I Think She's Trying to Tell Me Something

By Dan Graziano

Book Overview

Sportswriter Jack Byrnes is seeing lots of women...no matter how hard he tries not to. See, a funny thing happened to Jack on the way to his thirtieth birthday. Everywhere he goes, he runs into a woman from his past: there's Mary Ann, whose random appearance in an Arizona airport started this mess; Amy, The One that Got Away, who has abandoned Boston for a fiancé and the Upper West Side; Connie, The Recent Ex who left-and reappeared-without any explanation; Danielle, the Freshman Fling turned bestselling chick lit author; and Nikki, Jack's first kiss, now happily residing in the West Village with the woman of her dreams. Jack believes in a lot of things-his two best friends Bernie and Jeff, the Yankees, cold pizza to cure a hangover, the Yankees-but Fate has never been one of them. Still, this all can't be coincidence. Not when the Ghosts of Relationships Past show up just as Jack has met the perfect woman. The world must be trying to give Jack a signal, and maybe if he can read it right, this time he won't strike out.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006077875X
• ISBN13: 9780060778750
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Solid lad lit

This is the story of New York City sportswriter Jack Byrnes, a kind of endearing average Joe with an unusual problem. He keeps seeing his ex-girlfriends everywhere. There's Danielle, his freshman girlfriend from college; Nikki, his first kiss; Amy, the girl he loved who only wanted to be friends; Mary Ann, whom he never really liked; and Connie, a recent girlfriend who disappeared for a month without an explanation. Jack is approaching 30, and as he hashes out his love life in light-hearted discussions with his buddies Jeff and Bernie, he decides he needs some closure with these "relationship ghosts." So he contacts each of them, with mixed results. To complicate things, he has just met a girl he really, really likes, and Jeff's model girlfriend might be interested in him. It's always refreshing to read about chick lit issues from a male perspective. Sometimes I got impatient with the men in the book because they seemed fratty and immature, but their hearts were in the right place (most of the time). Also, I occasionally got frustrated with Jack for not being clearer with his ex-girlfriends. He didn't really understand women sometimes. Apart from those minor problems, this was an engaging account of a Manhattan man's attempt to make sense of the dating jungle and find a more permanent happiness.

Guys, Have no Fear

My girlfriend forced me to read this book, which I looked forward to as much as when she forced me to go see "Must Love Dogs." Unlike seeing that movie, though, I actually found myself enjoying this book. The interaction between Jack and his friends had me laughing out loud, and reading about the insane women from Jack's past had me reminiscing about some of the women I dated in college and after. There's plenty in here for guys to like, and you can even getting into avoid trouble by reading this book and actually enjoying it while your girlfriend tries to force you to watch "Gilmore Girls."

What a fun book!

When I saw this book, I jumped at the opportunity of getting a "guy's eye view" of love and relationships. It did not let me down. I loved hearing the conversations between Jack and his friends. This book was a great read and it gave me hope knowing that - just maybe - there are guys like Jack out there!

solid hunk lit tale

As he nears his thirtieth birthday, sportswriter Jack Byrnes wonders if he lost his mind when he starts seeing "ghosts" that he recognizes. He would not mind if the spirits were Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio or Mantle, but instead they the specters of the women he courted, bedded, and dumped without a look back. He begins to wonder if perhaps he must make amends so that he can get on with his life especially since he believes he has met his soulmate. His best friends Bernie and Jeff tease him but also commiserate with his plight; vino veritas allows for a lot of whining. Jack decides to visit each female who haunts him to apologize for what he did to them. As he meets with one ex after another, he begins to believe that he was not the only cause for their break-ups as most are termagants with the only nice one a lesbian. His quest has not happened the way he anticipated, but Jack keeps on trekking. The premise is terrific and the three amigos are fabulous when they get together. Jack's ghostly mission grips the audience as they expect to see him slowly (like Scrooge) evolve into a more compassionate, tolerant and understanding person. However, the problem is the women in his life were bigger losers than he ever was so instead of accountability and responsibility, he escapes to the next beer unscathed, leaving the audience to wonder where he finds these boneheads. Still this is a solid hunk lit tale that sub-genre fans will enjoy though the hero never gets his comeuppance. Harriet Klausner