Customer Reviews

My 1,000 Americans: A Year-Long Journey through the Personals

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Rochelle Morton's book was hysterical, I couldn't put it down and now have passed it on to my co-worker. We both agree that although she did meet a lot of jerks it's a lot more fun than reading about so called nice guys. I'm sure all women have a tale or ten to tell about the wierdo's they have met throughout their dating life. So you go girl, I loved it.

One thing about Rochelle Morton's little ole ad: " English female, 30's, slim and attractive, seeks professional male for fun times." Read it and sleep. So how come she cranked in a truck load of waste-of-space-nutso-jobs? Starting with the guy who dressed as the King of England. Sorry folks, this doesn't ring true-- it sounds as if she made it up. Ok, so I only dated around ninety guys in about a year's time-- I didn't meet anywhere near as many wierdos, wackos, married-and-trolling-the-internet (in my case it wasn't the personals), and just plain icky guys-- but maybe it's because I approached the whole--er-- project with an upbeat, positive attitude. Oh, and I didn't waste my time on married guys either. So, just what was the point of this book? Those of us who date know it's a numbers game. In Morton's case, numbers game takes on a new and almost meaningless slant. What can we learn from her adventures? There are few real details, barely a scene, not much dialog. Just page after page describing one loser after another. Time after time, Morton ends each little description with a supposedly pithy comment on her poor date's inability to measure up in any one of a thousand ways. Dating is like almost everything else in life: you get back what you put into it. Read Morton's book if you're looking for a good snore.

This is a surprisingly mean-spirited and disingenuous book. Ms. Morton runs a sexy personal ad ("English female, 30s, slim and attractive, seeks professional male for fun times") and then is shocked, shocked to find herself in the company of men looking for sex. Some of the respondents are in fact entertainingly weird. However, I was more often struck by Morton's vicious rejection of even the most pedestrian quirks. She seems to have no real interest in or understanding of the human drama around her. These guys may be creeps, but many of them deserve a better date than Ms. Morton.

I've read both of Rochelle Morton's books (this one and "Eat Your Lonely Heart Out"). I thought they were both hysterical and can well imagine that Ms Morton didn't have to spend time making up any of the content ("truth is stranger than fiction" and all that). I found both books extremely funny and couldn't put them down - I read both in the space of less than a week! I can imagine that a lot of guys (see previous reviews) wouldn't be thrilled with the outcome of her research, but having met a large number of men through the personals myself, can vouch that her experiences are probably extremely accurately portrayed. I also stopped the line at meeting any men who were married or who made innuendos (therefore probably weeding out the most unlikely candidates), but still met a wide selection of unusual characters (men who hadn't grown up, were unbelievably rude, arrogant, outright liars, complete cheapskates, talked about themselves all the time, or who also seemed to honestly believe that meeting a professional, non-flirtatious woman for a meal meant that she was likely to hop into the sack with him! Amazing). I believe every word of it.

I enjoyed the books immensely and can only recommend them - Ms Morton's closing humourous lines on each date were an absolute riot. I wish she'd published all of her dates, not just these selected ones. I'd definitely recommend any woman who is thinking of meeting men through personals to read this book before she embarks on her journey - it would give her a good idea of what is around the corner.

I love comedy, and frequent comedy clubs. But it's VERY rarely that a BOOK makes me laugh out loud. But this book did. Ms. Morton has a very deadpan way of describing the most bizarre human behavior you can imagine (and some of these men's quirks are WAY BEYOND most people's imagination). She has wit, compassion, good-humour, and curiousity. I highly recommend this book!

This book really belongs in the humor section, rather than with relationships. I laughed out loud reading it, but eventually began to find it tedious. She asked everyone the same questions, and in retelling the story tried to finish every one with a joke or pun. While most of the one-liners were generally witty, I found the humor to be in the characters she met. My favorites: The 75-year-old who can barely see over the wheel of his car, and the man who gets arrested for stealing a hot dog. After reading about all the nut-jobs, I was looking forward to the chapter on "nice guys." However, I found it to be a let down. Not too much humor there. It seemed to be written mostly for the men she had included in the section, as opposed to the general readership. Still, I don't hesitate to recommend the book to anyone looking for a good laugh, and, though I don't really know anyone, those searching the personals for a chance at love.

Ms. Morton shows us the dirty underbelly of the world of personals dating. It's ugly. The only problem I have with the book is that she goes on these dates without any effort or contemplation of being romantically involved with these men from the beginning. Most of these men were totally undeserving of a second date (are there men out there like this?) but it doesn't seem fair for those men who may have actually been looking for an honest relationship. So as ugly as Ms. Morton shows America how bad the dating scene is, she also comes from a pre-not interested stand point.

I am not completely sure what exactly I anticipated when I purchased this book. Probably a rather funny if not insightful case study of the modern dating scene. I should have been more careful about the signs that pointed to the obvious quality of the book. 1,000 stories on less than 250 pages - you do the math. Obviously, 1,000 "success stories" would be rather boring, so it is natural to expect some indecency (which sells better than virtue).

The book starts rather nicely with may witty and interesting observations but then it all just goes straight down. One doesn't have to be Einstein to figure out that the social group of single men in their forties is mostly comprised of those individua who have physical of psychological problems with relationships. How naive should one be to express surprise and disbelief when encountering a large number of such people, especially in such an assembly line fashion?!

The worst however is some feeling of a freak show. Yes, these men are weird - that's why they are single and looking for personals ads especially those mentioning the F word (I meant 'fun' in case you thought about something else). Such people are ill and need help rather than 20 lines drenched in superiority and sheer cruelty.

I did finish the book - only to realise that I just had to read a 244-page tabloid. I threw it away and washed my hands.

Is this girl brave or what? I laughed so hard at some of the dates she had. What a blast! I want to meet some of them and most odf all I'd love to have the balls to do what she did. n absolutely brilliant peek into "who is out there". She is really so funny, I had pains in my side from laughing. I would reccomend this book to men and women.

So she made fun of the jerks that are out there, about time someone did. Married men do not need to be OUT THERE Stay home with your wife mister. Between my friends and I, we could write a book about our terrible dates so I for one know where she is coming from. Just the other day a guy exposed himself himself to me in the park and the I saw him 20 minutes later and he smiled and put his hand out for me to shake. No thank you.
Men are men all over and I applaud Ms Morton for telling it like it is. I laughed and laughed, why? Because it's a very funny book.