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The Lonely Guy's Book of Life
This book is an instant comic classic in the tradition of Woody Allen's 'Without Feathers', Philip Roth's 'Portnoy's Complaint', and Friedman's own best-selling novel 'A Mother's Kisses'. Friedman is a master at protraying the lighter, if sadder, side of the contemporary urban mind. Here Everyman is seen as the mild, lonely shlemiel, a little bald, looking as if he had been badly shaken up in a bus accident--in short, someone very much in need of self-help. Friedman tracks his hero from the gym to the boudoir to the therapy group, with a wild, nervous, crackling humor that often cuts close to the bone.
- GenresFiction
206 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
44 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Jay Friedman
61 books46 followersAmerican comic author whose dark, mocking humour and social criticism was directed at the concerns and behaviour of American Jews.
After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1951 with a B.A. in journalism and serving in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Friedman worked in publishing for several years before achieving success with his first novel, Stern (1962). The title character is a luckless descendent of the biblical Job, unable to assimilate into mainstream American life. Virtually all of Friedman's works are a variation on this theme; most of his characters are Jewish by birth, but they feel alienated from both Jewish and American culture. His works are also noted for focusing on absurd characters and situations.
-Encyclopædia Britannica
After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1951 with a B.A. in journalism and serving in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Friedman worked in publishing for several years before achieving success with his first novel, Stern (1962). The title character is a luckless descendent of the biblical Job, unable to assimilate into mainstream American life. Virtually all of Friedman's works are a variation on this theme; most of his characters are Jewish by birth, but they feel alienated from both Jewish and American culture. His works are also noted for focusing on absurd characters and situations.
-Encyclopædia Britannica
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 31, 2015
Who are the Lonely Guys?
Lonely Guys lean against railings a lot and stare off in the distance with bunched up jaw muscles. They had a bad time at summer camp and are afraid they are going to be sent back there, even at age forty.
Presidents and world leaders tend to be Lonely Guys. Sometimes people you'd never guess, like supermodels and movie stars, are Lonely Guys, too. I'm a Lonely Guy even though I've been married for almost 25 years.
From the street, they peer in at cocktail lounges, through the potted palms, and decide the place is not for them. They take naps in the early evening and are delighted to wake up and find it's too late to go anywhere.
Here Friedman presents a guide for the Lonely Guy. Written long before the term "life hacks" was coined, the book is crammed with tips for just getting through the day, which is really all that a Lonely Guy can hope for. Now, Lonely Guy's can learn how to choose the best apartment for lonely living:
Tomb-like silence is not always the ticket. It can be dangerous for a Lonely Guy to sit around listening to his own pulse.
Cooking and grooming lessons are also covered, including advice on picking the right shampoo. Be wary of scents that might conjure up thoughts of fall, the hardest of all seasons for the Lonely Guy to get through, each falling leaf a stake in his heart. (Summer, when everyone else is going away, isn't so wonderful for him either. Neither, for that matter, is winter, when the whole world is out there playing with Snowmobiles and he isn't. The best time for the Lonely Guy seems to be a two-week span at the end of March, when not much is going on.)
Exercise is an important part of the Lonely Guy's life, as it keeps him fit and kills time until he can go to bed. Maybe jogging is the answer . . .
Just run toward something, an old lady who sits in the same place every day. When you reach her, there is no reason to sit down with her and get involved in her life. Just turn around, or tap her if you have to, and start back the other way.
Eating alone is always sad for the Lonely Guy and dining out whilst solo is a particular trial:
Sitting opposite a mirror can be useful; after a drink or two, you will begin to feel that there are a few of you.
A Lonely Guy may decide to turn to writing to fill the long, empty hours.
How can I write a book? you might say. I've got nothing to say. Don't let that stop you. Very few writers have anything to say. The trick is to see how long you can conceal that from the reader. The most successful writers are ones who've been able to get away with it for the greatest number of pages and years.
