrote for that famed show, too.) The main protagonist, Julie, goes left of her usual rationally centered life; She quits her desk job and vows to travel and write about how single women are living around the world. Meanwhile, back in the states, her four friends are coping w...more
Oct 26, 2009
Rashaal
added it
I was shocked when I finally finished reading the book. I am amazed by the time and money I lost reading this book.
Anyhow the cover was very eye catching since it's a great marketing logo for single women, stories regarding the 5 women were neither realistic nor interesting to read about.
The interesting part of it all was when Liz the writer decided to acknowledge her friends through the whole helping journey with the book and the one name that I can recognize linked to the Middle East was Dim...more
Anyhow the cover was very eye catching since it's a great marketing logo for single women, stories regarding the 5 women were neither realistic nor interesting to read about.
The interesting part of it all was when Liz the writer decided to acknowledge her friends through the whole helping journey with the book and the one name that I can recognize linked to the Middle East was Dim...more
"How To Be Single" -Liz Tuccillo (2008)
Okay, not gonna lie. Even though I am not a huge fan of the chick-lit genre, I totally enjoyed reading this book. I picked it up on a whim, as more of a joke. The title stood out as something that me and my also newly-divorced roommate could get on board with, and it conveniently turned out to be by the coauthor of "He's Just Not That Into You" - a book we both want to read and a movie we want to see even more.
It was one of those books that kept me intrigue...more
Okay, not gonna lie. Even though I am not a huge fan of the chick-lit genre, I totally enjoyed reading this book. I picked it up on a whim, as more of a joke. The title stood out as something that me and my also newly-divorced roommate could get on board with, and it conveniently turned out to be by the coauthor of "He's Just Not That Into You" - a book we both want to read and a movie we want to see even more.
It was one of those books that kept me intrigue...more
The author of this book travelled the world to get experiences of single women in a variety of countries. Her main character Julie did the same. Julie left her job as a publicist for a publishing company and signed a book deal with her employer to write a book about being single.
The story goes back and forth between Julie on her travels in various cities and countries and her single friends back in New York. Her story begins with a discussion of why each of those friends is single. Her friends a...more
The story goes back and forth between Julie on her travels in various cities and countries and her single friends back in New York. Her story begins with a discussion of why each of those friends is single. Her friends a...more
It's been a while since I read some chick-lit. This book was a little more high-brow then what I usually pick up, but still good none-the-less. Single girl in a dead end job gathers her single friends together for a night out and they go a little crazy. Things change after that. Girl gets a book advance out of thin air (essentially) and takes off on a trip around the world to see if single women in other countries have the same issues as Americans. While she is away, the story is a mix of her ad...more
This book had great potential, and many great moments, but doesn’t deliver in the end. After a night out with her four single girlfriends, Julie decides to travel the globe interviewing single women for a book about dating in different cultures.
It’s a great premise, except that Julie gets air sick every time she flies and is too shy to talk to strangers on her own. Fortunately, one of her friends is able to fly across the world to each country she visits to hold her hand. And in every country s...more
It’s a great premise, except that Julie gets air sick every time she flies and is too shy to talk to strangers on her own. Fortunately, one of her friends is able to fly across the world to each country she visits to hold her hand. And in every country s...more
Fair warning: unless you are a single woman in her mid to late 30's, you may find this book trite and possibly annoying. However, should you fall within the target demographic, read on. I did...twice! Tuccillo co-wrote "He's Just not that Into You," which should give you some indication of the combo insight and humor awaiting you here.
What I loved here, and made me laugh over and over, is how nutty we get at a certain age when we haven't married. Yes, I know that married folk have their own ide...more
What I loved here, and made me laugh over and over, is how nutty we get at a certain age when we haven't married. Yes, I know that married folk have their own ide...more
Found this in the bargain bin at B&N for $5.00 It had a few funny moments and moments of truth...who hasn't experienced waiting for the guy to call, then thinking "Well, maybe something happened? Maybe there has been an ACCIDENT, he is in the hospital in a full body cast and is desperately trying to write a message with the pencil in his mouth telling the nurse to call me, but it keeps falling out?" Though these days, it is hearing the "click" of a new email dropping and looking hopefully, o...more
So, where do I start...
Well, first off, the title of the book is so contradictory to what it is actually about. The title should be: “How NOT to be single”.
I am disappointed in this book because personally becoming recently single after being in a serious long term relationship I was hoping to read a book that gives you advice and insight into how to be okay being single. Not that I need it, but that’s what I assumed the book would be about, given the title.
The overall feeling I got from the bo...more
Well, first off, the title of the book is so contradictory to what it is actually about. The title should be: “How NOT to be single”.
