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| Reviews • Interviews • Gossip | ||||
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Reviews "In this withering account of one man's travels in dateland, journalist Marin visits an insane asylum, spends a year as a gourmand yuppie, woos a recent college graduate with Pop-Tarts and comes on to a teenage celebrity. And those are his tamer anecdotes. Marin, who starts his tear in the early 1990s after separating from his wife, also pursues a writing career that has him interviewing B-list celebrities like Vanilla Ice. As he cruises through his 20- and 30-something years (and most of the single women) in New York, Marin tells an episodic tale that's more than the sum of its hilarious parts — he also evokes a male psyche that's pulsating with provocative nuggets. (On honesty: "Women blame men for acting fake.... But women are the ones speeding from zero to intimacy like a Ferrari. Which is more artificial?") In the hands of a lesser writer, the book could have been merely a self-indulgent series of diary entries. But Marin's comic timing, insight and self-deprecation vault it to something greater. Marin has achieved the most elusive of literature's paradoxes: a deep and complicated exploration of the superficial. Men and women should be equally enthralled by the portrait of someone torn between finding the right woman and finding the right-now woman. That there's a happy-but not Nutrasweet-ending only reinforces the image of a real person in all his messy and comic humanity." — Publisher's Weekly (starred review) "For all it's wry appeal, Cad is a gender wars manifesto, a subtle argument that acknowledges men's role in the unraveling of relationships but points a finger at women, too. It's a crackling stew of theories and emotions. — The Wall Street Journal See the full review "A guidebook for women who find men opaque. [Marin's] explanations have an urbane authority." — The New York Times Book Review See the full review "Enough of the gal date books. Guys date, too. Guys fall, guys fail, guys endure horrors on their side of the great sexual divide. Guys, contrary to widespread evil rumor, do not always have it made...An irrisistible book." — Seattle Post-Intelligencer See the full review "Wise women, when it comes to selecting a mate, proceed with caution around all professional observers. Writers, journalists, shrinks and their ilk charm with the intensity of their attention. It's flattering at first, even sexy if you pass muster. Soon, though, you will be found wanting. Worse, he's probably taking notes..." — The New York Observer See the full review "A voyeuristic guilty pleasure full of laugh-out-loud funny detail, Cad is a breezy account of the author's amorous exploits..." — Chicago Sun-Times See the full review "Maybe you've heard. Rick Marin's written a memoir, Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor. It hits stores today. Perfect. Right in time for Valentine's Day, as we sit here scratching our heads over what goes on inside the mind of the average smart, successful guy. Let's let the good author speak for himself, shall we? 1. One advantage of realizing, or deciding, a chick is crazy: no guilt. 2. When you spent more time talking about It than having It, the relationship was over. 3. Her skeptical eyes and inviting mouth were like opposing political parties. 4. No guy wants to be alone. We want to be with other women. Then when we're out with other women we want to be alone. That was the problem. 5. When all else fails, go young. (Bridget Jones, if only you knew.) Yet for all its macho posturing, the book is pretty darn sweet. Marin may have intended it as a heartbreaking work of staggering chauvinism, but he ended up with a valentine to his father and the woman who became his fiancee. In other words, he tried to write Cad, but instead he wrote Mensch. — Daily Candy "Marin's raucous account of his single days as a budding journalist in the Big Apple — an account that begins with words of wisdom from Casanova and Hugh Grant — offers an unswerving, often unnerving look at the unfettered male psyche. For Marin, every woman is a viable sexual conquest, and every sexual conquest is a potential bunny boiler destined for a broken heart. It is only when his thirty-fifth birthday approaches that Marin starts yearning for domesticity and the pitter-patter of little feet. While it's difficult to root for a protagonist who attributes his dating prowess to "relentless scheming, plotting and premeditation," the emotionally charged ending to Marin's shameless tale makes the man's journey from an incorrigible cad to a reconstructed romantic well worth the trip."" — Contents "Laugh-out-loud funny." — Elle "Best Field Guide to Modern Women." — Esquire, "The Awards" "The flip side of Sex and the City, the dance of the Manhattan single as shot from the guys' side of the room. Turns out it's as amusing as it is terrifying, and performed by good-looking people in affluent circles whose every phrase vibrates with wit. — New York Daily News "The male version of chick lit — call it testosterone lit — announces itself with the just-published Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor by Rick Marin. This often hilarious yet quite disturbing book follows Marin's single years (following a short, ill-fated marriage) through the 1990s in New York, as he wrote his way to the top of magazine journalism and slept his way through the Manhattan phone book. "Marin clearly understands one of the unspoken rules of testosto-lit: The male character must be sympathetic. In Toxic Bachelor, Marin breaks hearts and dirties sheets, but he also never lets you forget that his young wife left him for another man. And a lonely man yearning for happiness is given a lot of leeway in today's dating