The Unknowns

by Gabriel Roth

Imagine One Day as retold by Woody Allen -- and welcome to the hilarious, neurotic, and peculiarly perceptive world of Gabriel Roth.

Eric has survived his ostracised teens in the school computer basement of the mid-80s and seems to have everything: the dot com millions, the beautiful apartment, the quick mind, and even passable looks. But he has never quite found love. Until, with all the glamorous alliteration of a movie star, Maya Marcom arrives on his horizon.

It's not easy to pursue the most alluring woman in North America when you're a misfiring circuit of over-analytical self-doubt and she has a killer line and a perfectly raised eyebrow. But as Eric refines his email technique, his date patter and his capacity to shut up after sex, he finds there's more to Maya Marcom than meets the eye.

Will our loveable geek be able to conquer his dogged need to discover the whole truth about his lover -- or will they continue in bliss and wonder? This is a story about the mysteries of the heart, and the ways in which one fragile human being is harder to really know than enough computer code to make a fortune.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Novels, Book Club, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, New Adult

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Gabriel Roth was born and raised in London and educated at Brown University and at San Francisco State University, from which he received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. For several years he was employed as a reporter and editor at the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He now works as a writer and software developer and lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. The Unknowns is his first novel.

Reviews

[Nancy Martira · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took a sharp left turn and failed to bring me along with it. I never quite recovered my equilibrium or figured out who i was meant to route for and why. The story didn't feel so much "unknown" as "unfinished."

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

[10/6/13: Removing a star with time and distance. Still loved the novel, but its scope is somewhat limited by design, and I'm not quite sure it has made a lasting impression in my head. And so.]

A sad, grimly funny, and dizzyingly well-written debut novel.

There is much to say about this slim, wonderful book, but I think I'll keep this short: Anyone who has felt the crippling self-consciousness of not understanding the Other while dating, while living, will recognize themselves in the narrator, Eric Fuller. He is an idiot, of course, hyper-articulate though he may be. But basically he represents a lot of guys I know (and was) once upon a time. This is the end result of a life lived without emotional maturity, and funny as it is, mostly what it is is sad.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric survived high school in the mid 80’s; the nerd that spent way too much time with computers and never really having any friends. Now he has millions from selling his dot com and lives in a beautiful apartment and living the life everyone dreams of. Except he never quite found love, that was until the glamorous Maya came into his life. It’s not easy trying to get the most alluring woman in the world to pay any attention to you at all.

When I was in high school I really wanted to be a writer, this is the type of story I tried to write. Not as well as Gabriel Roth, I don’t know how to be a writer. they always ended up too short and descriptive, I never knew how to write long form and tended to rush to the end. Don’t get me wrong, The Unknowns is not a typical nerdy love story; Roth showed me just what can be done with this type of novel.

If you think this is not the type of novel I would normally pick up and enjoy then let me tell you why I picked this book up. I consider Megan Abbott the queen of contempory noir and when she blurbs and tweets about a novel, I tend to pay attention. The Unknowns starts out as a nerd falling in love but then deals with the complexity of a relationship, in a slight noirish manner.

Maya may be the most beautiful woman Eric has ever seen but she comes with her own issues she has to deal with. Humans can be fragile creatures and sometimes it is hard to know just how deep the pain runs. When Eric learns about his lover and her emotional scars he is left wondering about the truth. Life is more complex than computer code.

I really enjoyed the way this book tackled relationships; from the start you have a geeky romance and then by the end you are reading about the complex human beings. Roth blends wit with a unique view of the world and human interactions and nails home a magnificent exploration into relationships. I like the way this book is a budding romance/coming of age novel but you look a little deeper and there is so much more to discover.

While Eric isn’t too similar to me, I remember life as an outsider (I still feel that way) and the feeling of trying to navigate the social waters. As you get older, it doesn’t get any easier and you are bound to make mistakes. I’m lucky to have found my own Maya and had to learn about relationships and trying to understand all the pain from their past can be a lot to deal with when you are socially awkward. I really identified with this novel and felt inspired to write again but then I realise I can’t write anything like this and never end up trying.

The Unknowns is a witty humorous contemporary novel full of so many human truths, when Megan Abbott tweeted me to tell me that this novel won’t disappoint she wasn’t lying. I’m not trying to name drop, Abbott is fantastic on Twitter and will happily answer any questions you might have and proves Twitter is the place to be. If you are socially awkward or are interested in the exploration of relationships then this book is for you.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...