I am disappointed in this book because personally becoming recently single after being in a serious long term relationship I was hoping to read a book that gives you advice and insight into how to be okay being single. Not that I need it, but that’s what I assumed the book would be about, given the title.
The overall feeling I got from the bo...more
While Tuccillo made some valid points, and there were things I could identify with as a single woman myself, overall the novel fell flat for me. The narrative switched tenses at random at times (and somehow was omnipotent even though it was supposed to be from Julie's point of view), the characters were almost too stereotypical, and most of the jokes were lame. I could appreciate moments of it, but the redeeming moment only comes in the last few pages, after the entire novel is spent proclaiming...more
When Julie Jensen, a New York book publicist, gets a hysterical phone call from her friend Georgia, whose husband has just walked out on her for a much younger woman, she begins to assemble a group of friends to take Georgia out and introduce her to the singles scene.
But along the way toward showing her what a fun-filled life she can now have, Julie realizes something. None of her friends is really having much fun, and in their lives are great spaces full of lost hopes and dreams.
So Julie's next...more
But along the way toward showing her what a fun-filled life she can now have, Julie realizes something. None of her friends is really having much fun, and in their lives are great spaces full of lost hopes and dreams.
So Julie's next...more
This is one of those books that I purchased because of decent viral PR. Written by someone that made a few bucks off of writing for "Sex and the City" and from co writing "He's Just Not That Into You" (barf book.. but still good common sense), you'd think that this would warrant a read a la Candace Bushnell's original "Sex and the City" page turner.
Unfortunately, it's not - but in a decent way.
Tuccillo succeeds in having her protagonist discover and experience various different ways that single...more
Unfortunately, it's not - but in a decent way.
Tuccillo succeeds in having her protagonist discover and experience various different ways that single...more
Okay, so this book is better than a lot of other "two star" books I've rated. It's amusing in parts, and brings up some good issues about single women in their 30s, and how it can be difficult to find good men in the same age bracket. I also appreciate that the author did some research on what single women in other countries do about the same issues (although I REALLY wondered if it was more autobiographical than fiction).
However, I simply could not get past the author's opinion that the main is...more
However, I simply could not get past the author's opinion that the main is...more
I know this book was intended as chic lit fiction; but the ethnocentrism in the book was derailing for me. The main character Julie epitomizes the ugly American abroad.
In Australia she writes: “Like an aborigine with a bottle of Wild Turkey, Georgia spiraled out of control.” and “Her name was Fiona Crenshaw from Tasmania (a small island off the coast of southern Australia).”
Then in China she writes: “In Beijing, as I soon found out, they enjoy “squatter” toilets. Even in some upscale establishm...more
In Australia she writes: “Like an aborigine with a bottle of Wild Turkey, Georgia spiraled out of control.” and “Her name was Fiona Crenshaw from Tasmania (a small island off the coast of southern Australia).”
Then in China she writes: “In Beijing, as I soon found out, they enjoy “squatter” toilets. Even in some upscale establishm...more
This was my second time "reading" this audio book.
Julie decides to travel the world to see what it means to be single in other countries, since she and her friends all find themselves in their 30s and single (gasp!). She proposes this idea to her boss at the publishing house, and her trip is born. She travels to several different countries and experiences love and freedom while doing her "research." While she is away, her friends grow close in the states, and a few even visit her at some point i...more
Julie decides to travel the world to see what it means to be single in other countries, since she and her friends all find themselves in their 30s and single (gasp!). She proposes this idea to her boss at the publishing house, and her trip is born. She travels to several different countries and experiences love and freedom while doing her "research." While she is away, her friends grow close in the states, and a few even visit her at some point i...more
This book was just okay. I think I had problems with it because I am not single and in my late thirties so I couldn't relate to the characters. While I do understand love is an elusive thing that many people do not find, I happen to be one of the lucky ones, so a lot of this book seemed trite and flighty to me. However, as the book went on I did grow to like all the women and how the author went back and forth between Julie's travels and what was happening to all her firends back in the States w...more
Dec 30, 2011
DubaiReader
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
abridged-audiobook,
2011
Chick-lit: 3.5 stars.
The abreviated audio CD was read by Judy Greer in a rather twee voice that grated at times, but my expectation of chick-lit was somewhat tempered by the travel aspect.
Thirty-something Julie decides to travel around the world with a view to writing a book about how single women deal with their situation in various countries.
She leaves her four single friends, with all their various problems, and travels from Paris to Rome, India to China, Brazil to Iceland, interviewing singl...more
The abreviated audio CD was read by Judy Greer in a rather twee voice that grated at times, but my expectation of chick-lit was somewhat tempered by the travel aspect.
