Per Annonce sucht Carmen einen »impotenten Mann fürs Leben« – und landet damit einen Knüller. Doch keiner der Bewerber, mit denen sie sich trifft, erfüllt ihre Erwartungen. Bis sie David kennenlernt. Und bei ihm wünscht sie sich, dass das mit der Impotenz wie ein Schnupfen wäre, der von allein vergeht. Die zahlreichen Versuche, ihn von seinem Leiden zu heilen, führen zu den komischsten Verwicklungen.
Gaby Hauptmann has written, since the mid-1990s, a series of bestsellers on the gender battle. Today, her books have been translated and appear in over 40 countries. In Germany alone, their circulation is about 6 million.
Es war okay. Unterhaltsam und kurzweilig, allerdings nicht ganz so humorvoll, wie ich es mir erhofft hatte. Aber irgendwie war es dann doch wieder lustig, mal einen Roman zu lesen, in dem es zwar auch um Sex geht, aber eben darum, ihn nicht zu haben :) Eben mal etwas Anderes 💜
Não foi uma escolha premeditada, mas sim uma sugestão da bibliotecária, que já o tendo lido, disse que o recomendava a todas as suas amigas. Uma leitura leve e deliciosamente divertida A autora fala-nos de uma forma irónica, mas bastante descontraída, sobre os relacionamentos amorosos e sexuais. Carmen, uma bem-sucedida e atraente mulher na casa dos trinta, sente-se constantemente assediada sexualmente, não só pelos seus clientes, como pelo seu próprio namorado, sentido constantemente que, os homens só se conseguem interessar pelo sexo, descurando todos os outros componentes de uma relação.
“Normalmente para o homem, o aspeto mais importante para avaliar uma relação, de facto é o sexo. Sei isso por experiência própria. Uma mulher pode ser inteligente, interessante, ter uma aura magnífica, ser uma companheira extraordinária, compreensiva, autónoma, pode mimar um homem de forma fantástica, das pantufas até à cozinha e apesar disso vai a correr atrás de outra que o arrasta constantemente para a cama e que, de resto, não sabe fazer mais nada. Quantos homens não arranjam de repente depois de uma mulher fantástica, uma parvinha daquelas que deixam toda a gente perplexa. Porquê? Então, é óbvio. Para uma mulher dessas eles são os maiores!”(Pag.189)
É no seguimento desse sentimento que decide publicar um anúncio no qual se procura “Cabeça masculina esclarecida”, para passar umas horas agradáveis, fazer projetos comuns na base da camaradagem e cujos requisitos essenciais são o de ser possuidor de inteligência e ser impotente. A partir daqui todo o enredo gira em torno das muitas respostas recebidas (ela não contava com tantas). Com muitas gargalhadas pelo meio, o final é completamente inesperado e original.
Hey, look! Another wonderful specimen for my "read at a much too young age" shelf! Which is to say, another one of the books innocent adults left lying around me when I was a kid, ignorant to the fact that I would instantly and indiscriminately devour any and all print products I could get my grabby little hands on.
(The most prominent example of this remains Tommy Jaud's Vollidiot which Peter, a friend of the family, brought with him on a joint vacation to the south of France and made the mistake of leaving on a table. Eight-year-old me was discovered in flagranti sitting on a flight of stairs approximately six hours later, just finishing the last pages of the book. (My poor mother, quite horrified: "Nina! That's not for you!" Too late, Mama. Too late.) The story about the jaded yet all-around inept 29-year-old Simon, sexually frustrated relationship disaster and full-time loser afraid of turning 30, probably defined my understanding of both men and relationships for the next few years and also introduced me to the concepts of day drinking, erections and burning your IKEA armchair in a public parking lot. Whoops. Another classic of the category is Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by the wonderful Anthony Bourdain - I don't recall who left this one in our flat, possibly my uncle, but while the kitchen facts largely just got soaked up by my inquisitive ten-year-old sponge of a brain I remember being pretty lastingly perturbed by the extensive discussion of drugs and the occasional passages of sexual nature, once again. Parents: if you have a kid that likes to read, possibly the only way to stop them from encroaching upon your coffee tables and bookshelves and giving themselves nightmares is to supply them with a continuous stream of children's books, a stream as varied and captivating as you can possibly manage.* Then again, my parents did that and yet fifteen years later I still dream about the opening scene to Stephen King's It, taken from an "unreachable" (as if) top shelf and read secretly under the covers one fateful night at my dad's house.)
*Or just give them a tablet with Youtube and a few games installed and be done with it, lol. (Kidding. Don't do that.)
