Customer Reviews

BreakupBabe: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You know, there's something fundementally unappealing about the main character, Rachel. Cheated on, lied to, and dumped by her boyfriend of two years, Rachel spends an unholy amount of time obsessing over the breakup and crying in her office. For months, crying in her office. A thirty-four year old woman after a not-very-long relationship crying in her office for months. Does this strike anyone else as, well, mental? Most people need a week of sappy movies and some cookie dough-- not pharmacuticals to just get them through the day without a nervous breakdown. She sleeps with guys left and right. She gets emotionally attached if a guy looks at her with anything other than disgust. She thinks about a boy she was with for two months over a decade ago. She's pathetic! She's co-dependent! She has no ability to stand on her own two feet!

And yet she's loveable. And funny. Rachel is everything I hate about women-- but she does it with style.

I loved the incorporated blog into the text of the novel. I loved the comments from her loyal readers. I loved Lil' Rockcliming Spy and hated the Doctor. And even though her replacement names for all her characters was really annoying at first, I got used to it. Once I got started with this book, I got sucked in. The ending was very satisfactory and I closed the cover very entertained.

And that's what it's really about.

I just finished "Breakup Babe" today. Overall, the book is not bad. Rachel starts a blog to find release from the Loser that cheated on her when she was on vacation. I think the beginning of the novel is the best part of the book. The experiences that Rachel deals with in the first part of the novel seem to hook me in compared to the latter part of the novel. The best part for me was reading the comments that others left after Rachel submitted a blog entry. And I did relate to some of what Rachel went through. What made me give this book 4 stars and not 5 is that although Rachel is a great character, after a while her complaining about things got to be a bit much. Like her comments about how she would put links to other people's blogs but then complain how those people couldn't write or wrote boring blogs. The whiny part about Rachel got to be a little harder to take towards the end of the novel. But other than that aspect, I did enjoy reading "Breakup Babe" and it was a fast read for me. So if you're looking for a good read for that last trip to the beach or if you're starting to compile your reading pile for your Fall and Winter reading, consider looking into get this one.

I took this book with me on a cruise for a relaxing read. It kept me interested, curious, but not too emotionally attached like serious dramatic books do. It's perfect when you just want to sit on a beach chair and read.

Also, I can definitely say that it sure did bring me back to memories of being single quite frequently through-out the book. As a single female, i could relate a lot to the emotions and feelings of loneliness the main character went through. On that same token, it made me appreciate how much I love my boyfriend!

Wanting to know what happened to BreakupBabe! When I grabbed this book at my local big-box bookseller (sorry Amazon), I figured it would be just another light piece of chick lit for my summer reading stack. But as a fellow 30-something in the greater Seattle area who worships a white pill (I think antidepressants are the only thing that keeps me going through our crappy winters here), I LOVED THIS BOOK! It reminded me of conversations I've had with my single gal pals regarding men and dating, particularly the should-I-or-shouldn't-I discussions. (Of course, this book also reminded me why my husband is *such* an amazing guy.)

If you ever wanted to embarrass your ex is front of others, if you ever slept with the wrong guy just 'cause it felt right at the time, if you ever spent all day crying on the couch feeling sorry for yourself . . . R. shares your pain. But she does things I never had the guts to do, and I loved going through it all with her. Way to go sister!!

...but there were several scenes, phrases, and lines of dialogue that I busted out laughing over - or had to read out loud to my husband/daughter/friend/whoever was within earshot. Lots of nights I read past bedtime. Some cringing as scenes unfolded in comic disaster. The writing is snappy and punchy without being cutesie; real and raw without being morose or sentimental; self-deprecating without being self-pitying. This book holds just the right amount of sarcasm (lots) and self-realization (even more).

Much of the "been there, done that" feeling one could chalk up to demographics - the main character and I are the same thirtysomething age and live in the same rainy little northwestern city and don't I recognize one of those HBIBs? - but I suspect it's more a result of Agiewich being spot-on with her descriptions of the interior and exterior of the post-breakup dating world; things we can all - male or female, young or old, north or south - can relate to.

She strikes a great chord here with both an "I Will Survive" self-sufficiency and an angry "You Oughta Know" Alanis-ness - all the while continuing to look for love in all the wrong places. It's a charming mix of tough and vulnerable, and her commentary on dating in the age of the internet is smart, witty, and timely.

Our narrator Rachel starts the book hardly able to extricate herself from her friends' couch, and ends it atop the summit of Mt. Rainier. So perfectly symbolic: the climb, the journey, the self-reliance, the doing the insurmountable, the going within and gathering strength and pushing past the comfort zone and coming out the other side a whole new person. Doing that which we are not sure we can do and, in the process, proving to ourselves that we are stronger and braver than we ever imagined.

Loved it.

My friend, Suzie, actually sent me this book under the guise that it was her mom's best friend's daughter who had written it. However, after reading the book (in one lazy afternoon - perfect!), I realized that she had actually sent it to me because I am constantly on my 30yr old single friend (still Suzie) to dish the details of her life just so that I could live vicariously through her. In the end, I knew that Suz sent me this book so that I could pacify all of my blissfully married delusions and demands to know what it's like out there in the dating world of grownups. I was thrilled to hear that it was everything I had imagined and it led me spend the rest of the evening conjecturing how I would be faring if I were still out there. Long story short, the read was smooth and satisfying, and remained juicy without bogging the reader down with inane details. It was light and airy and akin to any the embarrassingly addictive soap operas, MTV specials or quirky romance movies that we all secretly love to watch but hate to admit to. And, it was particularly enjoyable for a west coaster like me who has been to many of the places mentioned.
This book is as fun as reading someone's diary... but better because it is actually well-written. Best of all, it will take you back to all the enjoyable memories you might have of dating all the wrong guys for all the right reasons...

