The one night stand - with full life consequences... (Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle)

Member Name: Zarrah

Product:	Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle
Date:	04/03/03 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can't put it down

Disadvantages: Slow to get into

Author: Mike Gayle
Published: 2002
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
For those who recognise this review, I've had to resubmit it after I deleted my account; I entered the wrong age. :~rolls eyes~: Could only be me.

This was actually my second Mike Gayle book - my first having been Mr Commitment, lent to my mum by a friend from work with the words, 'This is so funny - you HAVE to read it!'. Mum, not being big on reading anything but cheesy Mills and Boon novels and action adventure novels that slowly turn into romance, decided after two weeks, that she'd had it, and gave it to me to try.
My offhand comment of, 'I like it - don't see why you didn't.' got me the burden of three more - My Legendary Girlfriend, Turning Thirty... And Dinner For Two.

:~*~PLOT~*~:

A first person narrative from the point of view of Dave Harding, a thirty one year old married music journalist, who, after the magazine he writes for folds, takes up a job as an Agony Uncle in a teenage girls' magazine - what he doesn't expect, however, is a letter from one 13-year-old Nicola, claiming to be his daughter from an affair on holiday...

:~*~STYLE~*~:

I've read first person narratives before - Hell, I think I've read every type of narrative going, and most of the first person ones aren't done well. This book is definitely an exception to the rule.
While this particular book was hard to get into at first, it was done very well; thoughtfully, with attention to detail - and being an Agony Uncle himself, Mike Gayle certainly knows about the problems presented in this novel.

:~*~LENGTH~*~:

The book itself is around 350 pages long, slit into sometimes long-ish, sometimes as short as a page chapters whose titles have little or nothing to with the content (endearing or just annoying?). I found that much easier to swallow than a huge book with huge chapters and even mo
re huge chapter titles, although I'm not quite sure why; it's probably just that if I got screamed at to 'put that bloody book down and do something useful, NOW!!' I could finish a chapter quickly, instead of leaving it at a page! :~sheepish grin~:

:~*~OVERALL~*~:

Well, I found it slow to get into, but when I did get into it, I really couldn't put it down - it was interesting, funny (without detracting from the serious undertone) and honest; the ending, too, while slightly anti-climatic, suited the style of novel and was really well done.

Summary: