Review: Not intended for grownups or women
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2013
I'll start by saying I am female, and obviously not in the intended audience for this story.  There is "chick lit", but this is (pr--k lit?) written for the man child who still shares his best bowel movements with his friends (as even one of the more mature of these guys does when he "drops the deuce").  Also, people who have to Google "roshambo" as I did (a way of deciding issues where 2 men kick each other in the testicles until one falls down & therefore loses), may want to pass on this.  That's the level of the humor all the way through.  LOTS of potty humor here - the book ends with Finn in a porta-potty and someone banging on the door.The hero Finn, a mixed up teenager in a late 30's body, is beyond passive.  He can best be described as governed by total inertia outside the physical world of sports.  When forced into interactions with others he is passive, doing what the others want him to do, especially his high school "best friend". For example, throughout the book Finn decides to stay sober at an event, then gets falling down drunk because others want him to drink with them.  He overlooks a co-worker who posts an embarrassing picture of Finn on the Internet and then says nothing (even to the thief) when he realizes this person has stolen valuable collectibles from a house Finn was showing.  His customer's loss, and the issues for his employer (not to mention basic honesty) don't overcome his reluctance to speak, so he tapes the box shut and helps the thief move.He left a high paid tech sales job because it forced him to interact with people and out of his comfort zone (ethically as well as in having to interact), and is now a real estate agent just getting by.He has a distant father, controlling mother, and a petty criminal/drug addict brother whom he enables by giving money and baby sitting for his nephew.  The most mature person around him is the mentally challenged Brian, an 11 year old in a middle aged body that he coaches in golf.  It says something about Finn that the only person with whom he actually competes is Brian, in their golf games, even though it embarrasses him to do so.  In other areas, where competition would make sense, he is (at his best) passive. He meets a nice girl, but it is only when she asks him that they first get together.  He decides he loves her, but only expresses it when she says it first.  (WHY she would love him is a total mystery.)His toxic best friend is hostile, jealous, totally untrustworthy to everyone, and there is nothing passive about his aggression.  However Finn and 2 others are bullied into joining him in a Las Vegas weekend that they know will be drunken, expensive and embarrassing.  And it is.The 2 stars is because the writing is pretty good, the editing better than most indie books, and some of the potty humor is funny.