scene (trust me)." — New York Post  Advance Praise "I've been there." — Steve Martin "The shocking truth about what some men really think about women. Read it if you dare." — Candace Bushnell "Ninety-nine percent of men give all the rest a bad name. Thanks to Cad, women now have the wisdom to know the difference. Is Rick Marin a cad? Hell, he wrote the book." — Karen Duffy "Very funny, often desperately funny, and as sure-footed about the Manhattan dating/mating scene as anything I've read." — Bruce Jay Friedman "Hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt, this is a book every woman should read and then share with the nam in her life — or, at the very least, throw at his head." — Andy Borowitz "An outrageous work of chauvinism." — Lucinda Rosenfeld "Very funny, often desperately funny, and as sure-footed about the Manhattan dating/mating scene as anything I've read. A read achievement." — Bruce Jay Friedman
Interviews Newsweek (February 10, 2003): "The Toxic Avenger" Q&A by Bret Begun Rick Marin and I overlapped at Newsweek for only a bit. It's really too bad. After reading Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor, due out next week, I'm thinking he would have made a superb mentor. He schooled me last week: Love your dedication: "For my parents, who caused none of my problems." My father always had time for me. I was never molested by the baby-sitter. I am, by definition, not interesting because I have no advertisable dysfunction. That was the origin of the book. I was sick of whiny memoirs where people blame everyone but themselves. I originally thought of this as an anti-memoir about a normal guy in a crazy world. Then I realized it's really boring to write about a normal guy. I had to zest it up. Yeah, combined, my friends and I haven't had that many dates. And we're pretty toxic. I changed names and details. But they're all based on real experiences I had. If anything, I hold myself up as a typical guy. Believe me, it's much easier to get girls with each passing year. Good. You're employed and you're heterosexual. That alone puts you in the 99th percentile in New York. Why do women want cads? Cads are more fun than the knapsack-carrying guy who spends five hours talking about his breakthrough in therapy. The cad is focused entirely on you, not himself. Being Canadian help? It makes you seem marginally intriguing. Women will say things to you like, "Oh, I love Toronto! It's so clean!" Do women underestimate how important a guy's male friends are to him? They think we're talking about beer and strippers. And sometimes that is what we're talking about. But when I needed them, my guy friends rallied. Ilene, your fiancee, read this? I had this bulletin board and these index cards with the different chapters and she'd look up and see something like: "Night of Five Stewardesses," "Blanche." She'd say, "I didn't know about that!" Not that there ever was a Night of Five Stewardesses. If only. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to write this. I wanted to show a guy who goes from nowhere to having good things happen. I just wanted to make it seem like, as much as I complain about bachelor hell, there is a lot of fun to be had in one's single life. Enjoy it. Don't just lament it all the time. The Toronto Star (April 29, 2003): "Meanwhile, Male Writers Find New Voice," by Mike Dojc A new brand of literature has arisen to feed the 20-something guys' need to read. An antithesis to Chick Lit, this hot new typology has been dubbed Dick Lit by pundits and the British press... The Washington Times (February 21, 2003): "In Defense of the Cad," by Scott Galupo Cad offers a view into a guy's decision-making process — all the sexual circuitry between the male id and neocortex. Things are more complicated than women generally believe. The "clean little secret" about men, Mr. Marin says, is that their wants and needs are just as nuanced as those of the fairer sex. "The difference is that we don't talk about what we want all the time," Mr. Marin, who is writing a movie version of "Cad" for Miramax, said in a telephone interview... Rick Marin on women, freelancing and Cadishness (February 17, 2003): Q&A BY JESSE OXFELD, mediabistro.com Rick Marin chronicles his mid-'90s rampage through the women of Manhattan, which commenced with the end of an ill-fated (and iller-conceived) early-20s starter marriage and ended when, finally, he met the right woman. Along the way, Marin moves from a TV-critic job at the right-wing Washington Times, through the churning waters of New York freelancer-dom, and finally arrives at the promised lands: first Newsweek and later The New York Times. As he prepared for Cad's release last week, Marin talked to mediabistro.com about his life, his career and all his celebrity friends. (Read an exclusive mediabistro.com excerpt from Cad.) See what the Seattle Weekly's Dategirl thinks of the Cad (February 19, 2003) Chicago Sun-Times (February 13, 2003): "A Cad Comes Clean, " Q&A by Mike Thomas Following his 1991 divorce, former Newsweek and New York Times writer Rick Marin embarked on an epic, and long fruitless, journey to find the perfect woman — cad style. Years later, after many mostly meaningless couplings and excruciating morning-after brunches, he finally hit the bullseye. His colorful and, to many men, entirely familiar adventures are detailed in the hilarious memoir Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor. Recently, Marin, who splits his time between New York City and Sag Harbor, spoke with the Sun-Times about sex, love and restroom banter with Regis Philbin. The National Post (February 13, 2003): "The Things You Learn When You're a Cad," By Lianne George "Cad might very well be the first book in a new genre of 'lad-lit,' the male counterpart to chick-lit, popularized in