Josh Sundquist
Non-Fiction/Humor
336 pages
Little, Brown BFYR
Available Now
Source: BEA
THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.
Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?
The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.
MY THOUGHTS
We Should Hang Out Sometime is a fun foray into the dating history of Josh Sundquist, a man who lost his leg to cancer at the age of nine and has since gone on to be a paralympic ski racer, motivational speaker and more. The setup of this book is analytical in nature, an experiment Josh sets up wherein he methodically reviews his encounters with girls from his young teens through early twenties in order to better understand why he's never had a girlfriend. His recounting of these interactions is charmingly self-deprecating, and his writing style is so beautifully smooth and flowing that we suddenly find ourselves two hundred pages in before we even realize we’ve read a chapter.
In addition to the endearing conversational-style quality to his writing, Mr. Sundquist excels at bringing choice moments to vivid life, perfectly capturing they type of social ineptitude we’ve all experienced time and again as we’ve attempted to navigate the emotionally treacherous labyrinth that is interacting with the object of our affection. His younger self obsesses over every small gesture or word spoken by the girl he’s interested in, constantly questioning the meaning behind them and then running through every possible response to those various meanings in his head before deciding to move forward with one. His fear of rejection with the young women detailed in the book is palpable and more than understandable, memories of our own experiences causing us to stress on his behalf and then smile in knowing sympathy when his courage fails him and he puts self-preservation ahead of open communication.
We Should Hang Out Sometime is perfect for those looking for a little something different, something that will make them laugh and relate completely to a young man in search of acceptance from others when the acceptance he really needs is from himself. Josh’s story imparts a beautiful message when our time wandering through his embarrassingly cute and sometimes-sour experiences comes to an end, leaving us with a strong desire to see where his motivational speaking career will take him next so we can enjoy what he has to say in person.
Rating: 4/5
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This book was given to me by the publisher at BEA free of charge for the purpose of a
review.
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.