[Sally Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then a writer creates a character with whom you have absolutely nothing in common but from whom you learn so much and relate to in ways you might never expect. In this case, the character, Eric, is a twenty something computer genius (or, "nerd") living in San Francisco and a recent millionaire after selling the dot com company he and his high school friend created. The novel, which alternates between his present life and his difficult middle school-high school years, tells his story of struggling with relationships, coming to terms with himself and how he, who admits he is only at ease while designing computer code, navigates tricky social situations. He's flawed for sure, but he is a compelling and very good person. His relationship with his troubled mother is heartbreakingly sweet. This is a poignant (and often hilarious), very well written and thought provoking novel.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to books, I go on a lot of first dates.

Everything seems good in the beginning, but then the deal breakers start piling up.

I expected The Unknowns to follow the same pattern because I've become hopelessly cynical. I started to believe that my tastes were too particular. That I would never be satisfied. That I was one of those people.

But this story was everything I thought it would be. Everything it promised to be: equal parts studious character study and idiosyncratic love story. Just like the opening chapter, the novel is funny, analytical, surprising, and heartbreaking all at once. I liked it so much that by page three, I was already highlighting passages. By the time I was two chapters in, there were already like three full pages that I was dying to share with someone.

[Beth Hartnett · Rating 1 out of 5]

The publisher should be fined. The author should be flogged. I will not read books by the authors who provided recommendations on the back of the book...they have lost all credibility.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Reads Review - The Unknowns by Gabriel Roth

I have to say that for most of this book I wasn't exactly sure what to think of it, the main character, his quest for his perfect woman. Eric is at times a very painful character to read because most people will probably find some way to relate to him, to his not fitting in, his inability to connect with people in a meaningful way, his desire to slip into a persona to make friends and be attractive. And yet he is also an incredibly flawed person, something that I am very glad the author does not reward. The book is well titled as The Unknowns, because it deals with the concept of the Unknown in our current culture, the dangers that the unknowns pose to us as our private lives are slowly and steadily stripped from us. Because as our individual significance is taken away, as we become only important as part of some larger demographic, our minds start trying to give ourselves significance. We then perceive unknowns, blank spaces that we can't fully explain, and attempt to come up with a narrative to fill that space, to battle the unknown, and in doing so to give us importance. Unfortunately this is an incredibly selfish thing to do, and normally leads to the dissolution of relationships and other not-good things. Such is it in this book, which shows exactly how a man creates that narrative only to have everything crumble into dust. Good stuff, and recommended.

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me by such pleasant surprise. I picked it up at ALA and wasn't sure what to think when I started it.

A data-oriented male has always tried to apply his research proficiency to his social life with catastrophic results. He's highly observant, but can't handle the many "unknowns", the variables you can't objectively learn when dealing with romantic relationships. When falling in love for the first time, he faces a particularly scary unknown, and drama unfolds.

It's told in the first person and by the end I really felt I understood him and his actions, even when they were wrong, even when I was screaming at him to stop. The reader is presented with a moral dilemma, and a question that I personally haven't really asked myself: does it matter if our partners are telling us the truth or not about their emotional past? What if you just can't know something about someone-- can you live with that?

I'm impressed that this is Roth's first novel. It's told with an ease and a mastery of language that feels so experienced and comfortable.

I quite enjoyed it. It suffers from some tense/perspective issues towards the end, and it's also unapologetically male which, in this day and age, rubs me the wrong way... but it was nonetheless an enjoyable read that I tore through.

[Erica]

I really, really liked this book. The best thing about it was how it changed and expanded as it went on, starting out as a funny, light thing about a nerdy guy who approaches dating in a wacky way and developing into a great meditation on "the unknown" and how much we can truly know about the people we love--and whether or not that matters. And all in just over 200 pages!

