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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good news for first time novelists, June 21, 2008
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
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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
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Perspective!, October 21, 2011
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!
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