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Bachelor Kisses
Jon, Rick and Jen are in their mid-twenties and share a house in Brisbane. Together they share food rituals, sporadic cocktail nights and the quest for love. Rick seems destined to long, lonely nights beneath his Porky Pig doona. Jen consumes men like chocolate bars. And Jon gets lucky in a way he's never expected - more women than he knows how to handle. A young doctor with grand plans for the hormone of darkness, he finds his life is spiralling way out of control.
Bachelor Kisses is the mess Jon Marshall makes of his life when it stops making sense. It's the story of one man's hilarious search for meaning: a chaotic comedy of misjudgements, misinformation and misguided intimacy.
Bachelor Kisses is the mess Jon Marshall makes of his life when it stops making sense. It's the story of one man's hilarious search for meaning: a chaotic comedy of misjudgements, misinformation and misguided intimacy.
408 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1998
14 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Nick Earls
74 books172 followersNick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
October 27, 2018
The Australian version of 'House of God'? Maybe, but without the anger and cynicism.
There are many similarities - the protagonist, a junior doctor in Australia in the late 80s (versus New York in the 70s), does many similar things - sleeping with the nursing staff (with similar bawdy detail to House of God), euthanising patients (with slightly less moral ambiguity than in House of God) and impressing the senior staff. However, while 'House of God' was more of a scathing critique of the US medical system, Bachelor Kisses is really just a lightweight comic novel about a self-centred young man's sex life in Brisbane, Australia, who just happens to be a junior doctor. The cast of characters is fairly limited, essentially consisting of the various nurses he sleeps with, his boss - ('Johnno', the Director of Psychiatry - who ever heard of a second year resident being on nickname terms with the Director of Psychiatry and exchanging details of their sex lives? Ridiculous!), and the Medical Superintendent, as well as his two housemates. Although there are some funny moments, there isn't really a coherent plot, and the novel just sort of runs out of momentum, without any ending. Overall, would have liked it more if the main character was a little more likeable, and there was some character evolution during the course of the novel - although it was heading this way, it finished before it got there!
Still, its set in my home town, and my place of work (although going by a different name in this book), so definitely not all bad!
There are many similarities - the protagonist, a junior doctor in Australia in the late 80s (versus New York in the 70s), does many similar things - sleeping with the nursing staff (with similar bawdy detail to House of God), euthanising patients (with slightly less moral ambiguity than in House of God) and impressing the senior staff. However, while 'House of God' was more of a scathing critique of the US medical system, Bachelor Kisses is really just a lightweight comic novel about a self-centred young man's sex life in Brisbane, Australia, who just happens to be a junior doctor. The cast of characters is fairly limited, essentially consisting of the various nurses he sleeps with, his boss - ('Johnno', the Director of Psychiatry - who ever heard of a second year resident being on nickname terms with the Director of Psychiatry and exchanging details of their sex lives? Ridiculous!), and the Medical Superintendent, as well as his two housemates. Although there are some funny moments, there isn't really a coherent plot, and the novel just sort of runs out of momentum, without any ending. Overall, would have liked it more if the main character was a little more likeable, and there was some character evolution during the course of the novel - although it was heading this way, it finished before it got there!
Still, its set in my home town, and my place of work (although going by a different name in this book), so definitely not all bad!
December 19, 2022
I don't know what has made me crossest about this book, of which I have read half.
- that it is seriously misogynistic
- that I was chortling out loud quite often to begin with, until suddenly the book slams you with what it really wants to say about women
- that it unforgivably stereotypes nurses. Nurses, nudge, nudge. Not much they won't do.
- that all the main characters are unbearably smug wankers. Even when they are insecure they do it in this offensively smug way.
- try never to have to go to hospital
- if you do, avoid doctors at all costs
- there is literally a male doctor in this book who find it fascinating to observe that the very young woman he is shagging is the oldest female he's to date shagged
- it's all like this. Repugnant doesn't begin to describe it
For a while I thought I had to carry on because surely I couldn't have been so wrong early in the book when I thought I was having fun. But actually it was all just relative. I thought I was having fun because Manny was reading Proust and I wasn't. But it turns out that not reading Proust doesn't necessarily cut it as a definition of having fun.