Also, it made me glad I didn't marry a nerd.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I wanted to keep reading and sneaked in a lot of reading sessions during a very busy week. The narrator speaks in a provocatively hyper-analytical, techno-economic language as he tries to understand himself, his past, and his relationships. He's smart, clueless, awkward, human. It's a really sad book, but funny.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! Can't wait for y'all to read it in 2013!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest drawback to this book is its lack of focus. It isn’t so bad; it tells a fairly linear story about a specific character (Eric). It isn’t the plot that’s unfocused so much as the theme - it seems like Roth is trying to say something profound about relationships but never really does so. He’s exploring but never unearths the jackpot - this book seems to have no goal or thesis. This makes it difficult to feel fully engaged in the story. Eric is also a bit difficult as a protagonist. He doesn’t seem like a bad person, but he doesn’t seem like an enjoyable person, either. He didn’t really make sense to me, as he’s a very calculating and distant person who also seems to have lots of feelings but no clear goals or ideas. Still, this could be good for book clubs, since it’s under 250 pages and could lend itself to a lot of discussion - everyone could come away with a different conclusion about the point of this story.

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ich hasse dieses Buch. Ich habe auf Seite 75 aufgehört zu lesen. Die Story ist so lahm und die Beschreibungen und seine Gedanken ekeln mich irgendwie an. Der Vater tut mir so leid und es deprimiert nur. Erstpart euch dieses Buch. Es lohnt sich nicht.

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you've spent so much of your life trying to make logical sense of things, bringing order to total chaos, can you apply those same principles to situations where logic doesn't always occur, like romantic relationships?

Computer programmer Eric Muller figured out his knack for computers and writing code fairly early. "I still haven't found anything that keeps anxiety at bay as reliably as coding: the possibilities and ramifications branch outward to colonize all of your available brainspace, and the syntax of the language gives direction to your twitches and impulses and keeps them from firing off into panic."

While he reveled in his skills, his desire to be accepted and find a girlfriend often outweighed his intellect. And when he tried using his intellect to conquer the "girlfriend issue," disastrous consequences ensued. So Eric realized that the well-placed sensitive comment, remembering certain things his dates said and using them in future questions and comments (to show he was listening), and demonstrating his sense of humor were all keys to some success, even if his insecurity often got the best of him. And despite the fact that he and a friend sold their internet startup company for millions of dollars, his confidence often wavered.

When he meets Maya Marcom, an intelligent, driven, and beautiful reporter, all bets are off. Eric keeps waiting for Maya to see through him, to realize his flaws or that he's still the same insecure, geeky computer nerd he was growing up as their relationship intensifies. Yet when he finds out a secret about Maya's past, he isn't sure how to handle that within the confines of their relationship, and approaching this problem like coding doesn't help matters any. Couple that uncertainty with issues regarding his estranged father, who is again searching for the ultimate business deal, and trouble is definitely on the horizon.

"What part of anyone is knowable?," Eric asks. How does a person who can only see the black and white of code when it works or doesn't work accept the uncertain greys of a relationship? Can you truly take a leap of faith and believe what the person you love tells you, or do you have to somehow prove it to yourself?

The Unknowns tries to answer those questions through the awkwardly lovable persona of Eric Muller. He is certainly a flawed character, yet you can mostly understand his insecurity and uncertainty, as it is rather deep-seated. And you find yourself rooting for his relationship with Maya to work. But while I totally understood what motivated him, I was really unsettled with one action he took, and it nearly made me stop caring about him and what happened to him. And that was a little disappointing, although Gabriel Roth's storytelling ability, and his depiction of Eric's life, was tremendously skilled and appealing.

This is a book about learning to trust your instincts when you're completely conditioned to act differently. It's also a love story about two people desperately trying to trust one another and overcome insecurity. And like love itself, it's not perfect, but it's enjoyable to experience.

[Laura Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Maya's past is unknowable, but what part of anyone is knowable? We can only know each other the way we know distant stars: by observing years-old light, gathering outdated information, running calculations and making inferences." p.223

^ Favorite quote. Perhaps it's resonating with me right now because I'm also reading NDT's 'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.' Also seems like a less poignant version of a Martin Amis quote from 'Night Train.'

This one gets a 3.5 stars from me. It was enjoyable; the reviews claiming it was a "witty" and "fun" story were mostly true. I was invested in Eric and Maya, their relationship, and Eric's flashbacks to the younger self that still, in certain ways, existed in his adult self. I enjoyed the software angle; I poked my software engineer boyfriend in the arm a couple of times to say things like, "Hey, check it out. JavaScript is in my novel."