(TANGENT IS DONE, SPOILERS FOR THIS BOOK AHEAD) Anyway, this here book I think I found in a drawer somewhere, so, I mean, it can't technically be said someone left it around me. It's about Carmen, a woman who is very beautiful and sexy and who therefore suffers quite a lot from the fact that men everywhere around her start drooling uncontrollably at the sight of her and forget that they are actually bus drivers, clerks, pedestrians, friends or her business colleagues. We join her (or more precisely: little Nina joined her) as she breaks up with her boyfriend Peter because Peter always just wants to screw and can't hold a conversation with her. She decides that she wants companionship in life, yes, but companionship who can't get it up so she can have an evening in peace, please and thank you. She meets different men who are impotent for a variety of reasons but across-the-board incredulous that any woman would ever want a man she can't have penetrative sex with. (Can you imagine!) Obviously, the first few kinda suck until she meets a really nice one and - who would've thought? - discovers that, shoot!, she does kinda want to do the do with this one! What a predicament! And now?
Gaby Hauptmann has written an okay comedic novel about how painful it can be for women to be regarded as sex objects, and sex objects only, everywhere they go. It is very stylistically typical for late 90s/early 2000s "women's literature". Promising opportunities to discuss concepts such as the fact that men aren't slaves to their dicks, good communication between relationship partners who have different needs, asexuality, consent etc. unfortunately aren't explored. But maybe that'd be too much to ask of a book that probably was intended as amusing and relatable bedside literature (pun intended) for women of the year 1995. I guess it's alright as a starting point for women who want to stop being seen as disembodied holes, although unfortunately the ending pretty much totally subverts the setup, and also simply as good-natured entertainment. Thinking back to this book, I feel bad for how both women and men have suffered and continue to suffer from harmful gender stereotypes and I'm glad we have progressed a little bit since, at least somewhat and in some areas. Personally, it provided me with the chance to learn about impotence at the age of ten and that rummaging through other people's drawers is bad.
No words can describe how much I hated reading this book. It's a disaster and can be summarized in a couple short sentences: a spoilt, sexy looking woman hates men because they want to have sex with her. She decides to date impotent men who spoil her some more. They eat, drink and talk. In two weeks time she falls in love with prince charming and they live happily ever after once she realizes that he is in fact not impotent and can give her a good f*ck. The main character is basically a self-absorbed hypocrite. The end.
This book was very badly written. That's probably due in part by the fact that it's a translation. There are no chapters in this book and all they do all the time is go to each others' houses and eat. Very dull, predictable and LAME!!!
Ein stark klischeehaftes Buch. Es gab einzelne Stellen, an denen ich gelacht habe, allerdings eher über die überzeichneten Stereotype als über die Geschichte selbst. Zudem zieht sich die Handlung an mehreren Punkten unnötig in die Länge, was den Lesefluss deutlich bremst. Ich hatte schon keine Erwartungen und trotzdem hat mich das Buch nicht überzeugt.
I had to think long and hard (no pun intended) (well kinda intended) what I would give for a rating for this absurd fairy tale from Gaby Hauptmann. Had I picked up the paperback version of this book, I would've probably dismissed it for a bad German Harlequin romance novel (the paperback is very pink and obviously targeted to a female audience); I decided to read this hardback version simply because it was recommended to me by a (male) friend who said only that it was quirky. I rued my decision at first: I found myself bored silly over this seemingly ridiculous anti-romance novel. The plot centers on the protagonist, a female putting a personal ad in the newspaper for an impotent man because she is tired of being used as a sexual object by her suitors and constantly lacking any depth in romantic relationships. Boring, boring, boring. The most amusing thing about this book's first 50 pages is the illustration of a stemmed flower that starts out erect, then wilts lower and lower with every page, so that you can use the top of the pages as a flip book. Really really dull. And then it kinda surprised me a bit, taking some unforseen twists on the protagonist's otherwise trite pursuit of impotent men. Overall, it was an amusing trifle.
Iniziamo dalla protagonista. Una donna bellissima, dal corpo mozzafiato, che fa perdere la testa ad ogni essere vivente di sesso maschile nel raggio di 2 chilometri. Stufa del suo fascino e dell'effetto che fa sugli uomini, che da lei vogliono una cosa sola, decide che il problema va risolto alla radice eliminando il sesso dalla sua vita. Mette in pratica il suo proposito attraverso un annuncio in cui cerca un uomo impotente con cui avere una relazione. Ne trova un certo numero, abbastanza promettenti, fino a quando non riceve una risposta particolare e decide che sarà lui l'amore della sua vita. L'incontro conferma la sua supposizione e pare quasi che si debbano sposare il giorno dopo, perché naturalmente anche lui è dello stesso parere. Ma a questo punto la protagonista inizia a rimpiangere il suo proponimento iniziale. Dopo un necessario intrigo pseudointernazionale (l'autrice proprio non può farne a meno), molta psicologia spicciola decisamente opinabile (soprattutto il punto di vista sull'impotenza e la frigidità), arriva il lieto fine. Scialbo.