MOST irritatingly, I bought another book by Earls at the same time and now I don't know whether to open it or just pass it on.
Oh, and maybe this experience confirms that the male members of The Go-Betweens fit right into this book.
- that it is seriously misogynistic
- that I was chortling out loud quite often to begin with, until suddenly the book slams you with what it really wants to say about women
- that it unforgivably stereotypes nurses. Nurses, nudge, nudge. Not much they won't do.
- that all the main characters are unbearably smug wankers. Even when they are insecure they do it in this offensively smug way.
- try never to have to go to hospital
- if you do, avoid doctors at all costs
- there is literally a male doctor in this book who find it fascinating to observe that the very young woman he is shagging is the oldest female he's to date shagged
- it's all like this. Repugnant doesn't begin to describe it
For a while I thought I had to carry on because surely I couldn't have been so wrong early in the book when I thought I was having fun. But actually it was all just relative. I thought I was having fun because Manny was reading Proust and I wasn't. But it turns out that not reading Proust doesn't necessarily cut it as a definition of having fun.
MOST irritatingly, I bought another book by Earls at the same time and now I don't know whether to open it or just pass it on.
Oh, and maybe this experience confirms that the male members of The Go-Betweens fit right into this book.
February 4, 2023
God how I hated this book. Finally threw it to the floor in a fit of drunken belligerance.
This is supposed to be a humourous book but it is absolutely so unfunny that you cannot believe it. Unless you think that blow jobs and swallowing are funny - which they might have been in the 80s.
The story - for what it is - concerns a successful and good looking med student, his less successful in love friend and their nymphomaniac lady house guest.
The student gets his oats a lot.... tries to write a thesis on melatonin levels and thats about that.
Maybe a mild chuckle occured the once, but a total waste of time.
This is supposed to be a humourous book but it is absolutely so unfunny that you cannot believe it. Unless you think that blow jobs and swallowing are funny - which they might have been in the 80s.
The story - for what it is - concerns a successful and good looking med student, his less successful in love friend and their nymphomaniac lady house guest.
The student gets his oats a lot.... tries to write a thesis on melatonin levels and thats about that.
Maybe a mild chuckle occured the once, but a total waste of time.
March 8, 2012
I audio-read Nick Earls' Bachelor Kisses over a couple of weeks of walks with the dogs. Briefly, the story follows the 1980s activities of Jon, a young medic, as he deals with his odd housemates (Jen, who has men coming out her ears, and Rick, who would love to have women coming out his ears but whose tie collection and Porky Pig doona cover doom him to lonely nights), his attraction to the (female) nurse of the species, various patients, other doctors, Monte Carlo biscuits and a growing fascination with research into depression and a possible treatment. All this activity is conducted to the theme song of The Go-Betweens' Bachelor Kisses.
I enjoyed the story a lot, despite an occasional desire to kick Jon in the pants. It is funny in an ironic way... but less sweet-natured than Story of Butterfish. Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good romp with serious overtones and a hapless hero.
I enjoyed the story a lot, despite an occasional desire to kick Jon in the pants. It is funny in an ironic way... but less sweet-natured than Story of Butterfish. Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good romp with serious overtones and a hapless hero.
October 10, 2011
The mad life of a young doctor. Absolutely hilarious. Perfectly captures the ridiculous situations that a not yet mature, however responsibility is looming teenager finds themselves in. I was reading this book on a bus and literally had to stop reading as I couldn't control my guffaws and hysterical giggling. I identified with the main character (Jon) and as I'd studied Human Movement at Uni had a basic understanding of his serious pursuits. Have subsequently realised that this is very much from a male perspective. Therefore guys seem to find it funnier than girls.
Funniest book I have ever read.
Funniest book I have ever read.
May 29, 2012
This wasn't my favourite Nick Earls book. It didn't make me laugh the way World of Chickens and 48 Shades of Brown did and I found it harder to relate to the characters in this one. I'm sure you're supposed to want to slap the main character early on in the story, and I really, really did. Despite this I found it a fun read and easy to get into.
I listened to the audiobook version, and being a Brisbanite it amused me when the the reader kept mispronouncing place names (Toowong and Auchenflower). I suppose this happens in audiobooks all the time and I only notice it when it's somewhere I'm familiar with.