But along the way, some things fell out of their places for me. The "mysterious secret" Maya was hiding was a lot more intimate and a lot less scandalous than I had expected and, further, I'm not exactly sure why the author chose to run with the false memory disorder as a major plot point. It made Mays's perceived abuse seem a lot less important than it should have been, and instead a story was told about a woman's anguished testimony not being enough proof. And never mind Eric's weird, Freudian "I love you, mom" thing -- that's conveniently never mentioned again. The whole thing felt like a plot device to propel the story forward...but only to a point: right before the end. That's where it really stopped for me. The break between Eric and Maya is somewhat understandable, I guess -- I mean, I certainly would've done what Maya did -- but there's no real sense of resolution. And we're supposed to accept that Annabelle is the end-all, solve-all solution that Eric's been looking for, after this 200-something-page impassioned novel about another woman? There's no resolution with Eric's mother, either, nor is there resolution with Maya's dad, although we're probably meant to assume that they never speak again. There's also the huge problem of Eric over-sexualizing and minimizing women, but that's a fish to fry another time.

Overall, despite enjoying some of its cheekier moments, I felt somewhat unsatisfied by this book.

[Shelly Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a fan of well written first person narrative, I instantly loved the writing style of the author. I really enjoyed that it was a male perspective in a first person as well. It’s not that there are no male perspective books out there, of course, but it’s always fun to find one. It was a refreshing change from the majority that I tend to find. Very enjoyable!

Eric is such an interesting and multifaceted character. His escapades and, well, perhaps conquests might be a good word to use, keep you turning the pages so rapidly that before you know it you are finished with the book! I really don’t want to give too much away about this book because I think that you would do well to read it for yourself. It’s really very good and so worth reading but since this is a review something more should be said about it!

This book takes you through a range of emotions. You will find yourself laughing at times, slapping yourself in the forehead or yelling at the pages of the book over the actions of the characters (since you can’t smack or yell at them, though at times you might want to), shedding a tear (or 600), and many other such emotions/actions. I would really recommend giving this book a shot because it was highly addicting and hard to put down.

I was shocked that it was a debut novel! At the time of this review the book isn’t out just yet but I would mark your calendars for its release, add it to your wish lists, and preorder if you can so that you get it the second it’s out! I am sure going to be on the lookout for more to come from this author! Really great book that I would recommend to anyone who likes the type of book described above.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I started reading this book, I thought I would love this book. It was about a computer geek (ME!), living in SF (close enough), who is in his earlyish twenties (me again - except for the male part).

And for most of the book I did love this book - I loved how he thought about things analytically and how he was one of those tech nerd millionaires all Bay Areans aspire to be. And its a love story which we can all relate to in some way. I loved how we saw glimpses of his childhood - though these seemed a bit disjointed and by the end became un-fulfilling.

But then we find out the thing,and this quirky fun book does a 180 and becomes a serious book about if the thing is really a thing and how that can affect a relationship. I just felt that the thing changed this book into something I wasn't expecting and not in a good way. The book seemed to straddle the line between what it started out as and what it ended as.

In the end, I wanted to love this book so much, but I was left with more questions then answers and a distinct longing for what the book could have been.

If you are wondering, the thing is finding out that Maya may or may not have been molested by her father and whether repressed memories are a valid form of evidence.

I think the worst thing this book did for me is since I was so much on Eric's side that I was upset with Maya for not understanding, when I should have been upset with Eric for not understanding. This may be a character flaw of my own, but I believe it is more on the book than myself. The more I think about the book the more disappointed I become.

[Nicole | The Readerly Report · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pretty much read The Unknowns with my heart in my throat, very nervous for the main character. The novel alternates between Eric’s newer more polished millionaire version of himself and the geek in high school who had no friends, an awkward relationship with his father, and an idea of keeping a notebook cataloging the attributes of his female peers which just seems destined to go painfully wrong. It is easy to make the connection between the boy who was searching for a way to understand women, and the man who will inevitably run into problems because he hasn’t figured out the values and nuances of trust, loyalty, love and other equally complex notions.

The problem that surfaces with Maya is unique in that there aren’t any clear answers that Eric can see, and his nature makes it impossible for him to leave well enough alone. The Unknowns made me think a lot about the trust, or the appearance of such, we put into people we know and their interpretations of their own histories, and how important our interpretations are of them. So much is “unknown”, and can only be negotiated in the attachments we form with one another.

