“The Man of My Dreams is an unnervingly insightful and beautifully written examination of the outside forces and personal choices that make us who we are.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

When Hannah was 14, her parents’ marriage was falling apart. Her father was verbally abusive, her mother was submissive. She was sent to live with her aunt while her sister and mother stayed together in another town. So begin the complications of Hannah’s life.

That’s really about all that happens. Well, there are a few more things. Hannah whines. Hannah goes to college. Hannah whines. Hannah moves. Hannah whines. Hannah moves again. You get the point.

That’s really about it.

The characters are not even likeable. There isn’t much of a plot. Quite honestly I don’t consider just writing about someone ambling through life and blaming her problems on her father a plot. Hannah wants to find the love of her life, get her first kiss, lose her virginity, and get married. Hey Hannah! None of that is going to happen if you won’t go out on a date!!!

Hannah does one smart thing. She seeks professional help. But when she moves away from her therapist she writes the woman (what must be at least a 20 page) letter detailing every moment of her life since she left the therapist’s care. Included in the letter are excruciating details about people the therapist has never met that are totally unrelated to anything that happened when she was under treatment.

At first I thought the issue was that a man was writing a book titled The Man of My Dreams. I mistakenly, having never encountered this author before, thought Curtis Sittenfeld was a man. At least that would have explained some things. No offense to any men out there. But noooo. Curtis is a woman.

This was painful, annoying and so not worth the time. Not only is this not going to be reread, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone and I might just break up the CDs for a DIY project. A 1 is as low as my bookometer will go.

 

Reviewed by:

Teresa M

Added 4th June 2015

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Teresa M