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My husband bought this book for me several years ago and while it always seemed funny, it seemed more like a book he’d really enjoy rather than me. It’s sort of the male counterpart to chick lit. But having said that, I’ve scared away any male readers. Forget I said that.
Mil Millington is a British magazine writer whose website, milmillington.com, gained a lot of attention. The book is a a fictional account of the website which lists the many things about which he and his girlfriend have fought.
In the book we meet Pel, his German girlfriend, Ursula, and their two sons. Pel works at a university library, or what they call, a learning center in the IT department. He knows nothing about IT, but gives everyone the illusion that he knows what he’s doing. As the book continues, his boss quits and disappears. Pel takes his position (keeping his current one as well). This happens again with another boss. The higher up Pel gets in the hierarchy of the learning center and the university, the more involved he becomes in shady activity because he keeps up the lie that he knows what he’s doing at his job, so everyone just assumes that he and his previous boss were in on the shady activity together. Really, Pel is clueless and ends up dealing with the Chinese mafia, stolen money, buried artifact bodies being disposed of in the city dump, hazardous materials being buried on campus,etc.
While all of this is going on, we get to see his relationship with Ursula and their ongoing battles. But we also get the reassurance that they are indeed perfect for each other, in love, and the fighting is a key part of their relationship. It doesn’t mean they aren’t compatible, for them it’s quite the opposite.
I enjoyed this book. It was interesting to see into the personal relationship of two people who fight as a way of being together. I was a little disappointed at the end, feeling that the question of their relationship was resolved, but everything going on at Pel’s job wasn’t.
Rated: High for language and sexual content. There are at least a dozen uses of strong language and also milder language. Sex is discussed frequently, but never in great detail. There is some discussion of couples that swing.
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