Dear Girls Above Me (Inspired by a True Story)

I'm pretty sure I have USA Today to thank - or blame - for bringing this book to my attention. The premise is this: Charlie McDowell, a rather hapless, and aimless, guy in his late 20s, discovers that he can hear practically every word spoken by the people in the apartment directly above him. (Also everything they do.) Unfortunately, these people appear to be two of the dumbest bipeds since the beginning of time. Example: Isn't it weird that we use the same word for the devil as we do for the most fab fabric? Charlie deduces they do not know the difference between satan and satin. In any case, he names the girls Cathy and Claire and then starts a Twitter account in which he pens 140 character missives to them, hence the "Dear Girls Above Me." Said account becomes wildly popular and then inspires this book. (It probably doesn't hurt that his mother is an Oscar-winning actress.)

Here's the thing: there's just not enough material here to be a full book. It's a rather "fab" idea for a Twitter account, and the account is really funny, but in book format, it really starts to drag and is not helped any by McDowell's insertion of childhood anecdotes about, say, Disneyland. Said anecdotes do nothing to move the story forward and usually left me scratching my head - and skimming quickly to find the next interesting bits. As the review on the cover says, "By introducing us to the memorable American folk heroes known as the 'the girls above him,' Charlie McDowell sneakily does one better: he introduces us to Charlie McDowell..." The problem, for me at least, is that I don't really care that much about Charlie McDowell; I'm more interested in Cathy and Claire who remind me way too much of a girl I went to school with for years who once asked, in front of the entire class, how she could have possibly gotten a negative score on an AP prep exam. Her name also began with a C.

Unless you really enjoy the intimate details of total strangers' daily lives (and childhood),  I'd recommend giving Dear Girls Above Me a wide berth.