Frood Alert!

Matt Dunn. What a find... WHAT a find!

So I read The Ex-boyfriend's Handbook. Four hours of absolute enjoyment and four hours well spent, in my opinion. My only problem was the three and half hours between lunch (when the book was delivered and I started it) and the end of the work day that kept me from finishing it sooner. Also it was a bit tricky having to hide the cover trying to read it while out because it's just so ... amusing. I noticed at least three people glance at the book and then smile surreptitiously at me. God knows what that was about, but then again, I see people smiling surreptitiously around me a whole lot so maybe I shouldn't be too bothered.

The cover. I honestly thought they'd sent me a mangy copy when I'd asked for a new one, till it turned out that no, it was the cover design. The frayed edges, the old looking paper... bloody hell, that's clever! I thought ... still, not a good cover as such. Why the heck are the letters in bright pink?!

The book now ... there's only one word to describe it: Chuckle-fest. It's full of clever lines and puns and the story moves forward fairly speedily and the narrative style is just so matey.

The story itself is pretty ... straightforward and ordinary: Boy gets dumped and gets told it's because he's let himself go. Boy decides to turn over a new leaf and win girl back. What follows is part 'What is the point of my life? What do I want?' and part metrosexualisation of said boy. Helped (or hampered, depending on how you look at it) by a slew of delightful characters, along the way.

I absolutely loved the character sketches. There's the narcissistic, babe-magnet best friend who gets into scrapes for sleeping around and keeps trying to help our hero get some action. There's the barmaid who despises the best friend and the verbal sparring between them is thoroughly entertaining. Then the boss, unpredictable and volatile, the homeless man who has his own skewed values and principles and regularly bullies our hero into buying multiple copies of the Big Issue in a given week. And there's the personal trainer ... She's that unidentifiable factor in the story which adds the va-va-voom. Bit like the hint of cinammon in a cake — barely there but without whom the cake would fall flat.

I'm hooked. Matt Dunn is among my favourite authors without a doubt and I so cannot wait to read Ex-girlfriends United and From Here to Paternity!