I listened to the audiobook version, and being a Brisbanite it amused me when the the reader kept mispronouncing place names (Toowong and Auchenflower). I suppose this happens in audiobooks all the time and I only notice it when it's somewhere I'm familiar with.
July 11, 2011
Light and fun. Good read. A lot of sex scenes... and the jam. Oh my god, the jam! (If you've read it you know what I mean).
To be honest I didn't enjoy it as much as some of Nick Earls' other novels and I think it was only cause one of the characters in this book I really didn't like. Up until she came along I was enjoying the book just fine.
To be honest I didn't enjoy it as much as some of Nick Earls' other novels and I think it was only cause one of the characters in this book I really didn't like. Up until she came along I was enjoying the book just fine.
May 5, 2009
Very very funny. The jam scene. Well. The jam scene. Nothing more can be said. (Don't read if you don't like sex scenes. And, um, jam.)
February 19, 2013
Nick Earls is a master at what he does!
Bachelor Kisses is the funniest book I have read in a long time. There where so many laugh out loud moments that I don't even know if I can tell you what my favourite part is.... I can't really pin it on any one thing because the whole book is a fabulous/hilarious and a very entertaining comedy that I couldn't put it down.
The penis in the Jam jar scenario had me in absolute stitches as did Jonnathan's whole witty and very outlandish behaviour. The way Nick portrays these characters especially Jon and Rick is so perfect, I felt like I knew them and was sitting in the corner listening to their strange but equally enticing and humerous conversations.
Well Done on such a fab book!!!
Bachelor Kisses is the funniest book I have read in a long time. There where so many laugh out loud moments that I don't even know if I can tell you what my favourite part is.... I can't really pin it on any one thing because the whole book is a fabulous/hilarious and a very entertaining comedy that I couldn't put it down.
The penis in the Jam jar scenario had me in absolute stitches as did Jonnathan's whole witty and very outlandish behaviour. The way Nick portrays these characters especially Jon and Rick is so perfect, I felt like I knew them and was sitting in the corner listening to their strange but equally enticing and humerous conversations.
Well Done on such a fab book!!!
June 30, 2014
Not as engrossing as some of his later reads for me and I felt as lost and confused Jon Marshall about half way through, but Earls' skill at story telling is like listening to an old friend spin an entertaining yarn in front of you so was a pleasure to read over all. Earls is a master of wry wit and observational humour providing plenty of laugh out loud moments which sometimes mirrors but not exactly, his own early pre-author days. Wish I had Jon Marshall's car - so need somewhere to play my old cassette tapes on too.
April 5, 2015
I found this book completely average. There didn't seem to be much of a plot to it. Nothing to take the interest of the reader early on. It was just a meander through the daily life of a junior doctor, taking in some medical mishaps, relationship issues, and fairly boring information about research into depression along the way.
This is mean to be laugh out loud funny. There were some funny moments, but not enough for me to recommend this to anyone.
This is mean to be laugh out loud funny. There were some funny moments, but not enough for me to recommend this to anyone.
October 22, 2007
One of my favorite books. It literally had me laughing out loud. Great story, well written, hilarious, what more could you want?
November 9, 2007
Funny!
March 14, 2008
Nick E writes very entertaining angst ridden characters that help you escape from your own life for a while.
May 4, 2010
This was very funny.
April 2, 2011
A laugh out loud funny read.
Read the full www.ourbookclub.net.au review at Bachelor Kisses
Read the full www.ourbookclub.net.au review at Bachelor Kisses
April 20, 2014
Not sure what to make of this book. Was it supposed to be funny? Might have to try one of his other books before i make up my mind!
November 20, 2018
Bachelor Kisses chronicles a few months (winter time) in the life of a newbie doctor Jon in Brisbane. He’s gone from having virtually no sex life at university to having a screwed-up and nightmarish sex life now that he’s out in the world.
Earls puts a rider at the end of the novel that it is not an autobiography, but it’s hard to see it as anything else — it’s even set in the 1980s when Earls would have been doing his own residency. And we’re left at the end with Jon musing whether he’s on the right career path or not; Nick left being a doctor to become a writer.
But that aside, it’s a fun read, if not exactly rivetting. The characters are realistic, except for Jon’s classic (almost textbook) fear of commitment.