There's also plenty of advice on successful napping, travel, business affairs and sex for the Lonely Guy, that last one being too depressing to delve into right now. (I'm probably going to need a nap as it is.) So remember, even if you are a Lonely Guy, you are not alone. There are millions of us out there.
We are the lonely all together
All together we're all alone
John Prine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_AL-...
Lonely Guys lean against railings a lot and stare off in the distance with bunched up jaw muscles. They had a bad time at summer camp and are afraid they are going to be sent back there, even at age forty.
Presidents and world leaders tend to be Lonely Guys. Sometimes people you'd never guess, like supermodels and movie stars, are Lonely Guys, too. I'm a Lonely Guy even though I've been married for almost 25 years.
From the street, they peer in at cocktail lounges, through the potted palms, and decide the place is not for them. They take naps in the early evening and are delighted to wake up and find it's too late to go anywhere.
Here Friedman presents a guide for the Lonely Guy. Written long before the term "life hacks" was coined, the book is crammed with tips for just getting through the day, which is really all that a Lonely Guy can hope for. Now, Lonely Guy's can learn how to choose the best apartment for lonely living:
Tomb-like silence is not always the ticket. It can be dangerous for a Lonely Guy to sit around listening to his own pulse.
Cooking and grooming lessons are also covered, including advice on picking the right shampoo. Be wary of scents that might conjure up thoughts of fall, the hardest of all seasons for the Lonely Guy to get through, each falling leaf a stake in his heart. (Summer, when everyone else is going away, isn't so wonderful for him either. Neither, for that matter, is winter, when the whole world is out there playing with Snowmobiles and he isn't. The best time for the Lonely Guy seems to be a two-week span at the end of March, when not much is going on.)
Exercise is an important part of the Lonely Guy's life, as it keeps him fit and kills time until he can go to bed. Maybe jogging is the answer . . .
Just run toward something, an old lady who sits in the same place every day. When you reach her, there is no reason to sit down with her and get involved in her life. Just turn around, or tap her if you have to, and start back the other way.
Eating alone is always sad for the Lonely Guy and dining out whilst solo is a particular trial:
Sitting opposite a mirror can be useful; after a drink or two, you will begin to feel that there are a few of you.
A Lonely Guy may decide to turn to writing to fill the long, empty hours.
How can I write a book? you might say. I've got nothing to say. Don't let that stop you. Very few writers have anything to say. The trick is to see how long you can conceal that from the reader. The most successful writers are ones who've been able to get away with it for the greatest number of pages and years.
There's also plenty of advice on successful napping, travel, business affairs and sex for the Lonely Guy, that last one being too depressing to delve into right now. (I'm probably going to need a nap as it is.) So remember, even if you are a Lonely Guy, you are not alone. There are millions of us out there.
We are the lonely all together
All together we're all alone
John Prine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_AL-...
April 26, 2023
"Loneliness is a condition, not a state. For all we know, all of Canada could be a lonely guy".---Bruce Jay Friedman
Back in the 1970s, competing with giants such as Woody Allen and George Carlin, Bruce Jay Friedman was the funniest man in America. You know the comedy classic THE HEARTBREAK KID, of the married schlemiel pursuing his shiksa? Friedman wrote the short story, Neil Simon adapted into a screenplay and Elaine May directed. Comic heaven. THE LONELY GUY'S BOOK OF LIFE appeared in serial form at Friedman's home publication, ESQUIRE MAGAZINE. It's fiction, alright, but every lonely man in America (and that would only be about 100 million right there) could identify with the schlimazel hero and his lack of exploits in the bedroom. Bruce starts out by telling us not be feel too bad about our current status: "Even Jackie Onassis could be a lonely guy. On some nights she's been known to go out with the wrong Iranian". In another chapter he chides us for believing the silly lies our parents told us about how "beautiful girls never get asked out because all the guys presumed they already have dates". (In my case, an Irish Catholic priest told us this whopper in parochial school. What does a celibate guy know about being a lonely guy?) Then things take a darker turn, as Bruce explores the Lonely Guy's worst nightmare scenarios, including being seated all alone in one chair at one table at a crowded restaurant, akin to wearing a sign that says I HAVE MALARIA, and the gloomiest day of the year, Valentine's Day, AKA "Passover"; at work you might have to fake a postcard and send it to yourself. And, who could forget the Lonely Guy in group therapy, where your most personal issue, nobody wants you, is also the most embarrassing? (I knew a Jewish kid at UCLA who fit Friedman's scenario to a glove. After therapy all he could talk about were the beautiful women we had met in therapy but dared not ask out.) On the positive side, you will save a ton of money on condoms and flowers. Believe it or not, there are even lonelier guys in other places, China, for instance, has a huge bachelor surplus, which only amounts to about 500 million guys right there. Has anything changed for the American lonely guy since Friedman published his manifesto? Yes, for the worse. Social media having replaced person-to-person meetings, the same lonely guys get left swiped over and over while "meat spaces", from bars to parks, are more abandoned than 45 years ago. Read this book for a laugh, and then play Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely" on Spotify.