Eric’s highly evolved problem solving nature, and unambiguous thinking is put to severe strain. I loved the relationship analysis and commentary on modern culture. Roth is spot on. He places the reader so firmly in Eric’s head space that it is a little painful to be cognizant of the problems he’ll face in ways he cannot imagine, but that’s also part of the fun in this astutely observed, intelligent novel. Recommended.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely relatable, for reasons hard to detail and delve into (suffice to say I was a kind of Maya once for an IT guy, or at least i think I was. On the other hand, I can totally identify with Eric's appetite for rationalizing literally everything).

The only reason I cut a star is because I found Maya extremely annoying/flat as a character. Or fake, or pretentious, whatever it was, but something was very off with her character (and I don't mean "that thing" - real or imagined), but her whole presence in the book. Can't figure out whether this was due to the author's failure to give her flesh and blood, or perhaps i am just jealous on her :). Either way, she didn't strike me at all as being a character apt to generate such a devastating passion. To me she suggested nothing but a walking set of carefully curated intellectual platitudes.

Other than Maya's transparency, the book has really great stuff, in terms of its ability to reflect the cultural, social and historical period and geography that it refers to. For that I would have given 5 stars. But bloody Maya (even the name is so pretentious) really ruined it for me.

[Tony Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Unknowns is Gabriel Roth's debut novel, and he's already landed a fan in me, plus, by all accounts, one of my favourite authors, Sebastian Faulks. Faulks says Roth's book is "fast, funny, full of snappy dialogue. And so it is. Eric Muller is a newly mega-rich IT geek, and its his life we explore, flashing back to Eric's schooldays, and to the present day as a new relationship with the very attractive Maya evolves. As a computer geek in the early days Eric had a great deal of trouble socially. Something he's now overcome. Maya discloses to Eric the fact that her father abused her when he was bringing her up after the death of her mother. Eventually this leads to Eric confronting her father, and the consequences are not what he hoped for. Roth does a brilliant job of conveying the essence of the emotions involved in close relationships, while also taking us into the interesting world of IT success. Can't wait for novel #2 from Gabriel Roth.

[Randal Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you imagine Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy, only with an actual nerd as the protagonist instead of Ben Affleck, and a much more nuanced and less chauvinistic conflict, you get Gabriel Roth's The Unknowns.

It's frustrating, because as a guy who's largely an idiot when it comes to women, I want to root for the guy who's largely an idiot when it comes to women. It's like watching a horror film where you know the killer's hiding in the basement and the teenagers go against every normal instinct to wander down to the basement to get chopped up. Because they're idiots.

Still, the characters ring true-ish and relatible-ish (yes, they're better than us normal people, who have to deal with romance AND the unpleasantness of having to pay the bills simultaneously, but they still think like us and act like us, mostly), and some of the larger themes suggested by the title are remarkably well-done.

[Sarah Obsesses over Books & Cookies · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book about a guy, in the first person, named Eric who is a programmer who built something with a friend and then sold it and made a cool multi-million paycheck.
The reader is taken back and forth between his nerdish upbringing and his viewpoints on girls and how he managed to score the love of his life (if for only a few short months). Sounds like it could be promising for those who like mainstream coming of age stories right?? The book had it's moments but I wasn't convinced of the other reviews of the writers voice.
It was engaging at points but then lost it at other points. The underlying story was deeper, which was that of child abuse, specifically molestation int he form of his girlfriend Maya. We never know whether it's a repressed memory or fabricated but overall it was a story I liked to get back to and I have been on a hit or miss phase of reading these past 4 months but i'm glad I didn't just discard it.
If you're in between books, I recommend this as a filler.

[Auntjenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this book, although initially it seemed promising. By the middle of the book, I started skimming. Too many people met coincidentally in restaurants, for example. Give me a break. This does not happen in big cities. Maybe once, but repeatedly? And certain elements were rehashed over and over again. Eric and Maya's sex life, for example... I can only handle so much of that, especially after Maya's past is revealed.

This was the author's first book-- so in that regard, Roth shows a lot of potential. As others have pointed out, I think the plot/structure of the book could have used some work.

I gave the book three stars because overall it was readable and entertaining, but the plot/structure needed some work, and frankly, in general it was not my idea of a good time. As for the ending, who in their right mind would have done what Eric did? I really don't see his actions as being particularly realistic, either. People google these days. Actual action is limited.

