The Boyfriend School (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Sarah Bird

Book Overview

Sarah Bird, the author of Alamo House has created a sensationally funny new novel about a would-be romance writer. The Boyfriend School is sharp, satirical, clever and often falling-off-the-chair... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 034546009X
• ISBN13: 9780345460097
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Smart, funny, romantic

One of my very favorite books. For years, it was out of print. I never could understand why. Recently I was delighted to see a new edition in a bookstore. A whole new group of readers can discover Sarah Bird's wonderful characters, snappy dialogue, humor, romance and original plot. Her main character, Gretchen, works for a second-rate and declining publication as a writer\photographer. She's assigned to cover a convention of romance novelists. Initially very snobbish about this kind of writing, she's won over by the intelligence of the writers she meets. Some of them become her friends. One friend, Lizzie, is a particularly unforgettable character, an intellectual with college degrees in arcane academia from an intellectual family with a supersmart husband and brother, a take-charge manner, and bizarre child-raising ideas. She's also a major star in the romance novelist galaxy. Another, Juanita, is earthy, nosy and nurturing. Gretchen's new friends encourage her to try to write a romance novel herself. We see her struggles with creating hero and heroine, plot devices and language, failing to "transcend the genre," and surviving on Cup-a-Noodles. Along the way, she copes with her philandering sometimes-boyfriend boss, dodges attempts by her new friends to match-make, and by her landlord to collect the rent, copes with writer's block, learns the conventions of the romance novel, has a storybook adventure, solves a mystery, has an exotic romance herself, and learns how to write a love scene that soars, and sells. While her heroine has to learn to create within the limits of the romance novel format, Ms. Bird goes far beyond it. The Boyfriend School has intelligent and funny observations to make about writers and writing in general, and about the romance novel genre in particular, about being a very smart person in pretty dumb job, about being single with an on-again off-again boyfriend, about family, friendship, health and happiness, eccentric intellectuals, romance, and love. While on one level, it seems like the book is just a clever, good-natured, romantic romp, it's also about people and things not being what you expect, about discovering what really matters in life and other people, and about being surprised by ourselves and by life. It's done with such a light touch and great style that it may not occur to you that there were some serious issues involved until you're done.A word about the book and the movie. I read the book first and then saw the movie "Don't Tell Her It's Me" starring Jamie Gertz, Steve Guttenberg, and Shelly Long. I was disappointed in the movie and thought they should have followed the book more closely. The book is told in the first person by the struggling writer, and the effect is critical to the main plot surprise. The movie is made from a completely different point of view, which appears in a diary late in the book. The movie not only loses the main plot twist, but, more importantly, all of Gretchen's wonderful thought

This should be a best-seller

Why is this book out of print, and so hard to find. I read it many years ago when I stumbled across it in a library in Vernon, B.C. I loved it so much, and recommended it to all my friends, but could never find it... anywhere. No other library seems to have heard of Sarah Bird. Well to all readers who like to have fun with characters and laugh out loud, go out of your way to find this one. It is delightful. A reporter is sent to cover a romance writers conference (porbably the worst assignment in the newsroom that day. No one in a newsroom has very high regards for these books or writers.) But little does our reporter know she is in for the ride of her life. What can fans do to get this book back into print??

Where are you, Sarah Bird?

I am not a person who usually rereads books, but I just read THE BOYFRIEND SCHOOL for the third time in ten years, and it's one of my absolute favorites. Funny and yet touching, as well. I'm so glad that this book was recommended to me years ago. What I'd like to know is, what happened to Sarah Bird? After 1993, I can't find any record of her having written anything.

One of my favorite all-time romances

I also have read this book several times and absolutely love it. I know two romance authors who say it's their favorite romance. It's non-traditional and quirky. Sarah Bird has a unique style. I haven't seen anything new from her since 1993, and I wish she'd have something new out soon.

Loved the characters, speech, setting, almost everything.

Okay, maybe the second half, after she discovered Rye, wasn't my favorite part. I really liked the beginning, when she's describing life at her magazine and at home, LOVED the Luvboree, Juanita, Carrie, Lizzie, and Andrea. Enjoyed excerpts from Gretchens book and from others. What I didn't like about the part with Rye was that it seemed like she didn't spend as much time with Juanita and Lizzy, and when the three of them were together was the funniest part in the whole book. However, the climax is interesting and unexpected, and I loved all the characters, the humor, and the setting. God, if I met someone like Rye I wouldn't care how many Trouts I had to go through to get to to him. Gus Kubiak is sweet. I know some people think that Gretchen is shallow about him, but you have to think, the author was trying to be realistic. Not a lot of women would be phycologically capable of looking past that face and that much earnestness(desperation).