Single Sundays: We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a True Story (from Goodreads):
A bright, poignant, and deeply funny autobiographical account of coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor, from Josh Sundquist: Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker.

Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh’s semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided “grand gesture” at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love–or at least a girlfriend–in all the wrong places.

Author: Josh Sundquist
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humour
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: December 23, 2014
Source & Format: Public Library–eBook

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I can’t remember whose blog it was (if it was yours, let me know!), but I found out about this book there. It was applauded for its humour–and I love a story that can make me laugh!

The Concept:

It takes a lot of guts to admit your embarrassing dating stories to your friends; but to write a book and share it with the world? Now that’s bold and takes a lot of guts. Not that anything is extremely embarrassing–it’s actually pretty typical and realistic. But I could see why, looking back, that it is embarrassing 😉 Whether or not all those things happened? I’m sure they are embelished a bit, but it sure is entertaining!

The semiscientific approach was a cute way of analyzing the events without it being like an essay. It kept the flow going and definitely added to the humorous tones of the novel.

The WRITING:

This book was super easy to read! It never dwelled on anything too long, it had a great flow and it was funny! Humour can be really hard to convey through text but I think Josh did a great job with it here.

did it impact my life?:

Not particularly, though I think a lot of us can relate to the events that happen to Josh. We all have those stories where we assumed things when it comes to our romantic lives.

To me, the main message of this book was to not let the past get you down. Reflect on the past and learn from it but move forward.