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The Average American Male: A Novel
 
 
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The Average American Male: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: hot bitch, other bitch, suck your cock, Beverly Center, Gwen Stefani, Marie Osmond (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The nameless narrator of this dismal debut is a cynical 20-something living an empty, oversexed existence in L.A. He gets laid more often than he masturbates, plays video games, goes to the gym, sizes up every bitch in sight and, understandably, hates Casey, his vapid wannabe-actress girlfriend who tricks him into agreeing to marry her. He is not happy about this. Adding to his reluctance is his burgeoning "relationship" with hottie Alyna, a UCLA student who-just as Casey is an exaggerated caricature of What Men Don't Want-is the Dream Girl who likes video games and porn-style sex. (Also, Casey has a "fat ass" whereas Alyna has a "perfect ass.") [...] Despite the book's purported "brutal honesty," the premise is essentially: guys like sex and dislike cuddling.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"It's so primal, so dangerous, it might be the most ingenious book I've ever read." -- Josh Kilmer-Purcell, New York Times bestselling author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS

"It's so primal, so dangerous, it might be the most ingenious book I've ever read." (Josh Kilmer-Purcell, New York Times bestselling author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS )

"[A] brilliant send-up of the way ...the male point of view has been misrepresented by militant feminists." -- Toby Young, New York Times bestselling author of HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE

"[A] brilliant send-up of the way ...the male point of view has been misrepresented by militant feminists." (Toby Young, New York Times bestselling author of HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE )

"[B]uy Chad's book. It's a blueprint of how the mind--and penis--of a typical American male works." -- Maddox, New York Times bestselling author of THE ALPHABET OF MANLINESS

"[B]uy Chad's book. It's a blueprint of how the mind--and penis--of a typical American male works." (Maddox, New York Times bestselling author of THE ALPHABET OF MANLINESS )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 13, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0061231673
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061231674
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #32 in  Books > Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology
    #78 in  Books > Entertainment > Humor > Love, Sex & Marriage

More About the Author

Chad Kultgen
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (93 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Seething/hilarious social/sexual commentary, April 2, 2007
Relentlessly cynical and f***ing funny. One of Kultgen's accomplishments is that he has created a tale that has a crunchy, amusing coating, a creamy, despair-filled center, and is topped with a fine drizzle of uncomfortable truth. You may not see yourself as the Average American Male, but no heterosexual man can deny having had at least some of the same thoughts cross his mind. Some reviewers have complained that the character in the book is one-dimensional and does not really represent the average American male. Sorry, but most men are narcissistic, sex-obsessed s***-bags. I would know. In an case, pretty much ALL the characters are sexual caricatures. The total focus on sexual relations is the point. Some reviewers have found this book to be crude and mean-spirited. And yest, it definitely is both those things. But, what drives the book is an underlying sense of despair and emptiness in the main character's life - his existence has been boiled down to the pursuit of sex and playing video games. With nothing to care about except "blowing a load," the Average American Male is doomed to boredom and dissatisfaction. This is not only a commentary on sexual relations, but the emptiness of American culture in which Sex and Money is the national religion.


Long story short: this is not a pleasant tale. But there are moments that will make you laugh at loud, and it will make you think about what it means to try to find love and fulfillment in these modern times.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Sex, Lies, and Video...Games", April 10, 2007
By Stanley H. Nemeth (Garden Grove, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This is one brilliant book. Its spirit recalls Aristophanes, who, in "Lysistrata," ridiculed ancient Athenian men because they were apparently obsessed with something silly, war, but in fact devoted to something even more ludicrous, sex. We post-moderns are still sentimental about sex; Aristophanes and Kultgen aren't.

Kultgen, like his Greek predecessor, sees that Aphrodite in particular often has one big satiric smirk on her face. His unnamed hero wages a species of war when he plays competitive video games, but he lives more for sex 24/7, even though his comically grotesque desires inevitably result, as experience has always taught, in necessarily diminished rewards.

Kultgen, happily, is an equal opportunity offender. Not only does his witty, knavish hero come in for a finally satirical drubbing, but so do the other serial polygamist characters, who include a variety of contemporary straight men and women, along with assorted gays and lesbians. All of them lead hilariously limited lives, for none of them is able to raise his or her head above the belts of the nation. This book is less the send-up of modern feminism some reviewers have indicated than it is a send-up of the low, finally empty values of all the characters.

The hero lives in a narrow world that has, he sadly recognizes at the end, "no escape." Kultgen, as I read him, is gently suggesting the comic emptiness of the world view that all his younger characters share. The only positive value in their world is "bluntness," a trait distinguishing both the narrator and his paramour Alyna. Certainly, such bluntness is preferable to the whiny manipulativeness of the vulgarly too eager-to-marry Casey and her horrible family. At the same time, the narrator and the more sophisticated Alyna are merely just a boy-man and a girl-woman. They are, Kultgen slyly intimates, nevertheless the finest products of modern American child-raising.

Years ago, Dostoevsky in "Notes From Underground," said of his central character that "such persons as the writer of these notes not only may but must exist in our society, taking into consideration the circumstances under which our society has generally been formed." Kultgen is asking his readers to look at the stunted, even if witty, men and women in his novel and contemplate what comic monsters we "caring" American parents have inadvertently wrought.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Weekend Read, April 15, 2007
By William V. Jensen (Prior Lake, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
With my wife out of town for the weekend, I couldn't think of a better book to consume me in my "down" time. In fact, if anything, "The Average American Male: A Novel" made me feel a bit guilty because I too am "average" in my experiences. Call it a cathartic experience, but I laughed out loud through nearly every chapter. And as every "Average American Male" knows, we've all experienced the lead character's life in some way or another. The story line was sexy, thoughtful, erotic, humorous and frankly...quite delightful. The author - Chad Kultgen - could be the next Nicholas Baker.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow start
The average American male tries to pull you in from the start with scenes apparently created solely for the purpose of shock value. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Johnny13

1.0 out of 5 stars How?
How this piece of garbage ever made it into paperback is a mystery for the ages, like the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa or the popularity of McDonald's Hambugers. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Brandon Kamins

3.0 out of 5 stars Really? The Average American Male?
There's absolutely no way that this book represents the mindset of the average american male. If so, our species is doomed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nadeem Muaddi

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!
I loved this book! This is the definitive fratire book. It is hilarious, crude, and just bleak enough. Tucker Max may have opened the door, but Kultgen has taken it off the hinges.
Published 3 months ago by Fratirical

1.0 out of 5 stars I dont get it
I really didn't understand this book.. I kind of don't like how it stereotypes men.. I think it was kind of written from a very immature point of view.. oh well.. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Daniel J. Leblanc

3.0 out of 5 stars Love/Hate
Interesting read, I'll give it that much. I don't usually do book reviews and I read a lot of books. The majority of which I really enjoy. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Just me

3.0 out of 5 stars Chick-Lit for Boys
`The Average American Male' wasn't a mind-blowing controversial read. All it is, is a lot of sex, cynical thoughts on love, tangled romantic webs and sex, sex and sex. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Beemanny

4.0 out of 5 stars helpful and amusing
I was riveted to this book for its soft porn nature and one track mindedness of its main charachter. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Books McGulligan

5.0 out of 5 stars chicks dig average american males
I literally just finished The Average American Male and as a 22 year old female who has had many experiences with this species, I have to admit that I loved this book... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lauren Seasholtz

4.0 out of 5 stars The male mind at it's worst
The absolute best thing about this book is the "secret" thoughts the main character has about the women in his life. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Thomas King

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