An excavation of millennial masculinity. If you haven't had the misfortune of dating a George, you know someone who has. He's a young man brimming with potential but incapable of following through; noncommittal to his long-suffering girlfriend, Jenny; distant from but still reliant on his mother; funny one minute, sullenly brooding the next. And yet, it's hard not to root for George at least a little. Beneath his cynicism is a reservoir of fondness for Jenny's valiant willingness to put up with him. Each demonstration of his flaws is paired with a self-eviscerating comment. No one is more disappointed in him than himself (except maybe Jenny and his mother).
Greathead knows a particular subset of these floundering young men very well, painfully well, hilariously well ... Acerbic ... Greathead attains a perfect balance among irritation, pathos and comedy.
A novel of many finely crafted, often funny moments that arrive episodically as the title character grows older ... The novel’s author, Kate Greathead, is a gifted storyteller who reels off dialogue filled with wit and humor so well it makes page-turning a pleasure and The Book of George an easy read ... George may be a doom-and-gloom sort, but that’s not the case for Greathead’s novel. Page after page, her writing is full of humor built around prickly sarcasm and woebegone twists in George’s life.