the mid-1990s by such writers as Candace Bushnell and Helen Fielding. Like most chick-lit, Cad is a light, witty first-person narrative about a hip, young single person looking for love and fabulousness in the big city." The New York Observer (February 13, 2003): "Love in the Time of Bush," by Anna Jane Grossman The Cad is part of the hot new monogamy trend! The Globe and Mail (February 8, 2003): "Big Bad Love" by Simon Houpt A wry, friendly profile by one of my fellow Canadians. "No longer a Styles reporter, he's still awfully stylish, today decked out in rust-coloured cords and a V-neck sweater over a fresh-pressed striped shirt, doubtless of some fancy label provenance. You could see why women might fall for him, despite his ordinary features that recall early Elvis Costello..." USA Today (February 7, 2003): "Tame Joe Could Take Lessons from 'Cad,'" By Olivia Barker Bachelors abound in pop culture these days, from Joe Millionaire to The Bachelorette's last men standing, Charlie and Ryan. But these guys are positively declawed when compared with Rick Marin, author of Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor. Out Valentine's Day, Cad is a Bridget Jones Diary-style memoir best savored between dirty-martini sips. Which gives Marin license to critique these latter-day lotharios. Joe Millionaire isn't enough of a cad, the now-engaged Marin says. "He's having these sleepless nights and soulful talks with his producers'; meanwhile, Joe's prospective mates are "plotting their next move." Entertainment Weekly (February 7, 2003): "EW Eagerly Awaits" Cad, Rick Marin (Hyperion, $23.95, on sale Feb 14). Just in time for Valentine's Day, Marin presents a heartfelt examination of, well, what selfish bastards men can be to women. The Newsweek writer loved and left 'em by the bucket during the '90s, and now he's servicing the ladies once again by squealing on himself.
Gossip New York Post (March 6, 2003): "Not So Toxic" By Richard Johnson It was Candace Bushnell who first coined the term "toxic bachelor" in her N.Y. Observer column, which became a book and then the HBO hit "Sex and the City." So it was apt that she co-hosted the party at Chambers Hotel for Rick Marin's new book, "Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor." (The orginal toxic bachelor was a friend of ours whose reputation was so damaged here he moved to London, where he met and married a lovely lady.) Also on hand: Karen Duffy, Ilene Rosenzweig, Cynthia Rowley, Illeana Douglas, Monica Lewinsky, literary legend Bruce Jay Friedman and ABC News honcho Victor Neufeld. Women's Wear Daily (February 11, 2003): "Memo Pad" By Jacob Bernstein THESE AD-HOC TIMES: Two days ago, The New York Times Sunday Styles section was scheduled to run a front-page story penned by Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor author and former Times staffer Rick Marin. The piece dealt with the topic of his book and argued, not surprisingly, that commitment phobia is curable. Scheduled to run alongside it was a piece by recently married Times writer Alex Kuczynksi arguing the opposite. But sources said the piece was killed last week because Times higher-ups felt that it was too self-promotional. That would not be particularly surprising (or irksome), Times sources said, but the paper often prints articles by authors that address the topic of their work. In fact, it did so just last week when it published a lengthy article by author Daniel Goleman, who addressed a recent scientific study on meditation — a topic in his recent book on the Dalai Lama. "We have all these new ehtical guidelines," said one Times source, "but there's no consistency to how they're being enforced." "Caprice governs everything," said another Times staffer. "I believe in consistency in principle but I rarely see it — even with the new 500-page ethics code." The ethics code is actually 53 pages but, as one Times source pointed out, "it's long enough to explain why no one's read it." But perhaps they should read the manual. A Times spokesman said that, while he wouldnąt discuss internal editing decisions, "we don't believe we were dealing with a violation of our ethical journalism policy." Marin couldnąt be reached for comment. Women's Wear Daily (February 4, 2003): "Memo Pad" By Jacob Bernstein PLUS BABY EQUALS THREE: Looking for further evidence that tabletop dancing socialites are out of fashion, replaced by Manolo wearing power babes with baby strollers? Marie Claire fashion director Lucy Sykes and her financier husband Euan Rellie got together at Italian nightspot Serafino Sandro last week with a bunch of transatlantic friends, not to dance the night away but to announce the news that Lucy's pregnant with their first child, due in July. Amidst a group that included New York Post Metro editor Jesse Angelo and writer Bridget Harrison, Rick Marin (author of "Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor"), Times writer Bob Morris and Lucy's sister Alice and brother Tom, the noisy bunch stayed well past midnight, after which the crowd, minus Lucy, moved on through a series of watering holes. They finally ended up in Marin's apartment, where the revelry continued until 5 a.m. New York Post: Page Six (February 9, 2003): "Sightings" LITERARY love birds Ilene Rosenzweig and Rick Marin discussing wedding plans at the opening of Show nightclub as acrobat Tatiana twired on a trapeze... Vanity Fair (March 2003): "Fanfair" Journalist Rick Marin, self-anointed "toxic bachelor," swings between gloating and self-flagellation in his dating memoir, Cad. Ah, long live la tryst! Latina (March 2003): "Calendario" Half-Spanish Rick Marin reveals his bad-boy antics — and bad pick up lines — in the new book Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor. |
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