Any girl who has ever stepped into the world of dating knows that men with true potential are few and far between. So when you find a likely candidate, it’s not wise to let him go too quickly. Elizabeth Young’s “A Promising Man (and About Time, Too)” explores this notion in a hilarious and heart-warming tale of the complications that ensue when feelings and wires get crossed.
The book centers on Harriet Grey, a 20-something London resident with permanent wanderlust. One day on a pre-Christmas shopping trip, Harriet runs into John Mackenzie on the street and almost instantly identifies him as a “promising man.”
However, there is one fly in the ointment — before they bump into one another, she has seen him on what appears to be a date with an old rival from school. This begins a series of comic miscommunications and confusion over who is really involved with whom and what Harriet should do about her ever-growing feelings for John in light of her belief that he is enmeshed in arch-rival Nina’s web.
Harriet is a delightful character, full of quick wit and so overflowing with warmth and relatable insights on the unavoidable muddle one can get into when besotted with a frustrating man that by the end of the novel, I wanted to call her up to chat.
The entire cast of characters is so endearing that I wanted to jump right into the middle of the novel and befriend them all. Her roommates, Sally, Jacko and Frida are oddballs who provide their own brands of humor that kept me entertained throughout. The comic timing of the whole novel is impeccable and provides alternating laugh-out-loud and understated tongue-in-cheek humor that is impossible to resist.
However, I admit that I initially had misgivings about the storyline of “A Promising Man” — how many times can you read about a woman pining after a man without it seeming hopelessly tiresome? Luckily, this novel was anything but dull. Though the storyline may not be the most original, there are several other minor storylines to follow, and overall the writing is just so captivating and clever that I didn’t want to put it down.
Harriet’s constant confusion over John’s involvement with Nina is fueled by gossip from the sweet, but loose-tongued Rosie, a mutual friend of Harriet and Nina’s. Harriet continues to fall for John from the first time she meets him, and they are thrown together time and again. It starts with her buying him a drink to thank him for a favor and escalates until he has rescued her from a Christmas alone by whisking her off to his family’s celebration.
All of these happenstance meetings lead in a roundabout way to the two of them embarking on a mission to help Jacko’s runaway little sister, which consequently forces them to spend even more time together. All the while, Harriet is in a constant teeter-totter between bliss about his apparent perfection and anxiety over his not-so-single state.
Anyone who has ever had feelings for someone who is not quite available, or just taken an inexplicably strong liking to a charming fellow will appreciate Harriet’s exploits in pursuit of John’s affection.
I found it very easy to empathize with the plight of each character, and was further charmed by the English slang throughout the novel. No matter what they were saying, it somehow sounded better when peppered with foreign phrases such as “naff,” “common-or-garden bloke” and the inescapable “sod’s law” that predicts that just what you least want to happen invariably will.
“A Promising Man” is an enchantingly good time that will unquestionably leave you with a smile on your face. With finals looming over us, this light read is the perfect study break to refresh you with a good laugh and a feel-good ending.