Back in the 1970s, competing with giants such as Woody Allen and George Carlin, Bruce Jay Friedman was the funniest man in America. You know the comedy classic THE HEARTBREAK KID, of the married schlemiel pursuing his shiksa? Friedman wrote the short story, Neil Simon adapted into a screenplay and Elaine May directed. Comic heaven. THE LONELY GUY'S BOOK OF LIFE appeared in serial form at Friedman's home publication, ESQUIRE MAGAZINE. It's fiction, alright, but every lonely man in America (and that would only be about 100 million right there) could identify with the schlimazel hero and his lack of exploits in the bedroom. Bruce starts out by telling us not be feel too bad about our current status: "Even Jackie Onassis could be a lonely guy. On some nights she's been known to go out with the wrong Iranian". In another chapter he chides us for believing the silly lies our parents told us about how "beautiful girls never get asked out because all the guys presumed they already have dates". (In my case, an Irish Catholic priest told us this whopper in parochial school. What does a celibate guy know about being a lonely guy?) Then things take a darker turn, as Bruce explores the Lonely Guy's worst nightmare scenarios, including being seated all alone in one chair at one table at a crowded restaurant, akin to wearing a sign that says I HAVE MALARIA, and the gloomiest day of the year, Valentine's Day, AKA "Passover"; at work you might have to fake a postcard and send it to yourself. And, who could forget the Lonely Guy in group therapy, where your most personal issue, nobody wants you, is also the most embarrassing? (I knew a Jewish kid at UCLA who fit Friedman's scenario to a glove. After therapy all he could talk about were the beautiful women we had met in therapy but dared not ask out.) On the positive side, you will save a ton of money on condoms and flowers. Believe it or not, there are even lonelier guys in other places, China, for instance, has a huge bachelor surplus, which only amounts to about 500 million guys right there. Has anything changed for the American lonely guy since Friedman published his manifesto? Yes, for the worse. Social media having replaced person-to-person meetings, the same lonely guys get left swiped over and over while "meat spaces", from bars to parks, are more abandoned than 45 years ago. Read this book for a laugh, and then play Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely" on Spotify.
February 4, 2023
Read this when I had too much time to kill in the deep shelves of Strand one day.
CRAB BOIL
"Figure out something to throw on it. Shrimp is a possibility. A car engine. Anything. Keep crab boil in the back of your mind."
THE MYTH OF THE CESAR SALAD:
"Any lettuce will do. You want to go with a crunchier lettuce, go with it. Then it's oil, vinegar, a raw egg, cheese, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, you know the type of thing. And big croutons. That's the key."
CRAB BOIL
"Figure out something to throw on it. Shrimp is a possibility. A car engine. Anything. Keep crab boil in the back of your mind."
THE MYTH OF THE CESAR SALAD:
"Any lettuce will do. You want to go with a crunchier lettuce, go with it. Then it's oil, vinegar, a raw egg, cheese, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, you know the type of thing. And big croutons. That's the key."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews