How to Be Single: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Liz Tuccillo
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $6.25
You Save: $18.70 (75%)
New (39) Used (27) from $6.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 65050
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416534121
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416534129
ASIN: 1416534121
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It's the most annoying question and they just can't help asking you. You'll be asked it at family gatherings, weddings, and on first dates. And you'll ask yourself far too often. It's the question that has no good answer. It's the question that when people stop asking it, makes you feel even worse: Why are you single?On a brisk October morning in New York, Julie Jenson, a single thirty-eight-yearold book publicist, is on her way to work when she 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 fun girls' night out with all their single friends to remind her why it is so much fun not to be tied down. But the night, which starts with steaks and martinis and ends with a trip to the hospital, becomes a wake-up call for Julie. Because none of her friends seems to be having much fun right now: Alice, a former legal aid attorney, has recently quit her job to start dating for a living; Serena is so busy becoming a fully realized person that she can't find time to look for a mate; and Ruby, a curvy and compassionate woman, has been mourning the death of her cat for months. So, fed up with the dysfunction and disappointments of being single in Manhattan, Julie quits her job and sets off to find out how women around the world are dealing with this dreaded phenomenon. From Paris to Rio to Sydney, Bali, Beijing, Mumbai, and Reykjav'k, Julie falls in love, gets her heart broken, sees the world, and learns more than she ever dreamed possible. Back in New York, her friends are grappling with their own issues -- bad blind dates, loveless engagements, custody battles, and single motherhood. Through their journeys, all these women fight to redefine their vision of love, happiness, and a fulfilled life. Written in Liz Tuccillo's pitch-perfect, hilarious, and relatable voice, How to Be Single is the ultimate novel for the adventurer in us all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Only An Okay Read for Me. October 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The narrator, Julie, embarks on a journey around the world to interview single women and to understand how they deal with dating and love. Her closest friends in New York City are single and Julie is curious to know how different or similar other single women around the world are to them.
With an advance from her boss for a book she will be writing, Julie travels to several different countries to do her investigating. Meanwhile, back at home in New York, her friends are also trying to sort out their love lives, or lack there of, and plan for their futures.
I liked this book but it seemed to stop short of being a great read for me. Like some other readers, I felt that the trips around the world were too similar to the book Eat, Pray, Love. All in all, it was an okay book and I enjoyed the stories of the women's frienship with one another more so than their quest for love.
Not the most exciting read September 30, 2008
In Liz Tuccillo's "How to Be Single: A Novel," Julie embarked on a journey around the world to interview single women and to understand how they deal with dating and love. Since her closest friends in New York City are single, Julie was curious to know how different or similar the other single women were to them. With an advance from her boss for a book she will be writing, Julie traveled to countries such as Italy, France, Australia, China, and India to do her investigation. In the midst of her journey, Julie fell in love with Thomas, a Frenchman who was also married. The book also covered Julie's girlfriends in New York (who were in their late thirties) and their attempt to find true love.
This was an okay read to me. The premise of the book seemed interesting, but the author was unable to engage her readers throughout the book. It read like a collection of short stories sometime. The characters seemed too one-dimension to me as their sole focus was to find a husband. It would have been nice if the author was able to also factor in family and/or career into their lives. Very average.
 Been There, Said That September 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the funniest and most accurate books I've read about being single over a certain age. There are so many situations that either I or my single friends have been in, along with the words we've said to each other or the guys we've dated, that it's uncanny. And having lived in or traveled in most of the countries Julie visits to interview local single woman, Tuccillo's take on those countries is excellent and insightful as well. Loved it and couldn't put it down!
 How Not to Write a Novel September 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
So this is a novel about a woman who gets an advance to write a non-fiction book about single women all over the world. Written by a woman who got an advance to write a non-fiction book about single women all over the world, but...something went wrong, I guess, because she didn't do it.
Half of the book is like a poorly fictionalized version of a college research project that didn't work because the writer was too busy going to bars, and the other half is like a "Sex and the City" fanfic.
Oh, dear. And I haven't even gotten to the "self-realization through adultery" theme yet.
I bet Liz Tuccillo can write a good book. This, however, is not it. She should have either written the non-fiction book she got an advance for, or written a novel that didn't rehash so much of the "Sex and the City" ground.
A lot of fun! August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book for a summer vacation I was taking a couple of weeks ago and found it to be a fun, fast read that had me chuckling quite a bit. It was a really interesting juxtaposition, because I read it right after a book about marriage and commitment, and it was nice to read something that celebrated the single life in many ways. I have never read He's Just Not That Into You, but I could definitely see the elements of Sex and the City in this book, with the witty asides and the occasionally zany storylines. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is a life-changing or unputdownable book, but for summer reading, this is a fantastic choice.
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