A mosaic of comical short
stories about a 35 year-old single, intellectual woman trying to navigate the
complexities of life and love.
Crafty comic writer Iris
Smyles returns to exploring the life of her fictional anti-hero, Iris, in Dating
Tips for the Unemployed. In Smyles's first novel, Iris
Has Free Time, character Iris was a young, single New Yorker grappling
with life after college and the pitfalls of young adulthood. In the new novel,
Iris is now 35 and still single. She's grown older and while still struggling
with hard-won wisdom, she continues her witty, self-deprecating and often
self-defeating search for a place in the world.
This time around, character
Iris--an aspiring writer largely supported economically by her Greek,
politically right-leaning family--starts her journey having now completed her
second master's degree and feeling that she needs to find a man and get married
"before I gain any more weight, before I get too old, before people start
to talk." That quest, channeled through Iris's lovably downtrodden,
often absent-minded perspective, is not easy to accomplish. In 24 short,
eclectic episodes, Iris--a wry observer and keen philosophical thinker--shares
stories centered on men, dating, work (and the lack thereof), loneliness,
friendship, sex, literature, costume parties, growing older, time travel,
insomnia, Greek mythology and the complete series of Rocky movies. A large cast of characters comprised of family,
friends, lovers and strangers enhance the very funny details of Iris's rich,
authentic urban odyssey.
Smyles delivers
another clever, insightful glimpse into the often absurd existence of an
intellectual young woman who makes the idea of floundering in life a laudable art
form.
Publication Date: October 27, 2015
Note: This review is a reprint and is being
posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf
Awareness. To read this review on
Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (6/28/16),
link HERE