Customer Reviews

Here Comes Your Man: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In his first book, "Here Comes Your Man", Derek Gentry delves into the psyche of its main character, Garrett, the IT guy who seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places but for the right reason. He is very lonely. Bordering on self-loathing and boyish innocence, while weighing heavily on the former, Garrett pursues a half dozen relationships only to discover that his desperate longing for something to happen with each one is evident and although he tries to hide it, he scares away most of the women he meets. His self-deprecation gets the best of him and he sinks into depressive states after the breakups.

All of the scenarios are humorously described and beautifully crafted by the author. His descriptions of Seattle and Victoria leave the reader wanting to run there to experience them. Although one might consider the book light reading, the author writes in such a literary style, one wonders why he has chosen these bizarre relationships as his topic.

Gentry is a gifted writer, a very self-aware, attentive to detail craftsman. Just when he has written a perfectly vivid description of a situation or person, he reaches beyond it, takes it to another level, and completely nails it. From the very beginning, the reader empathizes with Garrett to the point of self discovery.

"Here Comes Your Man" is a witty but deep study in human behavior of characters who are quirky, funny, sexy, outspoken, and ungrounded. They fail to understand Garrett who is probably the kindest and most loving person to enter their lives.

For all of us who can acknowledge those times when our enthusiasm finally overwhelmed our dignity. Here Comes Your Man is the perfect companion when you want to simply read a well-written and beautifully-constructed story of life. In this case, the life of Garrett- with all of its whirling, hip-shaking, arm-waving choreography that he really has no business attempting. My only disappointment was finishing the last page. A great read!

In his deft debut novel, Derek Gentry explores the tangled, often tortuous and occasionally wonderful mess of relationships among thirty-somethings in our time. While Garrett Anderson, his hopeful and hesitant protagonist soldiers on, not always gracefully, his story is told with assurance, wisdom and charity by a writer in full command of his material. We're in Seattle as Y2K approaches, where techies, temps and frequent fliers connect in acts of love, friendship and everything in between. A good read with plenty of dead-on dialogue. Get it!

An absolutely WONDERFUL book! If I didn't know Derek was a guy, I'd swear it was written by a woman....he has such insight into the angst that we all go through in relationships. The angst that men suffer through also, but rarely admit to. No offense Derek with the "written by a woman" comment, but man, you are TUNED IN! This is a love story from a GUY'S point of view and Derek pulls it off like he's been writing these for years!

Derek has told the tale of poor, poor Garrett (he's not financially poor, just relationship-poor)...in a funny, touching and revealing essay into the hearts and minds of men. In it's all-too-familiar litany of "just how the hell do we find a decent person to date?" and "how do we make it past the first few weeks?"....Garrett takes us through his journey to find someone....someone he can build a life with. But we also have to follow him through his "couchatonia" stage (haven't we all been there?) and just hope and pray he pulls out of it.

By the end of the first chapter, you are rooting for Garrett and you continue to root for him the entire book.

I highly recommend this book as an addition to your library, as a great beach read or even as a gift to any person (man or woman) who is romantically challenged....it just might give them the boost they are looking for. And if not, they'll certainly have a blast reading it!

I LOVED this book! It's laugh-out-loud funny, with witty dialogue and quirky characters. I got so sucked in that I finished it in a weekend--now I'm ready for the sequel!

Hard to believe this is Gentry's first novel. His writing style is unpretentious yet sharp, full of telling little insights into modern life that ring true. But as the other reviews suggest, the real strength of this book is its characters. Garrett is well-rounded -- literally, due to a weakness for junk food -- but also in the sense that he's full of flaws yet still extremely likable. Just when you start losing patience with this schmuck, he surprises you; Gentry injects him with some spine and you're back in his camp. The secondary characters are great too, completely spot on: the female best friend who just didn't like you that way; the slick buddy who never grew up; the IT guy who's a good work friend and nothing more, etc. Let's hope Gentry has another novel or two in him, so we get to meet more of these folks.

It took me two days to read Here Comes Your Man. Every few minutes I could spare went to reading this enchanting story. For the most part, it was very well told.

Garrett is an IT man who's been off of the relationship scene for three years when his then-girlfriend dumped him over the telephone. He threw himself into work, traveling most of the time to fix IT computer issues across the country, and never even thought too much about dating during those three years.

Until he meets Dana in the airport on his way back from CT to Seattle. Dana is beautiful, has the same sense of humor as him, funny, charismatic, loves the same type of music... there's this instant connection to this stranger that he hadn't felt in a while... oh, and she's married.

But, this Dana stranger was only the jumpstart to Garrett's realization that he wanted to be back on the dating scene. He wanted to give love another try. He wanted to be with "someone" after his 30 years on earth.

So, Garrett tries and tries again with different women he runs into... in his Seattle area, and not. "Here Comes Your Man' is the story of that journey to finding love again. It's funny, it's charismatic and endearing.

The only issue I had with the book was that every female character in this story has the same personality. They all talk in the same "voice" as the previous one. They all have the same personality as Garrett's. It was annoying at first, when I noticed that the second girl has the same personality as the first, but Mr Gentry is lucky that I LIKE Garrett's personality. So, to have six people in the same story with the same personality as Garrett (who is SUPPOSED to be really unique) is okay. It was never laugh-out-loud, but it was quite enjoyable.

Good read. I'd give it a try.

If you like this, try "Catch" by Will Leitch

Garrett works with data systems, is tired of life on airplanes, and wants a girlfriend. What happens as he goes about this makes a very enjoyable read, with Gentry's sense of humor shining through it all. It also helps that Garrett never takes himself too seriously (or is at least quite funny when he does).

The closest comparison one could make to Gentry's style would be Nick Hornby's, for the humor, the warmth, and the single guy remarking on pop culture and dating. But there's also parts like Douglas Adams, especially in how things are phrased with witty understatements.

Just as in Nick Hornby, there's parts of solid emotion, and you care about these people, because they're all so genuine. Each unique and always surprising. That's one of the great things about this novel - just when you know what's going to happen on the next page, the story shifts in a surprising way. There's no cliches, and you're always delighted in how things flow from one epiphany to another (even when one such epiphany is a heavy dose of couchatonia).

There's one potential girlfriend who's simply a blast, she's so vivacious and compelling and good-naturedly wild. If this were a movie, she'd be sure to earn someone a Best Supporting Actress award since she livens up every scene she's in and the book makes full use of her.

The story's set in Seattle, with side trips to Boston, O'Hare, and Victoria, Canada, and if you're in your thirties or early forties, you'll relate to Garrett's experiences of growing up in the 80s, his taste in music, and how he views his life at this time.

I really enjoyed hanging out with these characters, especially with their friendships so insightful and authentic, and hope to hear more from this author.

After having read Derek Gentry's first novel I am wanting to know what happens to Garret next. A loveable and likeable character with flaws like the rest of us I am anxiously awaiting the reappearance of Garret, perhaps in a foreign land. Keep up the page-turning style and keep us all in the loop for Garret's next adventure.

A very enjoyable book. Get to know Garrett and his friends. You will be glad you did. I only hope Mr. Gentry is busy writing. Whatever his subject, I'm in.