Time for Din Dins (Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle)

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle
Date:	10/06/08 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Solid plot, well written relationships

Disadvantages: Central character too soft?

There comes a time in every person's life that you question what you are doing and who you are with. Thankfully I avoid this by never thinking too deeply. In fact I am so shallow that if you scratch the surface, there is just more surface underneath. Going into deep thought over relations is one of the things that traditionally separates men from women. I worry that my partner is thinking all many of things and is waiting for me to pick up on them - she will be in for a long wait with my lack of observational skills. To develop my sensitive skills (or powers of evil as I call them) I sometimes read the male equivalent of chick lit - lad lit. One author has always done a good job of making life in your 20s/30s seem depressing - could Mike Gayle convince me to open up, or top myself?

Dave Harding and his wife Izzy are surrounded by friends who are starting families. What was once a set of happy go lucky peers is now a group of haggard zombie like creatures desperately trying to convince you to have your own (so you can share in their misery ; ). So when Izzy mistakenly falls pregnant it all comes as a shock, however, for Dave it is the best news ever as he has secretly wanted to be a father for years. With all this going on their lives take a series of twists. Dave loses his job as a respected music journalist and is forced to work as an agony uncle for a teen magazine, whilst Izzy is looking to be promoted. All these worries pale into insignificance when even more dramatic events occur - can the happy couple's once strong relationship survive more than one bombshell?

'Dinner for Two' was a guilty pleasure for me. Although marketed as lad lit there is probably little in terms of theme and story to differentiate it from most chick lit. It is all about relationships, feelings and where people feel they belong in life. The only major difference is that it concentrates on the male character and has a more blokey sentimentality. Even so, it still has enough in it to certainly appeal to both sexes. Normally I am not a huge fan of over analysis, but Gayle is a very good author at making it palatable. I never felt once that it was too mushy, but I certainly felt it tugged the right heart strings.

One issue I had with the book, which I have found with many novels in this genre, is my inability to connect to the central character. Gayle almost pulls it off with Dave, a mid 30 bloke who also happens to write a good agony uncle column. I am about the right age to relate to the fears and thoughts of Dave, but like usual I found him to be a bit of a wet lettuce. I did find his relationships with friends and his wife to be believable; I just felt that he was a little soft centred to appeal greatly to me.

Luckily then that the rest of the book has a good story to draw the reader in. Much lad lit suffers from having no plot at all - especially none that drives it forwards. 'Dinner for Two' does though with a central premise that is interesting for the reader as it causes so much conflict amongst the characters. What I also enjoyed was the peripheral storylines that expanded the characters. Dave's job as an agony uncle is told really well as you would expect from an author who used to be one. An inside scoop into the not so glamorous world of magazine publishing is always nice to read.

Despite trying to avoid it I found myself drawn into the slightly soppy tale that is 'Dinner for Two'. It asks the questions about whether being a DINKY (duel income no kids yet) couple is actually what you want to be. I think that it sometimes leans unfairly towards suggesting that this group are unhappy, but at least Gayle explores both sides of the argument. The strongest element, besides the plot, is the central relationship between Dave and Izzy. This rang pretty true and it made the events of the book have more impact when you saw them suffer. If you are looking for a break from the usual action/sci fi/crime/thriller genre then a trip into well written lad romance is sometimes an enjoyable guilty pleasure.


Author: Mike Gayle
Year: 2002
Price: amazon uk - £5.99
play.com - £2.45

Summary: A good example of lad lit