I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel [Paperback]

David Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

Now a new MTV series, from acclaimed director and executive producer Doug Liman (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, “Swingers,” “Go,” “The Bourne Identity”)

Jason Strider is a twentysomething young man with an English degree from an Ivy League university, a very small apartment in New York, a vapid job as a receptionist at a casting agency—and no particular idea what to do with his life. On most evenings he gets stoned and goes out, sometimes with his long-time best friend and wingman Tina and sometimes alone, if not to get laid then at least to get hammered enough to really regret it the next day and be late for work.
 
Then one night Jason has athletic, appliance-assisted intercourse with a cute girl named Jane—and ends up lending her his favorite Dickies jeans. Many unanswered e-mails and text messages later, he is reduced to the plaint “I just want my pants back.” How he does, in a most unexpected way, find those pants and how he is forced to face his immaturity—and mortality—are at the heart of this smart, raunchily comic and deeply affecting novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jason Strider, the slacker-hero of former ad-man and MTV series creator Rosen's screwball debut novel, is a recent Cornell grad more interested in marijuana, booze and quick lays than his boring job or romantic relationships. The carnal drought he's been experiencing is mercifully ended early in the book with a bout of athletic sex involving his refrigerator and a bar pickup named Jane, who departs after a second hook-up wearing his favorite pair of Dickies. His quest, then, to retrieve the pants occupies the bulk of the book. Along the way, Jason gets assists in the process of personal growth from his ailing next-door neighbor, Patty, and old Cornell buds Eric and Stacey, who ask Jason to perform their wedding ceremony. By the end of the tale, Jason has begun to mature and comes back into contact with his beloved pants in an unexpected yet appropriate fashion. Rosen deftly keeps the exploits of a shallow hero moving along-and more impressively, makes readers care what happens to his caddish narrator.
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From Booklist

Here's another in the long line of novels devoted to the mishaps of feckless young males struggling to get serious about life and love. The familiar story line is freshened up by its contemporary references, including conversations rendered via IMs and apt references to songs both old (Ray Davies) and new (White Stripes). Recent college graduate Jason Strider moves to New York City, where he works a day job answering phones and hits the bars every night after work. Alcohol and sex are at the forefront of his agenda until he is faced with two more serious issues. His best friends at college have asked him to officiate their wedding, and his next-door neighbor, Patty, who has partied away the best years of her life, is dying from lung cancer, alone though unafraid. Jason beds one girl after another, loses his job, and increases his already prodigious intake of drugs and alcohol before being jolted into sobriety by Patty's death. Their touching relationship and Jason's sharp sense of humor give this debut novel an edge in a crowded field, though it's not on a par with such classics as Bright Lights, Big City (1984) and High Fidelity (1995). Wilkinson, Joanne

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076792794X
• ISBN-13: 978-0767927949
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good news for first time novelists, June 21, 2008

By 

Caslo Cranston (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel (Paperback)

If you are a budding novelist, but worry about getting your work into print - take heart in the fact that Broadway Books, a division of Random House published "I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel." The bar has been set pretty low.

Pros:

Pleasant writing style, essentially conversational
Some humorous bits
A little sleazy sex
Some realistic depravity

Cons:

There are not enough interesting ideas to support 226 pages of text.
The passage of time has been substituted for a plot
Characters, including the protagonist are poorly developed
No issues are resolved

I can't help but feel that Rosen's, "I Just Want My Pants Back" is largely autobiographical.
It reads like a diary chronicling a series of very, unexceptional events in a young man's life.
As a reality show template. "I Just Want My Pants Back." may appeal to some TV producers.

Used copies of I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel are available on Amazon for 22 cents. The shipping will cost you more than the purchase price.

A marketplace testimonial if ever there was one.

