Dating Amy
Amy DeZellar
5 Spot, June 2006
Biography / Memoir
Reviewer:
Laurel Osterkamp
Posted: September 22, 2006
* * * * * *
How many dates does it take to find Mr. Right? Amy DeZellar intends to find out. She is in her late 30s, living in a new city (Seattle) and trying to establish her writing career. So she decides to go on 50 dates, and writes about them afterwards on her website. She might just get a book deal out of it – which obviously, she does. Her other hope is that in the process, she might also humiliate herself into finally finding the man of her dreams.
The product is Dating Amy, a book based off the popular website DeZellar kept while going on her 50 dates. She chronicled how she got the dates; some were through Match.com, other dates she found at singles parties thrown by her friend Anastasia. One guy worked in the grocery she went to, and another she met while shopping. All of the guys are given code names, apparently to protect their privacy. But their names are clever (like “Teflon” and “Christmas Tree”), and become part of the fun by either connecting them to the action of her stories or giving us hints to their personalities.
Then there are the descriptions of the dates themselves. DeZellar gives the reader all the important information about what she wore, what her dates wore, what was said, where they went, what the weather was like, how dinner was, who wound up paying, and whether or not there was a goodnight kiss. All of this is told with humor, whether she is laughing at herself, her dates, or just the general situation.
However, the most startling part of the book is how open and vulnerable the author makes herself just by writing it. At one point she learns that a date left her at the bus stop rather than offering to give her a ride home because while she was in the bathroom, he saw the woman he thought he was meant to marry. Then there’s “Rob Lowe Voice” a man she has two wonderful dates with, but ends up being avoided by with no explanation on his part. DeZellar never indulges in self-pity after things like this happen, but she is so honest with the reader about her hopes and emotions that you’ll wind up rooting for her all the more.
Whether you’re single, married, or somewhere in between, it’s impossible not appreciate Amy DeZellar’s optimistic sense of humor and her willingness to put herself out there. Dating Amy is a true gem of a book, and a recommended read no matter what your dating status happens to be.
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