Customer Reviews

How to be Single: A Novel

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

How to Be Single by Liz Tuccillo has a simple premise: how do women all over the world handle being single? Unfortunately for Julie, a publicist living in New York City, the answer is much more complicated than the question. After watching the unsuccessful love lives of her three closest friends, Julie decides that it is time that someone discerns the answer to this probing question. After pitching the idea of a book to her boss, Julie embarks on a quest around the world to discover how women cope with the gut-wrenching pain of being a single woman in today's society.

Back at home, Julie's three friends lead their own hectic lives. Georgia's husband, Dale, recently left her for a much younger woman, and Georgia is desperately trying to stay afloat while managing their two young children. Serena decides to join an ashram, taking a vow of celibacy, but that vow is much harder to keep than she realizes. And Ruby, poor, emotional Ruby, has decided that she can't keep investing so much in relationships that turn into nothing. As Julie's quest draws these three women closer, they, too, learn how to be single in the wide world of New York City.

Does this premise sound familiar? If it does, you aren't alone; How to Be Single is a healthy mix of Sex and the City and Eat, Pray, Love. Liz Tuccillo was the head writer and executive story editor on the HBO series Sex and the City, so it is understandable why the book resembles the show. Even the characters are reminiscent of the famous New York City women; to start with, there are four of them. Julie, like Carrie, is a writer (well, to be fair, Julie is a publicist at the beginning of the novel, then becomes a writer). Alice treats dating like Samantha treats her trysts with men; both are a full-time job. Ruby is reminiscent of over-emotional Charlotte. Serena, however, is not much like Miranda.

Julie visits France, Italy, Australia, Indonesia, India, and a few other destinations. In Liz Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, she makes trips to Italy, Indonesia, and India. Because of this, it is sometimes easy to forget that How to Be Single is actually fiction; Tuccillo's writing style makes it seem like a memoir.

Julie's travels are fun, her experiences memorable. Considering that Tuccillo traveled extensively to many of the destinations mentioned in this book, it is interesting to hear the perspective of other women around the world on the subject of being single. It is also heart-wrenching in some places; the fear of not finding a significant other is a real and potent source of despair for many women.

In the end, of course, it has an uplifting message that is a bit unexpected, considering Julie's views throughout the book. It is safe to say that any fan of either Eat, Pray, Love or Sex and the City will enjoy How to Be Single. Though I can't say that it is a unique book, Liz Tuccillo's novel is fun and enjoyable read that any fan of chick lit should be happy to pick up.

Originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book

As a guy, I read these types of books mostly to see what the other side is thinking.

Like the women in the book, I'm single and in my late thirties and even us guys hear a clock ticking if we want to marry someone our own age and start a family. So I could relate in a way to their search for love.

As for the book itself, hey, I read it, didn't I? If it wasn't any good I would have put it down a long time ago. Not the manliest book cover for a guy to be carrying around. But I gave the first few pages a chance and kept turning them.

A few points of view.

The main women in the novel bemoan their fate, but I think the fact that they are still single is a lot of times their own fault. Not to say guys are blameless, yeah, we're pretty bad.

Too much like Sex & The City. I wonder what single women in the Midwest or South go through? Or single women serving in the Armed Forces? I've seen this New York crowd so often in movies and TV, that it didn't break much ground for me. The International women were a little more interesting, but even then it was mostly city women going to bars and dancing - which is exactly where all the "great guys" are.

I didn't like that the main character slept with a married man. Guess what? You're the freaking bad guy when you do that. So I couldn't really care for her to do much of anything after that.

Do I recommend this book to single people in their 30s and 40s? Yes. Not that I agree with all the characters in the book and the decisions they make with their lives.

I also read He's Just Not That Into You, which Liz Tuccillo co-wrote. That was the main reason I picked up How To Be Single in the first place, because I enjoyed reading He's Just Not That Into You from the other side as well. What did I learn from that book? If you are into a girl...tell her!

I'd read so much about this book and was excited to get it...what a dud! not nearly as funny as
'He's just not that into you.' Rent it from your library and don't waste any money!

Oh, my good heavens. I'm going to make this brief, but first-off, what's with the 5-star reviews?

I'm ALMOST finished with the book and the only reason I'm going to finish it is because I want to see what the point was.

Julie's whole trip overseas could have been accomplished in about a chapter. I found the 'Back in the States' parts far more entertaining, and I'm using the word 'entertaining' lightly.

I think a few of the characters/scenes were pretty unbelievable, and yes, I know this is fiction, but shouldn't there be elements of truth? I also found nuances of Sex and the City littered throughout the book which was disappointing.

I'm an AVID book reader and this is an interesting concept, without an enjoyable climax.

I urge anyone to buy a used copy, if you absolutely have to read this, or buy it new and keep your receipt. You'll need it.

I picked up this book to read for ironically, my honeymoon! I had never heard of this book but browsing through it in the store, it seemed to be very light and perfect for the beach. I was not wrong about either, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Before reviewing this book, I read through some of the other reviews for curiousity, and boy, are some people on a high horse! I know many single girls in their 30s, some in NYC. Many of their sentiments are echoed in this book, sometimes verbatim!! I loved how one reviewer complained that even freshmen girls in college would not do some of the things the women in this book do. (I think this reviewer may have found their love in their 20s and never felt or witnessed firsthand the fear of never finding that someone or losing that someone to a younger girl.) Some of these antics these women end up doing in the book illustrates how lonely and desperate single women in their 30s or 40s can get, despite the fact that it makes them look weak or worse than "freshmen girls."

