Review by Dita Skalic -- Randy Love...at your service

[Dita Skalic]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Randy Love...at your service" by Shay Carter.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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As his name suggests, one of Randy's favorite activities is meeting pretty girls, but not for very romantic dates - more for physical enjoyment. Since he looks handsome, he can find many partners, but he still has many problems in his social life as well as with money. It all starts when he decides to move away from his father; since then, he keeps moving and is not content with any residence. He loses deposits since he moves out too soon and on bad terms with landlords or landladies, and he also underestimates costs of things, from rent to visas. He also overestimates his own importance in the banks he works for.

In some places, characters and events in Randy Love...at your service appear quite stereotypical: a wealthy woman too concerned about appearance of her yard argues with her neighbors who care very little about etiquette, clothes or garden esthetics; a young man spends much of his free time flirting, drinking alcohol and partying; an older man cannot look away from a woman's breasts; the youngest of all siblings is the least successful one in terms of a conventional career. On the other hand, Randy might surprise the reader when it turns out he does not only dream of easy entertainment but also of intellectual challenges, and the roommates he enjoys living with most are "cultured". He is also described as very muscular, which defies a stereotype again. Namely, first chapters present him and his father as the kind of people that are usually obese in TV shows.

The book is full of descriptions of human body and of sexual activity of all kinds, and indecent words are often used, and so many people will be uncomfortable reading it. I found some passages downright harmful, as they seemed to portray sexual harassment as funny or imply that people like Randy should cave in to partners as demanding as Nicky, Randy's girlfriend who wants much more together time, order and making love than he does.
British slang makes it harder to read for people from elsewhere, too, although there is a glossary at the end.

I would mostly recommend the book to people who simply want to laugh and who would appreciate recognizing themselves in the main character. Namely, Randy Love is not a cartoonish version of somebody everyone falls in love with, nor of a useless and irresponsible hedonist, but has a mixture of traits that make him seem like a real person. The author, Shay Carter, says that inspiration came from real adventures of a university student, and it is easy to believe that. While fun, the book is not very enlightening, but one might still learn something from it. It keeps reminding us that getting along with people and living in the modern society is not easy (you cannot afford everything with little work, find great roommates everywhere or travel far away on a whim), and, especially in the end, there is talk about selfishness, which is part of the reason Randy gets in trouble. But maybe the smartest parts are in the beginning, where the value of universities is questioned, and it is revealed how banks often rip people off while technically following the rules.

I think the book deserves two stars out of four. It certainly is entertaining and appealing for a wide audience, even educational at some points, but I cannot give it too high a rating since I did not always like the way it deals with sexuality and alcohol, and it needs better editing.

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Randy Love...at your service
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