Product Description

The third novel by the Sunday times bestselling author of Amanda's Wedding 'I'm wearing a beautiful pink dress, and I'm in a big pink room with billowing curtains!and I'm dancing to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark!and my handsome partner leans over and whispers! 'Yes, 80s child Ellie really thought life was going to be like Pretty in Pink, St Elmo's Fire and all those other movies -- where everyone was astoundingly glamorous, popular, successful, had huge apartments and lived happily ever after. But now that she and her gang are thirty, she has to admit that things haven't quite turned out that way. When did horrible flats, difficult relationships and menaningless jobs take over?And, more importantly, what happened to the coolest, wisest, most inspirational Brat Packer of them all? Where is Andrew McCarthy now? Did life fulfil its promise for him? Is he happy on Channel 5? Surely he, of all people, can tell Ellie what to do about her thirty-angst? Determined to get her idol to unravel some of life's great mysteries, Ellie sets out, unwillingly accompanied by her best friend Julia, on a quest across the USA, from LA to New York to find him. It's an unlikely epic, by turns hilarious, romantic and downright uncomfortable -- but, helped by a cast of thousands, of whom Frosty the Giant Pig is probably the least improbable, they do find some answers, although not the ones they expected

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208192 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Travelling East across the United States in a silver Thunderbird, Ellie Eversholt is a woman on a mission. She's Looking for Andrew McCarthy, and hoping that when she finds him she can ask him a few pertinent questions, such as why, at the grand old age of 30, life hasn't turned out the way it was portrayed in the Brat Pack films of the 1980s.

Feeling misled by the glittering façade presented to her in the dimly-lit cinemas of her teenage years, bored with her career, fed-up with her failing love life and ashamed that at 30 she's still renting a room in a flat owned by Big Bastard, the Neanderthal flatmate-from-hell, Ellie needs some answers--and she needs them now. Gathering up a group of similarly disillusioned friends, Ellie makes her way to America, and together they set off, Thelma and Louise-style (except without the cliff-ending suicide pact) to criss-cross America in search of 80s screen idol Andrew McCarthy. In a tale which explores every avenue of the old saying "it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive", Ellie and friends on both sides of the Atlantic share in the joys and disappointments of her quest: a journey which takes her to the four corners of the States and brings her into contact with a variety of outrageous characters, ranging from hunky tanned scriptwriters to six foot tall transvestites and even Frosty II, the world's largest pig.

Does she find the real Andrew McCarthy? And will she ever come to terms with why she hasn't spent her life living in a huge apartment with billowing curtains, wearing a big pink dress and being dated by a succession of handsome men, like a modern-day Molly Ringwald? --Emily Lowson

Review
'Colgan is on top form with this, her latest outrageous romp' Cosmopolitan 'Wonderful, warm and resonant for anyone who ever wondered what happened to teenage dreams' Hello! 'Jenny Colgan is one of the leaders of the pack and this, her third novel, will delight her legion of admirers!Fast-paced, funny, poignant and well-observed, it reads like a pastiche of the movies she loved!If a time capsule were buried to capture the world at the turn of the 21st century, this would be a candidate for inclusion' Daily Mail 'Did I like this book? Well, d'uh! Do hedgehogs have quills? A pure belter of a novel' Glasgow Herald 'Colgan's enjoyable new bestseller investigates the notion that having it all can sometimes mean having precisely nothing at all' Marie Claire October 'Colgan's talent as a stand-up comedian translates vividly into fiction' Metro 'Sharp, well-observed and hilarious' New Statesman 'What really sets Jenny apart! is this: she is very, very funny' Express 'Compulsively comical' Cosmpolitan (of Amanda's Wedding

Hello!
'Wonderful, warm and resonant for anyone who ever wondered what happened to teenage dreams'

Customer Reviews

Buy a map!
I have read a lot of British Chick Lit. While I truly enjoyed Jenny Colgan's earlier books, I found "Looking for Andrew McCarthy" horribly disappointing. The book is almost tolerable as a trip down memory lane, but the road trip across America is bad, bad, bad! She really should have done some basic research. I'm wondering what kind of map of the United States she owns or if she even looked at a map. For the record, there is a Kansas City Kansas as well as a Kansas City Missouri and the Indiana State Fair grounds are in the middle of the city of Indianapolis. Avoid this book and read "Amanda's Wedding".

Fantastic! A must read for all 80's Brat Pack fanatics.
Whatever happened to our heroes? With the exception of a few (I hear the guy out of Risky Business did OK for himself), the majority of our Brat Pack idols unfortunately seem to have disappeared without a trace. As Ellie Eversholt turns 30, she ponders why life didn't turn out quite how her heroes had made out it would in their movies. Stuck in a job she hates, living with the flatmate from hell and experiencing boyfriend and parent trouble, she wonders where she went wrong. She decides that only one person can help her find the answers to her questions, so with best friend Julia in tow, she sets off on a quest to find Andrew McCarthy (have you also ever wondered where he is now?) Starting in LA, then across to New York, they pick up various clues and characters along the way. It's a crazy cross-country ride - sometimes happy, sometimes sad but always hilarious and optimistic. Does Ellie find the answers to her questions? Does she find the man himself? Do you remeber how awful Molly Ringwald looked in that terrible pink dress? If you do, then you have to read this book. Jenny Colgan has brilliantly captured the feel of the 80's through the songs and movies which were the soundtrack (and saviour) of our teenage years. Excellent flashback!

'80s nostalgia meets millenium reality
This book is fantastic if like me you are a complete freak when it comes to anything to do with the era that forgot taste - that's right the 1980's. The main character in this book is a 30 year old called Ellie who has a fixation with the Brat Pack (the group of young actors back in the '80s that included Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and of course Andrew Macarthy!)
Ellie can't help thinking that somehow the Brat Pack and rather more importantly Andrew Macarthy have the answer to all lifes problems, and she figures that if she could only find Andrew then she will be able to get her life back on track (oh and did I mention that she also has planned on marrying him since she was a young girl, wearing a ra - ra skirt?!)
Her quest takes her to America where she visits several places and meets some amazing people. But does she find Andrew? Does she find real love? Indeed, does she find happiness? Well you will have to read the book to find out. I dont want to spoil it for you.
This book is amazing, fantastic and both funny and sometimes sad (it brought tears to my eyes in both senses!)
There are many film and music references to keep the '80s fans interested and if like me you have always wanted to go to an American Highschool Prom then this most definately is the book for you!
I reckon that this book would appeal to anybody who likes a bit of old fashioned angst in their books, with a bit of romance chucked in for good measure. If you have ever had a crush on anybody ever then this most definately is the book for you :o)