The Last Single Woman in America

by Cindy Guidry

Overview

A ?sassy? (USA Today), ?funny, fast-talking? (New York Daily News) ?great read? (People) that unfolds like a conversation with your bawdy best friend over a glass?or a bottle?of wine

Whether she's being greeted by the news that her brother has thrown her underwear off a Mardi Gras float, desperately trying to kick Dave Matthews out of her car before he discovers that her 6-CD changer contains six Dave Matthews CDs, or hosting a friend's baby shower after learning that her boyfriend has impregnated another woman, Cindy Guidry writes with the ease of a born raconteur. This is the rare book that provokes both belly laughs and tears, as Guidry barrels through the obstacle course of life, refusing to see her grass as anything other than green.

The Last Single Woman in America belongs on the same shelf as bestsellers like Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff, I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, and I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101213872
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/31/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	311 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cindy Guidry grew up in New Orleans. The Last Single Woman in America is her first book and is currently in series development for HBO.

Table of Contents

Define Yourself     1
Yin and Yang     11
Overqualified     23
Never Never Land     35
Welcome to Earth     49
For Sale by Owner     58
Thanks for Sharing     71
The Greek     82
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World     90
Men Are the New Women     103
This Is Pilates     114
Klimax     121
Something Shiny     138
Buddhist     147
What's Your Hook?     156
The Cat Whisperer     167
Rob Marciano Is Hot!     175
Under My Roof     188
It's Only Natural     207
Future Ex-Husband     211
Hell     219
The Last Single Woman in America     236
Love     250
Simon Says     268
Acknowledgments     291

Editorial Reviews

Realizing she is the only single woman during the bouquet toss at her friend's wedding, Guidry, a former Hollywood film executive, deems herself "The Last Single Woman in America." Along with being 40-something and unwed, she had just lost her job and her boyfriend; however, she remains in good humor and believes that with "a handful of Dave Matthews CDs" she'll be okay. Guidry offers her view on men (feminism has encouraged women to be easy, therefore men no longer appreciate the value of women), the perks of knowledge (why take advanced yoga when you know all the moves in the beginning course) and her take on the Internet (the overconnected Web population is limiting face-to-face contact with such tools as Internet dating), all the while hurdling the obstacles facing single women. If 40 is the new 20, Guidry does a good job portraying this by exhibiting the maturity level of someone half her age, making it hard to believe her anecdotes. At one point, she attacks her mother at a dinner party by questioning whether she slept with a leprechaun to produce her son, Guidry's always lucky brother. While amusing, Guidry barely offers deeper insight than thoughts on bikini waxes and acupuncture sessions for her pet. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Labeled a memoir, this is really a collection of essays born from adversity. Guidry struggles to redefine herself while making the transition from film executive to unemployed Hollywood individual, and she continually encounters resistance in a landscape where being single is considered by many as being incomplete. But these are only some of the conflicts Guidry examines. No one is safe from her pen; the state of her parents' marriage comes under fire, and her neighbors, her ex-boyfriends, and even she herself are all targets. (She's careful to begin the book with a disclaimer stating that while these stories are emotionally true, some facts have been altered for effect.) The end product succeeds: Guidry does not take herself too seriously, and she has a sharp eye for comic detail. Although her observations about sex, gender relations, and the world today are pointed, for the most part, she handles her characters with gentleness. A fresh and funny first book that would make a good purchase for any popular collection.
—Audrey Snowden

Library Journal

Personal essays track the dating travails of a film executive in her 40s, attempting to prove that single isn't synonymous with second-best. Lightly humorous and rife with references to pop culture, the 24 pieces collected here are fueled by the author's myopic quest for fulfillment. Manufactured as a nonfiction simulacrum of Sex and the City, Guidry's memoir reads like a tawdry diary recounting exploits and missteps with one man after another. She makes myriad claims to be happy without a husband; indeed, her constant need to defend her choice to be alone to everyone in her life does inspire sympathy. Her book's greatest draw, however, is also its undoing. Guidry's musings about being alone in a world of couples are initially witty and ebullient, but she prattles incessantly about herself in a manner that eventually becomes grating. Her occasional sex life, or lack thereof, is not a substantial or entertaining enough subject on which to hang 300 pages. Guidry's critique of men in Los Angeles and her internal monologue about the choices that have left her professionally successful and personally alone are the least interesting aspects of her story. Cliched statements lifted from the side of a box of Celestial Seasonings tea and admissions on the order of, "Sure, I'd like a man, but I don't need a man," are writ large as revelatory. The real underlying question is not whether Guidry will find a romantic partner, but to what else she might devote her considerable energies and enthusiasm if and when she has room in her life for someone other than herself. Rambling and self-involved.

Kirkus Reviews