Caslo

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The cure for existential insecurities: Beer.Intercourse.Tears., July 31, 2008

By 

Jason (Funkytown) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel (Paperback)

Jason Strider is a loser, and he's lost. He has an Ivy League English degree, but rather than taking a step forward, he's content to just skate by in zombie-mode with a meaningless job at a small-time casting agency where he spends half the time fighting hangovers, and the rest on instant messenger. He spends his evenings getting plastered, stoned, and then searching for a similarly inebriated woman who he can convince back to his place for a nightcap. A particular one-night stand, Jane - who was part of a run-in with a refrigerator and a wild-cab ride - borrowed jeans from Jason upon waking up, and the story truly begins. Life for Jason is repetitious if anything. He's just like many others, except he cares more about his favorite pants than most else, and he wants them back. Unfortunately, Jane won't return calls, texts, emails, or IMs. Through this dilemma, along with being asked to act as a rabbi (i.e. Universal Life Minister) at a friend's wedding, the book follows Jason from one humorous ordeal to the next, through the promiscuity, booze, and sleaze of the New York single life.

Essentially, it's about a post-college man drifting through life until he knows what he wants to do. At the first true turning point in life, when one must truly move into individuality and responsibility, when the growing up happens, Jason struggles with his lack of ambition, his dead-end job, his rampant drug use, and his misunderstandings with the fairer sex. He also manages to add the difficulty of dealing with and relating to a terminally-ill friend along the way, which clearly affects him deeply.

Reading "I Just Want My Pants Back" reminded me quite a bit of the movie "Knocked Up". The protagonist in each is a reefer-smoking slacker who lacks direction. Both end up going through a life change as a result of drama - specifically with a friend's medical difficulties - and eventually come through responsibly when most needed. Through Rosen's pleasant writing style and use of contemporary, hip lingo and situations (e.g. searching for a job on Craigslist, and pretentious parents giving their kids horrible names like Tristen), the story flows as smoothly as a conversation amongst friends. I highly recommend this for a light read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Perspective!, October 21, 2011

By 

chiemilin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Just Want My Pants Back: A Novel (Kindle Edition)

First of all, I hate that there aren't "abstracts" for most of the books here, so I'd like to give a general outline for those thinking about buying the book, without giving much away. This book is a first person account of a very average guy named Jason, who some would call "down on his luck." He is a college graduate, but working an entry-level job at a casting agency where he shows up late and hungover most days of the week. He has two friends getting married who ask Jason to conduct the ceremony, which involves him going to classes held by a Rabbi at his nearby Synagogue. This prompts some comical interactions and wonderful inner dialogue for our protagonist. Jason takes his audience through his drug and alcohol induced adventures of sex, lust, loneliness, and loss. It was incredible how the author's writing style matches the level of lucidness and intoxication perfectly. As a reader I felt stressed when he was stressed, high when he was high, etc... Whether you take drugs or not, it is fascinating to experience the changes in thought patterns and physical control that comes with controlled substances. Jason loses his favorite pair of pants in a "tryst" with a girl, and agonizes about them throughout the story. We follow him through several encounters with women, some ending rather abruptly. The story deepens with emotion when Jason begins a friendship with an older woman in his building who shares her wisdom and her drugs with him. I think her character (Patty) is responsible for giving Jason more drive and meaning in his mediocre life. In many ways over the course of the book she teaches him life lessons and gives him a kick in the ass to get his life together. When Jason becomes a self-loathing idiot who feels he's hit the bottom, Patty is the one who slaps him around and tells him to grow up. It felt very real to be in Jason's shoes and watch friends find success and happiness all around in life, and to feel as if maybe it passed you by. A feeling of "Hey, is it my turn yet?" I must say, there are parts that may offend people who are easily offended. But that's ok, they don't have to read it. Like I said earlier, whether you do drugs or not, it's a fantastic read, but may appeal more to people who have some personal experience to draw on in that department. The story is incredibly written, but flows easily. It has depth, and creates a spectrum of emotions, just how any great book should. I gave the book 5 stars because I couldn't find anything wrong!