Thirty-something Julie decides to travel around the world with a view to writing a book about how single women deal with their situation in various countries.
She leaves her four single friends, with all their various problems, and travels from Paris to Rome, India to China, Brazil to Iceland, interviewing singl...more
This was "Eat, Pray, Love" for a girl who isn't trying to get over a broken marriage, but find where she fits in to the love spectrum. Funny and heartwarming, Tuccillo succeeds in making you feel just enough of sorry for these girls before allowing them to become pathetic. All of the characters were charming in their own way, but I found myselves forgetting some of their stories as it zoomed from NYC back to where Julie was at the time. In a journey of self-exploration that most would love to ex...more
Maybe because I have never really been single, I just found this trite. From the perspective of being married, I want to tell these thirty something women to grow up and get over the princess in waiting attitude. I feel like most of the women have completely unrealitic expectations of what love and commitment are. Really if the reason Julie can't get a guy is because she is only a size 6 and has celluite - then how does that explain the hordes of happily coupled/married size 12 and up women?
Juli...more
Juli...more
Author Liz Tuccillo was an executive story editor for Sex and the City...it's no surprise because she writes with the same attitude of Carrie and the girls. The protagonist is very similar to Carrie, in that she corrals a group of single women to rise above their communal feeling that time is running out. Each one of them is quirky and successful in her own right, and together they're an unstoppable force. The main character literally travels around the globe in search of what keeps single women...more
I think this book had such promise. I love the idea of the main character traveling around the world to see what the lives of single women are like in other parts of the world. However, it seemed to me to miss the point entirely when the main character enters into a "relationship" in the first country she visits and then continues the relationship and lets it taint the rest of her trip. It ended up being an overall depressing and disappointing book. I wouldn't recommend it at all - especially to...more
I am not a chick lit reader. Never have been and this book, while entertaining at times, reminded me why I never will be. I only read this book because a friend bought it for me & wanted to discuss it. It rmeinded me quite a bit of Sex & the City and, uncoincidnetally, the author was an executive story editor for the show. It's based around a group of women who are all single in their late thirties & early forties. It seems that their main goal in life is to get married and their liv...more
I don't think I should have read this book. It socked me in the really tender spot in the gut where just-recognizable-enough self-help books and chick lit and romantic comedies always seem to get me. Instead of the aimed for takeaway message of "You're OK and don't give up", the one I have walked away with is "You're not making any of this up and it's awful out there so if you decide to sit on the couch and just eat cookie dough it won't make anything any worse."
My friend Suj and I have dubbed t...more
My friend Suj and I have dubbed t...more
This book was a decent read. It was hard to get into but the idea of the book was a good one. Basically a woman in her late-30's decides to figure out how single women all over the world handled being single. She visited France, Australia, India, and a few other places. It was a good idea. Along the way, you also get updates on her friends back in New York (this is where the book was a little thin and harder to read) and their problems with their singledom. If this sounds familiar it is because...more
I loved the TV show Sex in the City and the voice of Carrie is heard through the book's main character--probably because Tuccillo wrote for the TV series.
It's as if Carrie found four new girlfriends and decided to undertake an Eat, Pray, Love writer's jaunt--not with Mr. Big, but with a French Mr. Bigger, named Thomas, as her guide. Their mission? To find out how women across the globe are coping with being single.
The story isn't original, but I enjoyed it. It's a perfect airplane or beach read...more
It's as if Carrie found four new girlfriends and decided to undertake an Eat, Pray, Love writer's jaunt--not with Mr. Big, but with a French Mr. Bigger, named Thomas, as her guide. Their mission? To find out how women across the globe are coping with being single.
The story isn't original, but I enjoyed it. It's a perfect airplane or beach read...more
When my good friend handed me this book and said, "Here, you might like this." My first thought was, "You have got to be kidding me." Of course, I thanked her. Yes, the book is about a thirty-something single woman and her thirty-something single friends trying to find their way in the world, and yes, I now fall into that category. I admit, I passed immediate judgment on the book solely based on the fact that the author co-wrote He's Just Not That Into You and was editor of Sex and the City ....more
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Liz Tuccillo is an American writer and actress best known for her work on the HBO comedy series Sex and the City and for co-authoring (with Greg Behrendt) the self-help book He's Just Not That Into You. Her first novel, How to Be Single, was published in June 2008.
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“I think we are going to have to love ourselves. Fuck.”
—
23 people liked it
“Now the uncle spoke up. 'This cannot be,' he said. 'The human being is designed for many things. Loneliness is not one of them.' ... Mrs. Ramani leaned into me, and said, as a statement of fact. 'We are not meant to go through this life alone.”
—
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