CAD: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor - Hardcover

Marin, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786868821 ISBN 13: 9780786868827

Publisher: Hyperion Books, 2003

Synopsis

You know him. He's the funny, sweet guy with the great eyes who asks you a million questions and seems mesmerized by every reply. He takes you on the greatest, longest date of your life. He swears he loves cats and cuddling. And his apartment is so clean. He just might be the One.

Then he doesn't call, doesn't write. He sees you coming down the street and he hides behind a tree. He's a cad. And this is his story.

After all the girl's guides to sex in the city, here -- at last -- is the view from the other side of the bed. In Cad: Confessions of Toxic Bachelor, Rick Marin offers himself up for an in-depth look at man's superficial nature.

At 28, a brief, doomed first marriage thrusts him back into Bachelor Hell. A journalist as eager to make it in Manhattan as with its female population, our emotionally myopic hero can never seem to tell if the woman in front of him is too crazy or too sane, until she gets too close. Falling out of love as often as he falls in, he vows more than once to clean up his act, only to relapse into another bender of beauties, blow-offs and bad behavior -- all in desperate pursuit of the woman who can redeem him.

In this rollicking, frequently insensitive and ultimately poignant memoir, Marin proves a master of the light touch even in his darkest hours. Part Hugh Hefner, part Hugh Grant, his tale is a rake's progress (in spite of himself) from incorrigible cad to reconstructed romantic. It is one man's story, but many men will read it as their own. And for any woman who has ever wondered, "What was he thinking?" This is what he was thinking.

About this title

Review:

In the mildly entertaining memoir Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor, former New York Times reporter and pop-culture critic Rick Marin chronicles the years of marathon dating and shallow living that followed in the wake of his failed "starter marriage." Marin moves through a series of urbane exploits and short-lived affairs, perfecting his trademark move of whipping off his horn-rim glasses mid-conversation in a "myopic gaze," holding court with his wingman Tad over the hot buffet at Billy's Topless, and regurgitating wisdom gleaned from The Godfather. Like the similarly self-indulgent How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, Cad has its memorable moments--Marin comparing his wedding video to the Zapruder film and hitting on actress Moira Kelly when she was still an ingénue living with her mother on Long Island--but the book's swinging, ring-a-ding-ding Rat Pack attitude feels noticeably forced and uninspired, leaving a flat aftertaste to the whole affair. --Brad Thomas Parsons, Amazon.com

Review:

"The shocking truth about what some men really think about women. Read it if you dare."

"99 per cent of men give all the rest a bad name. Thanks to Cad, women now have the wisdom to know the difference. Is Rick Marin a cad? Hell, he wrote the book."

"Very funny, often desperately funny, and as sure-footed about the Manhattan dating/mating scene as antyhing I've read. A real achievement."

"Hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt, this is a book every woman should read and then share with the man in her life -- or, at the very least, throw at his head."

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0786868821
• ISBN 13: 9780786868827
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304