His housemates are appropriately eccentric: Rick, the sad little nerdish try-hard with the girls, who still has his Porky Pig (or is it Elmer Fudd?) doona cover given to him by his overly intrusive mother; and Jen, the hardened honours student who only takes time out from writing her increasingly boring thesis it shag and drop a never-ending supply of dumb jocks.
I wonder what the inspired but ultimately doomed research project into melatonin taught him? What life lesson? Because if there wasn’t one, then it was a bit pointless.
There was one section where I got excited and couldn’t put the book down. It was the closest the book came to a climax (pardon the pun). Near the end Jon once again goes up against Death, with the depressing score of 42-0 looming over his head. The fight to save a man’s life, after he had lost so many, and in such a dramatic flight to casualty, was great.
I wonder if the creators of Scrubs read this novel?
Earls puts a rider at the end of the novel that it is not an autobiography, but it’s hard to see it as anything else — it’s even set in the 1980s when Earls would have been doing his own residency. And we’re left at the end with Jon musing whether he’s on the right career path or not; Nick left being a doctor to become a writer.
But that aside, it’s a fun read, if not exactly rivetting. The characters are realistic, except for Jon’s classic (almost textbook) fear of commitment.
His housemates are appropriately eccentric: Rick, the sad little nerdish try-hard with the girls, who still has his Porky Pig (or is it Elmer Fudd?) doona cover given to him by his overly intrusive mother; and Jen, the hardened honours student who only takes time out from writing her increasingly boring thesis it shag and drop a never-ending supply of dumb jocks.
I wonder what the inspired but ultimately doomed research project into melatonin taught him? What life lesson? Because if there wasn’t one, then it was a bit pointless.
There was one section where I got excited and couldn’t put the book down. It was the closest the book came to a climax (pardon the pun). Near the end Jon once again goes up against Death, with the depressing score of 42-0 looming over his head. The fight to save a man’s life, after he had lost so many, and in such a dramatic flight to casualty, was great.
I wonder if the creators of Scrubs read this novel?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2024
The era in which this is set (late 1980’s) has definitely passed, so those reading with an entirely current day sensibility are likely to be appalled at the overt sexism, apparent lack of professionalism and other outdated tropes. However as someone who started their career just a few years after this book was set, I can say that so much of this story rings true (the hospital itself, nurses quarters, doctors bars etc). Even the protagonist himself - mid 20’s, junior doctor who is suddenly for the first time ever having to think about which direction his career is going seems like so many junior doctors I’ve worked with over the years.
Sure he’s a bit of an asshole, but it just rings so true for the period. I don’t think Nick Earls is trying to make any great statements about how things should be, he has simply written a humorous story reflecting society as it was at the time.
October 13, 2018
A great read. As a nurse I found this interesting as so many of the traits described by the protagonist of himself and his fellow doctor colleagues are spot on. It was also interesting to get an insight in how things have (or haven't!) changed since the late 80's.
June 5, 2024
picked this one off someone's nature strip along with the equally dismal 'he died with a felafel in his hand'. starting to feel there is no better cure for nostalgia than reading a comedic novel written by an australian male author in the 90s
March 8, 2018
Enjoyed the story
August 18, 2019
Read this before and after being a doctor. Subtly different.
September 6, 2020
Couldn’t finish it. It was painful. Maybe it was good in the times it was written. Main character seemed a little to chauvinistic for my liking.
September 18, 2022
Loved it
September 26, 2023
I liked it. I thought it was funny in some parts but the main character annoyed me in others. All up it was a fairly light read.
March 16, 2012
Bachelor Kisses followes Jon, a medical resident and his hijinks with women and work. All in all, this book was dull, the dialogue between characters is written in italics, which at times can be a bit hard to read. It has it's good bits, but I really did struggle to motivate myself to pick it up and read.
February 16, 2013
Not being from a medical background I got lost a lot, I also thought the fixation with blow jobs was over the top. A book that would suit men over women maybe. There was some comical sexual acts and I had a bit of a laugh, but it was too on the crude side for me to like this book.
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December 23, 2012I sees him at toowong village coles.
January 20, 2013
Definitely enjoyed this more because I'm currently a Psych Resident... just like to protagonist. That's where the similarities end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews