Gary’s Guide to Life

How I Am Going to Achieve Phenomenal Success, and How You Can Do the Same
GenreContemporary, Humor
Audience Adult
Format Book Length Manuscript
Type General Fiction
Word Count 60-80k (average/short)

Editing, Production, Marketing & Sales

Edited by Richard Sheehan
Cover design by Simon Avery
Published Through Amazon Createspace – KDP

Reviewed on January 2, 2017


Review by Lynne Hinkey

The Rundown

Gary Speedwell is nothing if not a man of action. He has a plan to become wealthy and successful–modeled after his hero, the self-help guru Marshall Brewster: he’s writing a book “unveiling the strategies that are going to lift him out of ordinariness and set him – and you – on course for phenomenal success.” Although that sounds utterly ridiculous, in this day and age of nobodies being famous for being famous, why not? Forget the conventional wisdom that one should be successful in order to write a book about becoming successful, just put that cart before the horse.

And Gary does–with gusto. The reader will cringe as Gary, with complete naiveté and total belief in himself, pursues his dream. At the start, Gary tells his readers that, “If you pay close attention to what I’m going to teach you, and put into practice what you’ve learned, then, before you know it, success will be within your grasp–every bit as much as it is within mine.” It doesn’t take long for the reader to realize that’s not a promise so much as a warning. With an ex-wife seeking for “closure,” a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend (and mother of his son, Jack) seeking to give him a wake-up call, and a landlord seeking the rent, all in hot pursuit, Gary forges ahead, writing with soul-baring candor and cringe-inducing honesty about his plan and the obstacles he has to continuously overcome.

Perhaps the greatest appeal in Gary’s determined and wholehearted belief his dream is within his grasp (despite all evidence to the contrary) is how close his wisdom-turned-upside-down comes to what goes on in the real world. We all know a Gary. Many of us have been a Gary, although few with such aplomb. Whether he’s pursuing the right woman (a successful man needs a successful, powerful woman, of course, and so Gary is determined to hook up with his boss, Louise, and spends many working hours attempting to woo her, rather than, you know, actually work), or attempting to manipulate his landlord into forgetting about that pesky rent that’s past-due, Gary is always 100% convinced that he has succeeded. Until his failure turns around and slaps him upside the head. Even then, we can’t help but hope Gary finds his way back to what his anecdotes and tangents make perfectly clear to everyone (except Gary and his mother) is the path to success for him.


The Recommendation

Hilarious in its complete embrace of faith-over-substance approach to success and wealth, Gary’s Guide to Life will have readers cringing and laughing at this witty sendup of the Self-Help aisle. If you’re a fan of Dr. Phil types and take your self-help gurus seriously, you might not appreciate this rollicking satire. For everyone else, you’ll want to step in and give Gary a good shake for being so very blind to what’s blatantly obvious to the reader, but you’ll also root for him to succeed at being successful because he is so endearingly naive.


The Rating Selected as a Top Pick!

Top Pick! 5 Stars (out of five): Freaking amazing. Any agent or publishing house that passed this one up made a big mistake. It was selected by our reviewer as a personal favorite. This is also a nomination for our Novel of the Year award.

The Pros & Cons

Pros: Believable, Characterization, Dialogue, Humor, Page Turner

Author’s Summary

Gary’s Guide to Life tells the story of Gary Speedwell, who is writing what he is convinced will be a best-selling self-help book despite his own conspicuous lack of success.

Most people would give anything to be as successful as Gary imagines he’s going to be. In his book, Gary aims to put that dream within your reach by unveiling the strategies that are going to lift him out of ordinariness and set him – and you – on course for phenomenal success.

Conventional wisdom holds that only people who have attained some measure of success are qualified to write self-help books, but Gary begs to differ. Brimming with self-belief despite mounting debt, tricky personal relationships and a life seemingly spiralling out of control, Gary is a self-help expert like no other.

Short Description

Gary is writing what he is convinced will be a best-selling self-help book, despite his own conspicuous lack of success.

Catchphrase

Self-help from a virtuoso of self-delusion

Additional Links

Visit the Official Website
Find it on Goodreads
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