Dick Lit

 This is  Tom Cavanagh.

You may know him as Ed Stevens from the eponymous tv series

Ed , or as Tom Farrell from the television show The Love Monkey.  I knew him as Tooooom Caaavanaaagh (you have to sigh when you say it) although I am fairly certain he has absolutely no idea who I am.

We were at Queen’s University at the same time and he used to play piano and guitar and sing in the Quiet Pub. I would giggle with my girl friends at the back of the pub, down three ounce drinks in glasses that looked like fish bowls and swoon over Tom while I should have been at my German language labs – could be why I don’t have a credit in my transcript for that cold harsh language!

One night, when it was pouring rain and Tom and I were both leaving the Purple Passion Pit at the same time (aka Douglas Library) he walked me to Alfie’s, another pub, under his umbrella. My knees still go weak at the memory.

Tom won the role of Danny Zuko in the Queen’s production of Grease along with Heather Farrow as Sandy (a girl I actual knew and worked with at yet another campus pub – Clark Hall) and has been making girls from much farther away than Kingston, Ontario set their PVR’s and settle in for nights of cute dimples, gorgeous blue eyes and great Canadian humour.

It is that fond memory and great affection for all film Cavanagh that led me to pick up  some Dick Lit,  in the form of Kyle Smith’s novel, Love Monkey. I was thinking I was pretty cool coining this new literary term for a boy’s version of Chick Lit when I discovered that not only was I not the first to think of it, Dick Lit had even made it onto Amazon’S LISTMANIA.

 Fortunately, the entertainment of reading Love Monkey got me over my dick-appoinment (not only a bad pun, but a terribly forced one). I dated men like Tom Farrell, the erstwhile writer and hapless protaganist of Smith’s look at love among 30 something’s from the male perspective, I have been “the Bran”, the girl who waits while he gets over “the Julia”…although they seldom get over “the Julia” and when they finally do, they almost never go for the girl who has been holding their hand all the way through it.

In his analogies and reflections on his life as a Tabloid headline writer, Tom reflects on the Simpsons, Nick Hornby novels, R.E.M. and Bugs Bunny. The voice that Kyle Smith creates through Farrell is witty, self-deprecating and rather naive as to how things really go on in the real world.

I’m sure some reviewer somehere has labelled Love Monkey, “The Bridget Jones for Men.” and that reviewer would be fairly accurate. As much as women love to read about themselves hidden in the nuances of female fiction creations, they love to read about the men they know as well. The trials and tribulations of Tom Farrell and his quest for love are just as entertaining and touching as Bridget Jones and Rebecca Bloomwood (Shopaholic)  and maybe even slightly more neurotic since we don’t expect it from men.

A strange title, but a light, fun, humourous read.  Perfect for a hot sunny day with a tall cool drink!