This book does not try to make us women look strong and does not have a happy ending. But that is why I like it - again I believe this book really mirrors real life women who are single and in their 30s or 40s.

The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars was I thought the ending was a bit trite and anticlimatic. (Or maybe because I simply did not want it to end!)

So if you are not looking for advice or a self-help book OR not on a high horse because you and everyone else you know got married in their 20s, read this book and enjoy a good laugh.

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.

"Why are you still single?" Thirty-eight-year-old Julie Jensen is really tired of that question. The problem for Julie is that no one --- not meddling aunts, not well-meaning strangers --- wants to know the answer more than Julie herself. Attractive, fit, kindhearted, with a good job and a fabulous New York City life, Julie would seem to be any man's prize. But yet, she's still single. So are her friends Alice, Ruby and Serena. Even her formerly married friend Georgia is single again. Is there something wrong with these women? Or are they just dealing with a phenomenon that plagues millions of women around the country? Where are all the decent men?

Julie's friend Alice is so desperate to find one that she's quit her successful job in order to devote herself full-time to pursuing love. But, when disappointment follows disappointment in this guerilla dating mentality, Alice resolves merely to settle for the next guy who comes along --- regardless of whether she's head over heels in love. Will compromising her ideal of romantic love and undying passion result in long-term happiness for Alice?

Ruby is mourning the death of her beloved cat, so much so that she's having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. But her grief over a lost pet is nothing compared to how she deals with bad break-ups --- which have been so devastating that she is reluctant even to try dating again. Can she find love when she's having a hard time even being happy with herself?

Serena has outright renounced her desire for love, even going so far as to take a vow of chastity and become a yoga swami. After a series of betrayals and losses, though, will Serena close herself off to love forever? Or will she finally realize what she's been missing all along?

Georgia thought she was happily married with two children --- until her husband left her for a nubile young samba instructor. Now she's determined to get back into the swing of dating and not let Julie's dating horror stories ruin her optimistic approach toward finding love again. But after a series of dating mishaps results in near-disaster for Georgia's family life, will she give up on ever re-achieving happiness?

As for Julie, a completely disastrous girls' night out provides the much-needed impetus for her to quit her job, buy a round-the-world plane ticket, and pitch the idea of a self-help book about how women the world over deal with being single. While she's busy jetting from France and Italy to Brazil, Bali, Australia and India, searching for answers, her friends (none of whom knew each other previously) are forging their own bonds, making their own mistakes and finding out for themselves how to be single.

Liz Tuccillo, who was one of the co-authors of the phenomenally successful book HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU, clearly understands the self-help market. Despite several snarky asides about the monotony of self-help tomes marketed to single women, Tuccillo often relies on their language to make her points: "We have our jobs and our friends and our passions and our churches and our gyms and yet we still can't escape our essential nature of needing to be loved and feel close to another human being. How do we keep going when that's not what life has given to us?" Particularly when Julie analyzes the cultural and romantic mores of other nations, some readers may feel that they're reading another how-to book rather than a cohesive novel. Many more, however, will respond both to Julie's own revelations as well as the combination of self-awareness and gal-pal bonding that characterizes her friends' stories.

Tuccillo also clearly owes a debt to "Sex and the City." With her analytical eye for male-female relations and her gift for bringing together disparate personalities into a unified "girl posse," Julie Jensen is a veritable Carrie Bradshaw. Filled with the glamorous details of living and loving in Manhattan but tempered with thoughtful reflection and a realistic but hopeful outlook, HOW TO BE SINGLE will appeal both to fans of Carrie & Co. and to readers looking for their own answers to that question.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

This was such a good book; I couldn't put it down! And it was just like watching an episode of Sex and the City (albeit a pretty long one). I've already loaned it out twice and plan on reading it again and again... :) ENJOY!

Liz Tuccillo deftly captures real women's experiences, thoughts, fears, and feelings in her debut novel How to Be Single.

Women who are 25 and already married or who are 38 and single (like the characters in the novel) will both be able to relate to the women portrayed in this book because deep down all women seem to share the same fears whether due to their real current situations or fear of what the future might hold. Ms. Tuccillo truly has a gift when it comes to being able to tap into the fears and anxieties of today's modern women and convey the same in her writing.

The fact that Liz Tuccillo really did traverse the globe researching how single women live all over the world adds glitz and fun to the novel. We, the reader, are treated to glimpses of how women live in Reykjavik, Beijing, Sydney, Paris, Rome, Rio de Janiero, and New York. The locales are exotic and the tales heart-wrentching and uplifting.

Like Sex and the City (for which Liz Truccillo was Executive Story Editor), How to Be Single is sure to strike a chord with women everywhere.

After reading How to Be Single, you will feel like you know Liz and wish that you really did.

I just finished reading this book and I truly enjoyed it. I found the previous book she co-authoried "He's Not That In To You" a great read and this was an excellent follow-up. Ms. Tuccillo speaks the truth in her book, but gives hope for the single ladies over 35 and all the while makes it quite funny. You can relate to all the characters and the titles of each chapter are hysterical. Sometimes I felt as if she knew exactly what I was thinking and feeling as I was turning the pages. She really has the knack for giving a real perspective for women over 35, who are not dating, wanting to date, dealing with possibly not having children and hopefully holding out for true love, despite statistics that say it may not happen.

I would recommend this read to anyone. I read it everyday on the subway home from work and folks were watching me laugh(sometimes out loud). It was fun and I look forward to her next work.