Monday, September 16, 2013

The Last Girlfriend on Earth: and Other Love Stories by Simon Rich

Taking it several steps farther than the old "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" - in these stories Rich suggests it's more like men are horny billy goats and women are androids.

This book is a collection of short stories - really, they're brief vignettes (often funny, some sad) on various aspects of love and relationships. Some stories are just a single page, and the longest are about 10 pages; Rich was a staff writer on Saturday Night Live and some of these definitely feel like sketch-worthy setups.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and it's a great pick-it-up-and-put-it-down kind of book because of the brevity of the stories. Depending on your own history and experience, I guarantee a couple stories will trigger something in you and stick in the back of your mind. Others may be forgotten as quickly as you've turned the page. The stories range from science fiction to absurdism and fantasy, a want-ad, game show clues, and a few are even more true-life with a twist. This one's definitely worth the time if you're a fan of contemporary fiction.

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