Product Description

A hilarious, original story for anyone who has ever been dumped, dumped or lived in a dump - with the cross-over and bestselling appeal of BRIDGET JONES, HIGH FIDELITY and THIS LIFE.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75364 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ever been dumped? No? You're lying. Mike Gayle, previously a contributor to FHM and Just Seventeen magazines has dipped his pen in the inkpot of universal experience and written a comic novel underpinned by rejection and the ripples (or tidal waves) it continues to produce for years afterwards. For exactly three years afterwards in the case of Will Kelly, assigned to the "history" drawer on his 23rd birthday by Aggi, (she of the titular moniker) and who is now undergoing his 26th "celebration" alone in his bedsit in Archway, North London.

English teacher, serial smoker and serious list-maker--Will is a Numnul, to quote Gayle; a "New Nineties New Man New Lad", living an existence that screams "Single!". Can you fall in love over the telephone with someone you've never met? Should your best friend sleep with your girlfriend? And just how many presents should a platonic friend send you on your birthday? In real time the novel takes place over a weekend, but in effect it traces a journey that has led to this tumultuous birthday, when Will considers marriage, death, fatherhood and Pot Noodles (but not in that order).

Helen Fielding and Nick Hornby are two names that will understandably haunt Mike Gayle, whose prescriptive hero has been dubbed the "male Bridget Jones", but Gayle's book probably owes more to early Martin Amis, soaked as it is in a fever of male self-pity redolent of The Rachel Papers or Success, though without the literary flourishes or darkness. Ultimately My Legendary Girlfriend is pulp fiction for the Pulp generation, an old-fashioned morality tale dressed up as an enjoyable romp that should appeal to lovers of Men Behaving Badly and anyone who has suffered the ignominy of having a Sting song quoted at them to justify a break-up.--David Vincent

Mirror
‘Comic...fizzy. Here comes the male Bridget Jones’

Review
‘Comic...fizzy. Here comes the male Bridget Jones’ (Mirror )

'Full of belly-laughs and painfully acute observations' (Independent on Sunday )

'Touching and funny' (Mirror )

Customer Reviews

Great first novel
Firstly I must commend Mr Gayle for writing a romantic novel from the male perpective. No doubt there must male writers of this genre in the market place, but they don't spring to mind.Having read some of the reviews for this book, I can understand that the main protanganist,Will, can get a little bit irksome. But, I didn't find that to be the case. I enjoyed the various characters that amble into Wills life. I also loved the ending that caught me by surprise. A great first novel.

I didn't think anyone could think like me. Until now...
I've just finished reading My Legendary Girlfriend and I thought it was just brilliant. Mike Gayle is a gem of a writer - his prose is fast and witty and his tale tragi-comic, an all-too-true tale of love, regret and well, more regret.

They say comedy works best through identification with the character - well; Will is me, (which is quite clever cos I'm a girl) and probably, at least at some point in your life, he's been you too...intelligent (surely?), but just a little misguided; ever and always hopeful of a reconciliation with The One That Got Away.

What's special here, I think, is Gayle's ability to do two things.He skillfully evokes empathy in the reader for Will's predicament, effortlessly calling up those moments where we've cringed as relationships go so wrong then - ouch! - with one turn of his black comedy knife he allows laughter to spill from our guts with some classy one liners and observations of modern twentysomething life.

So can I recommend this book without reservations? But of course. As Will is known to quote 'No Problemo Mr Spaceman'...And you never know. Perhaps my One That Got Away will read it too...

Sad, sad, sad, sad....
Hyperbolic drivel disguised as some kind of witty social commentary? Yuk! We have a central character who is so appallingly useless I just wanted to step into his world and grab his lapels for a good shaking.

But then, in real life I would never allow myself to get anywhere near such a sad, depressing and droopily annoying man!

This is a terrible book, utterly unbelievable and head-shakingly trite. Buy and read at your peril!