As an on again/off again fan of Ms. Agiewich's blog, I couldn't help picking up her book after hearing of her many promotional appearances all around the Northwest where she's been winning fans during Q&A with her real life wit and charm. With so much positive feedback circulating through local bookstores about the warmth and humility in her live appearances, my curiosity in the life of Breakup Babe was piqued once again!

What's so great about Rebecca Aigewich's writing is her unrelenting honesty and the depth of its delivery throughout the story. By now most of us know her book stems from her once anonymous blog diary where she exposed her heartache and obsession with the drama of a teenager and the wit, and self reflection, of a woman solidly in her thirties. Her novel holds true to this courageous theme and makes for a very smart, very grown-up revisit back to my own obsessive teen years and my mid-twenties.

While those are not my favorite years to relive, especially now that I've grown myself up and am living a gentle, non-heartache riddled life, I loved the time travel with Breakup Babe by my side. Giggling constantly over Aigewichs smack-on prose, I was able to poke fun at a few of my own still tender love life bruises and reflect on how the "Sexy Boy" in my own story eventually led me to "The One".

It's true that this super funny and refreshingly arranged novel may not be for everyone. But word has it that Rebecca Aigewich is a writer's writer. So sooner or later you'll find one of her books in your lap, compelled to time travel your own life through her vision.

I caught some of the author's blogs several years ago and am happy that the finished product is just like the blog -- bittersweet, laugh-out-loud funny, and totally realistic. The dumping soup on her ex-boyfriend scene is priceless. Yes, there are now a bazillion books on thirtysomethings struggling to move past the pieces of broken relationships, and I think I've read 1.2 million of those. So trust me when I tell you that this is a REALLY great read.

Seeing how I'm probably NOT the target audience for this book, being about 150 years old and decidedly male, it's going to be tough to offer words of wisdom that are likely to resonate with what IS the targeted audience...namely chicks. But I'll try.

Way back when Alanis Morrissette went out on her world wide tour to support her smash CD release, Jagged Little Pill, I saw her in concert in Denver. And when she sang the song "You Oughta Know", she punctuated the main refrain with repeated fist pumps in the air. To which the overwhelmingly female audience responded in kind, some standing on their seats to get their fists in the air; a collective group of the sisterhood bound together by one thing...a need to tell the men in their lives--You! Oughta! Know!

Reading Breakup Babe--A Novel reminded me of that very scene. Especially as I read the comments in the book proper that follow each of the blog entries which make up at least half of the story's content.

Sure, the occasional guy leaves comments (I've done so myself) however it's clear the overriding connection between BreakupBabe and her readers is the solidarity between sisters as they unite to overcome the struggles of finding the right man.

Never mind that probably half the blame for that struggle rests on their own shoulders, that's not what's important. What IS important is the angst and the drama and the sharing and the advice and the seemingly endless rehashing of a million endless questions along the lines of "why is he talking to that OTHER girl" and the ever popular "why hasnt he called?"

It's questions like that which form the basis for the seemingly neurotic self doubt which permeates this book. And it's clear this type of self doubt resonates with the myriad number of women who have read the Breakup Babe blog over the past four years. And I'm sure the publishers of the book are counting on that resonance to push this book into that great blue sky otherwise known as profitability.

The format of the book alternates between actual blog entries which describe various incidents/events/trysts/makeout sessions etc. and the real time thoughts the author had as she wrote these entries as well as where she was when she was writing them. She also lets us know what clothes she was wearing and the price of such clothing. It actually works surprisingly well. Rebecca does a great job of splicing the two formats together so they remain interesting and fresh all the way to the end.

It doesn't hurt that she is an excellent writer. I don't normally go for this kind of stuff but what kept me from diving off the cliff of "oh for God's sakes, enough angst already" is Rebecca's ability to turn a phrase. By the time you reach the end, you feel like you know the author intimately and that you've shared her journey in one form or another. This happens to be the hallmark of all good books and I'll be darned surprised if this one doesnt sell a bunch of copies on that basis alone.

It'll be interesting to see if there is a "BreakupBabe The Sequel" sometime in the future. Or, maybe, on a hopeful note, the next book from Rebecca will be "The MarriedBabe" which will detail the joys of being married. From a bookselling standpoint, the latter would likely be a bust because being happy generally makes for boring reading. I hope, however, for Rebecca's sake, that's exactly what happens.

How can you turn the act of waiting by the phone for a guy to call into a novel? Rebecca Ageiwich has found a way. After our protagonist is suddenly dumped by her boyfriend of two years, she starts a blog as a venue to vent her heartbreak over this and untimately her obsession with finding a suitable replacment. What ensues is 200+ pages of self-pitying and self-absorbed neurosis over finding a man to snag and then marry. We're taken on a journey of dates, both good and bad, and their aftermath, all to the tune of her loudly ticking biological clock. I kept asking myself why I should care. This is clearly a book for the junior-high set. Rebecca, you embarrass my gender.