Sadly a waste of time. I can't ever recall reading a book that was so badly written. The title and storyline had so much potential, I was really looking forward to reading it. But then all these clichés, a very unlikable narcissist protagonist, a bunch of fillers (did it really have to be so long?!), unnatural dialogs that just never flow, way too predictable... I could go on. I'm sorry to be so harsh but I just really can't recommend it.
Oh and it's not the translation, I read it in German and it's just not good either.
Das Buch macht echt keinen Spaß zu lesen. Statt sich auf ein Leben ohne Sex zu fokussieren sucht die Protagonistin doch nur wieder das eine. Super anward situations beschrieben. Könnte es beim besten Willen nicht zu Ende lesen.
Che delusione! Il titolo lasciava sperare in un racconto brioso, ironico, dal ritmo travolgente. Invece sembra un libriccino scritto da una adolescente alle prese con i primi stravolgimenti ormonali. Questo "libro" è stato uno spreco di tempo, di carta e di soldi (pochi per fortuna perché l'ho preso usato)
Lustiges Schnell-Lesebuch über eine selbstbewußte Mittdreissigerin, die sich einen Idealpartner sucht, und das in einer Zeit, in der es noch Telefonzellen gab, in denen es nach kaltem Rauch stank. Ich habe das Buch in einer Kirchenbibliothek gefunden, ich stelle mir vor, dass es da seit den Achzigern gestanden hat und keiner es lesen wollte. Mir hat es Spaß gemacht.
Gaby Hauptmann is not a super talented writer and this is no masterpiece compared, so compared to other books i have to give it a 3 star rating,
but story-wise it deserves a 4, the book was fun to read. I liked the characters and the twist. Sure lot's of weird coincidences and a story fir the little girl in us who still seeks their prince etc. But it's told in a very charming way and I enjoyed it a lot !
Mein erster Gaby Hauptmann Roman. Fand ihn äußerst angenehm zu lesen, amüsant, unterhaltsam, nicht langweilig und auch nicht zu abstrus (wie manche der folgenden Bücher).
E' buffo scoprire una scrittrice tedesca che fa ridere, o almeno ci prova. La Hauptman costruisce una sarabanda dal ritmo sempre più accelerato attorno a una bella assicuratrice dai capelli rossi che, stufa del martellamento sessuale del suo boy, mette un'inserzione sul giornale come da titolo e si ritrova corteggiata da un campionario assortito di maschi problematici desiderosi di mostrarle il loro fascino o di risolvere i loro problemi grazie a lei. Ma le cose non sono mai come sembrano, neanche in certi campi.
L'ho iniziato perché il titolo mi catturava e volevo una lettura leggera, ma non pensavo mi avrebbe catturato così tanto! La storia è scorrevole e per quanto assurda non è per nulla banale; i personaggi sono strutturati bene. È proprio un libro alla girl power che consiglierei anche a molti maschietti là fuori che reputano le donne solo un oggetto sessuale
O título deste livro vivia na minha imaginação desde que li o seu primeiro capítulo numa revista feminina, no final dos anos 90. A trama até está bem urdida, mas não me convenceu. Talvez devesse dar-lhe o desconto do tempo, mas a verdade é que toda esta história me soou demasiado a Margarida Rebelo Pinto.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
La storia merita cinque stelline, per quanto è spassosa. Un libro che non ha grosse pretese ma che riesce a incuriosire e divertire. Il finale però è da una stellina, perché dire banale sarebbe riduttivo. Nel complesso, non male.
É um livro que aborda um tema bastante atual nos relacionamentos e que nos faz pensar sobre aquilo que realmente pretendemos deles. É uma leitura fácil, que nos envolve e super divertida. Recomendo vivamente a leitura deste livro!
Ganz amüsant aber etwas überholt besonders die ständig vertretende Ansicht daß Geschlechtsverkehr hauptsächlich auf die männliche Penetration der Frau bezogen wird. Dennoch eine nette leichte Lektüre.
Una delle peggiori merdate che abbia letto in vita mia (anche peggio de Il libraio). Ma siccome ogni libro può insegnarci qualcosa...sta schifezza mi ha insegnato che le merdate "letterarie" andrebbero evitate come la peste.
I remember not minding it when I first read it in the 90’s, but this time around I was bored crapless by halfway through it. The translation seems a little off too.