Review: The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Man of My Dreams

by Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 288

Format: book 

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Hannah Gavener is fourteen in the summer of 1991. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah’s own life, her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And somewhere in between these two extremes–just maybe–lie the answers to love’s most bewildering questions. But over the next decade and a half, as she moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, Hannah finds that the questions become more rather than less complicated: At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who’s not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a guy who might not love you back, are you being plucky–or just pathetic?

None of the relationships in Hannah’s life are without complications. There’s her father, whose stubbornness Hannah realizes she’s unfortunately inherited; her gorgeous cousin, Fig, whose misbehavior alternately intrigues and irritates Hannah; Henry, whom Hannah first falls for in college, while he’s dating Fig; and the boyfriends who love her more or less than she deserves, who adore her or break her heart. By the time she’s in her late twenties, Hannah has finally figured out what she wants most–but she doesn’t yet know whether she’ll find the courage to go after it. 


Kritters Thoughts:  One could call this book a collection of short stories or vignettes from Hannah's life as the reader gets a small view in at different moments when Hannah is in search of love.  

The reader first meets Hannah as her home life is in chaos and she isn't sure what the future holds but she knows that she is going to start her hunt for a guy.  I loved how this book went from childhood to adulthood but wasn't 500 pages long.  The set up for this book made for such a fun and different read since the reader gets to know this character but also gets to see her at different points in her life.

With a few moments that revolve around sex that are mostly tame, I would recommend this book to young readers as a fun view of how the man of your dreams can change as you grow into adulthood.  What you valued previously may not matter later in life and in contrast some things become very important when looking for the man of your dreams.

Rating: perfect YA read