[Calzean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't like the main character Eric, as he was unable to move from facts to emotions, he adapted his personality to be attractive to women and when he met the girl of his dreams he was unable to see the difference between being rational and being empathetic. But by giving us such a flawed and believable character the writer has provided a story which shows the difficulty of many people to be happy with themselves while being able to be understand the needs of others and show them support.

The book starts a bit like "The Rosie Project" where a social misfit tries to analyse the perfect girl in a story with humour - even the book cover has a similar look. Then as Eric moves into adulthood he finds he has new wealth due to a software program he developed with a friend and plenty of time on his hands. His mind works on new programming challenges and remains remote or disinterested in any current affairs focusing on his need to satisfy his lusts until he can find the perfect woman.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is SO SMART. I can tell I'm going to like it :)

------

The perfect book to read up on the roof in the sun on a Saturday. I laughed out loud in some parts, was amused throughout most of it, but mostly I was blown away by Gabriel Roth's writing. It's superb. It's smart, it flows, it feels effortless - like having a conversation - but it's imbued with so much intelligence, playfulness and perfectly selected diction. Like, whoa - I'll definitely be checking out Gabriel Roth's future books.

Regarding the story itself, it was very much in the vein of one of my faves, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.. I recognize that this style of writing and the depiction of women is not for everyone, but personally I love the realism and getting inside of the male brain. It's brilliant.

[Kelly McCloskey-Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this one four stars because I listen to a slate podcast with Gabriel Roth and find him likable. His wry tone shines through this first person narrative about an awkward computer geek who falls in love but then botches his own romance.
It held my interest, and I enjoyed many of the sentences as well as protagonist Eric’s miserable adolescent backstory, which was painfully believable and well-told.
But... the sexual parts of the story were pretty weird and off-putting, and the fatal blow to Eric and Maya’s relationship, his inability to accept/believe her story of repressed memories of sexual abuse by her father, was weird, creepy, and difficult to understand. I felt alternately puzzled and disgusted by his reaction and by the framing of the repressed memory debate as something compelling.
So in the end Roth’s funny, self-deprecating, witty turns of phrase were in service to a weird, depressing plot that I don’t quite understand.

[Jackie Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Unknowns" is the most engrossing novel I've read in a while. Based on the first person musings of a love-starved computer genius, "The Unknowns" is aptly titled. Its story is centered around Eric's quest to understand what makes a woman tick (he keeps a detailed study of each girl in his high school freshman class), and in particular, his current flame, Maya, and the mystery surrounding her sexual abuse by her father. Eric questions her veracity and after researching "repressed memories", he interviews her father, who denies the accusations. Thus, the truth of Maya's claims remains "unknown" and they end their relationship.

Gabriel Roth is a skillful writer and I loved his style, which is both analytical and emotionally revealing. I highly recommend this, his first novel, and can't wait to read his next book!

[Wendy Pitts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was completely intrigued by the premise of this book, "Eric has been trying to hack the girlfriend problem his whole life". I thought that this book would be about a guy approaching relationships as a purely logical problem, and in the beginning it was. He even created a notebook in middle school about all the girls he had in his classes to gather data. I was hooked, then Eric meets a girl Maya and it changes into a book about having a relationship with someone who has been abused. There is even a fairly significant portion of the book related to repressed memories versus false memory syndrome. The book was well written, I was just disappointed that it didn't really follow through with the original story premise.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this copy via Goodreads Giveaway.

I really enjoyed the narrative. The story is about Eric, a logical thinker, and how he approaches relationships, both family and romantic. The story places more of an emphasis on his romantic relationships or as he calls it, "The girl problem." The story is interesting throughout and I liked how it jumped around between the past and present and fleshed out how Eric became who he is today. He approaches all situations, whether dealing with computers or relationships, from a logical standpoint, which is interesting to read, as relationships always have a lot of emotions involved. I really enjoyed the story and recommend it to anyone considering giving it a read.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I got introduced to this book. Roth has a great, crisp, smart style, and he reminded me at times of Sam Lipsyte, but his narrator isn't quite so schlubby and sad-sack. Newly wealthy software geek Eric Muller may feel at sea in the world, but he's actually quite presentable. He has potential! The early, comic chapters of looking-for-love shade gradually into something much more serious: Eric's nagging suspicion that his lover, who believes herself to be a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and has cut herself off from family as a result, could be . . . mistaken. The mood gets darker and sadder, and the book, and the comedy, end in beautiful, troubling equipoise.