Review 140: The Curable Romantic by Katharine Miller

The Curable Romantic
Katharine Miller
ISBN 978-0-557-06535-6
KLM Design
Copyright 2009
100 Pages
Paperback
$17.50

The Curable Romantic is an amusing and insightful look at relationships and the people silly enough to have them. It’s harder to write humor than just about any other genre. Humor has to connect to an absurdity that other people can relate to and find a common ground. Luckily human relationships are imbued with enough silliness that poking fun of them usually strikes a chord.

In her book, Katharine Miller does a great job of not only writing funny essays, but also illustrating them with clever pictures. Her essays reminded me of the insightful humor of Erma Bombeck and I found myself turning the page to see what the next illustration would be.

The book started life as a series of articles and blog posts that Miller penned over the years, starting in her High School days. Loosely assembled as a “How To” book for navigating the rapids of dating and mating, the book also contains lists such as ‘topics to avoid on the first date’ (quantum physics, your sister’s failing marriage) and a guide to pet names (good – tiger, bad – dodo, questionable – platypus).

Throughout the book is an undercurrent of cynicism as seen in this introductory paragraph to considerations about moving in together:

After an unspecified amount of time – and countless walks of shame – you’ve finally decided to try living together. But cohabitation is more than being able to tolerate his morning breath and no longer needing to slather on a face full of makeup before dawn. There are things to consider before loading up the moving truck.

Most of the articles are written from the perspective of a female who is dating a man. Although Miller says right up front that she isn’t a professional therapist or psychologist, she does offer up nuggets of common-sense wisdom. Here, she gives advice about how to get to the second date:

Keep the conversation current and relevant. Don’t delve too much into your past and do not discuss previous relationships. It is common to have a first date with someone following a breakup, but your new beau doesn’t need to hear all the gory details of the old one. He does need to hear how his shirt complements his eye color.

Practical snippets of advice, humorous observations of the human condition, and clever illustrations combine to make The Curable Romantic a quick but enjoyable read. I recommend it for anyone who is in a relationship or may be at some point. In other words, just about all of us.