This novel follows a man named Nathaniel (who also goes by Nate) as he is waiting for his own book to be published and complaining to the world how there is no woman that is proportionate between beauty and intelligence that could actually keep him interested long enough for a relationship to develop.
Nathaniel is a egotistical pig - but I believe that he had to be for the message to come across.
Waldman's main purpose is to show us how a male academic scholar's mind works when it comes to addressing women. If this is truly an accurate replica of a man's mind (and many reviews have professed that it is) it is a heartbreaking reality. I, myself, started to look back into my own relationships and began to wonder if I came across as shallow as many of these female characters do to Nathaniel P. Or is it that in Nathaniel P.'s mind, all women are shallow and manipulative?
I found myself also frustrated that this book did not have much of a plot. There was nothing exciting about the content, nothing that really had me thumbing the next page as I hurriedly read to the end. In fact, I found myself wanting more and more to remove my bookmark from the pages and just start on the next book in the pile that sits beside my bed.
Out of all the characters, I found myself annoyed with Nathaniel the most. Being blessed with the insight of a character's mind also means that you are cursed with seeing the difference between what they think and what they said to others. I found myself constantly yelling at him to just speak his mind to whatever girlfriend he was on at the time. It was infuriating to watch his relationships fall apart when he really could have prevented a lot of it himself.
At the end, with his newest girl, I feel his personality changes a bit, as almost as someone has finally beaten him just enough to make this newest relationship work. It was not what I was expecting. I felt that the ending of this book was rushed, as if there was nothing else to be written but something had to be put down.
This was recommended to me as a beach read, but I would not recommend this book unless you need help falling asleep at nights.
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