The Man of My Dreams - Curtis Sittenfeld

This is the second time that I have read The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld, and this blog is an adaptation of my original blog post on my earlier blog, Bibliolic. I have read a couple of the author's other books, Prep and American Wife, both of which are so different, they could have been written by different people. This book was written after Prep, and they are quite similar, in that they focus on youth and growing up. Prep is set in a boarding school, while The Man of My Dreams focuses on the life of a girl who together with her Mum and sister has faced domestic abuse, with her father throwing them out of their house after years of bullying. The story describes her relationships as she grows into adulthood, and her visits to a therapist because she believes she has issues. She feels that everyone else is functional and she is the one who is the problem, but that is not always the case, as she eventually discovers. Her relationship with her Dad remains poor throughout, and this has an effect on her relationships with men and her very low self-esteem. She seems to pick totally unsuitable men, perhaps because she is not ready for a relationship.The main character, Hannah, is quite frustrating sometimes, and often you just want to give her a shake and say, "Why are you like this?" but of course she has her reasons, and also she is quite young and naive. The last section brings everything together, and reminded me exactly why I really like this book.