The narrator is a bachelor because he is indeed single. He is not The Bachelor in terms of the hit ABC show. The cover art of this book and the book description led me to believe the story would steer closer to the ABC show side of things, however this was not the case. I liked the bachelor's growth journey but I had a very hard time with the ramblings (pages at a time) about his favorite poet and his favorite basketball team. I really liked the characters of Sadie and Laura who were both confident women and it was when they entered into the plot that I finally found a good reading pace with this book. At the end the rambling started in again and I had a very hard time wanting to finish the book.

As a native Iowan and a lover of road trips, the descriptions of Iowa, Des Moines, and Nebraska felt very familiar and gave this book a very nostalgic feel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tried and tried but just couldn’t fall in love with this.... I realize I’m probably in the majority here but couldn’t find enough redeeming qualities to this tale to complete it. May try again soon but for now, I’ll say, “No thank you - I’ll not have one now”.
Thanks for the ARC opportunity!

I feel like this book was trying to be too many things at once and achieved nothing. It is funny in parts, but really seems to be random musings about reality tv and its effect on us. I was bored throughout, and confused honestly in some parts. I feel like fans of the Bachelor may like this one, but it just did not resonate with me.

I wanted to love this book but I found it slow and difficult to keep my interest. The main character was too dull and cerebral for me. I think some will love this book but it just wasn't for me. Thanks for the advance review copy.

I did not make it past the first five chapters of this book. I wanted to love it based on the cover and the teasers, but it just didn't measure up. It was stilted and hard to get into.

after a breakup with a near finance he begins his obsession with the the reality show and the dynamics of how it works. This truly becomes an obsession (very smilier to how people really view the show) Very factual and relatable as someone who is also a big fan of the show!

Because I'm not a fan of the Bachelor, or any reality TV, I think I was not the right audience for this story. I did enjoy the musings of the main character, and the comparison between the actual show and real life dating was interesting, but I didn't know the poet our MC was obsessed with, and found myself having to Google a lot more than I usually care to do during a fiction story.

This isn't my normal type of read but I absolutely love The Bachelor, so I had to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. This is perfect for your summer beach bag. I loved the coming of age aspect of it as well. I'm not sure non-fans of the show would like this, but if you love the show, grab this!

Love the Bachelor, so I gravitated towards this book - I was expecting a fun sort of light chick-lit type of book. A rom-com per-say but that's not quite what I got. There was a lot of 'stream of consciousness' moments and not as relatable to the Bachelor as expected.

The Bachelor by Andrew Palmer is an ambitious debut novel. It is not a rom com nor a steamy romance. The protagonist, who is never named, tells us how after a difficult break up he became obsessed with the 15th season of the reality TV show The Bachelor. At the same time he is researching the life of real life Pulitzer Prize poet John Berryman.

It is a bizarre contrast. He recognizes the often ridiculousness of falling in love on TV. Meanwhile, the poet he is obsessed with had a very dark sad life reflected in his poetry. Despite the weird premise I could not stop reading this book. Somehow with humor and insight we see growth and redemption for our coming of age narrator. An auspicious first novel.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via #Netgalley for fair and honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Sadly, this book was not for me, it was too dry and felt too self-involved for me. I kept thinking that the tone felt like if Holden Caulfield or Ernest Hemmingway wanted to comment and self-reflect on their love lives by examining The Bachelor, it did not mesh well in my opinion.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC.

As an avid Bachelor fan, I was excited to receive an ARC of Andrew Palmer’s novel The Bachelor. This book was definitely not what I was expecting, which isn’t a bad thing, but took me a while to appreciate. Finding himself suddenly single, the main character (name never revealed) returns to Iowa. Previously an author, he now finds himself filling his time with basketball games and the airing of the popular tv-show the Bachelor. I enjoyed the references, details and analysis of the show. As, especially as I age, I can appreciate all the questionable details that surround the show. I did have a difficult time staying engaged with the storylines and tangents that the character seemed to deviate from. This book was at times humorous, detailed and much deeper than I anticipated. If you know what you’re getting into, a fan of the Bachelor series and willing to oversee some lengthy poetry discussions, this one is worth a shot!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book would be more lighthearted and fun, and it definitely was not that! I found the narrator erratic and all over the place and almost obsessive. He was obsessed with several women, Sadie, Laura, Maria and Jess, he was VERY obsessed with John Berryman and slightly obsessed with The Bachelor. The fun part was that I did watch the season of The Bachelor that he references so I knew all the "characters." I really got bored and just felt "meh" at the end of this book. One other note: I am from Nebraska and when the narrator goes on and on about how terrible Nebraska is and it's nothing but dirt and more dirt, all I could think was SO IS IOWA!! We are just basically the same state. This had no reflection on my rating by the way. I did find it funny.

The Bachelor

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Quick synopsis: after breaking up with his sort of fiance, the narrator moves back to his hometown on Des Moines to recover. While corresponding with an old friend, he gets sucked into two obsessions - The Bachelor and the poet John Berryman.

This is very much a character driven novel. Another reviewer compared this to My Year of Rest and Relaxation and oh my goodness yes. I have to admit that a character driven, literary fiction novel is not typically my style, as it can be difficult to follow at times and tends to go over my head - basically it's too smart for me. I also wasn't familiar with the poet referenced in the novel, so I'm sure that would've helped my investment level in the story. Tying in The Bachelor was clever and made me chuckle at his narration from all the buzz words said on the show - "this is my last chance at love" and "I never thought I'd fall in love so fast".

Despite this, the writing was also so relatable at times and there were several passages that put some of my own feelings into words really well. Two come to mind - first, the feeling of Christmas morning as an adult with almost sadness and nostalgia thinking back to childhood. Second, going through phases as a reader where sometimes it's a method of escaping from reality and sometimes you read more deeply to actually get something out of a story.

Read if you enjoy: literary fiction or a character driven novel, or the dream-like writing styles of My Year of Rest & Relaxation and The Removed.

Full review to come on bookstagram.

First things first: I picked this book because I am addicted to The Bachelor and its spin-offs. I’m also, like the stereotypical Bachelor viewer, a woman. So when I read in the blurb that the main character would be a man who becomes obsessed with watching The Bachelor, I was very excited, envisioning something like this decade’s answer to Nick Hornby or Graeme Simsion, or the literary world’s answer to Judd Apatow. Something funny and thoughtful, somehow earnest and ironic all at once.

Unfortunately, reading this book was more like trying to wade through a textbook for a college class I’m not really interested in. There are huge, unbroken blocks of exposition and the narrative is written in basically the same style. I hoped at least the parts about The Bachelor would perk me up a bit, but even those just contain straight descriptions of old episodes, with no particular analysis, insight, or humor. I would not recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the show. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 though because it didn’t make me actively angry or want to throw my device across the room, which is my criteria for 1-star ratings.

An interesting albeit frustrating debut. The narrator, a writer whose first novel has just been published, is house sitting, bemoaning a breakup, and watching the Bachelor. And musing about the poet John Berryman. Hmm. It's an unusual juxtaposition to be sure and I'm not sure it works on all gears. There's also love letters, an entanglement with the owner of the house, and a back and forth with another younger woman. Much reflection, much contemplation but honestly, not much happens. This was saved for me by the writing, which is incisive and sharp. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

I was excited about the premise and the setting, as a frequent visitor to Des Moines- but I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the story itself. I found the pacing and writing a bit slow, and ultimately didn’t enjoy the story as much as I hoped. While this may be a hit for others, it was sadly a miss for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hogarth Press for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.

I thought the premise of this book was great, which is why I requested an advanced copy. Unfortunately, I had to Do Not Finish this novel. The writing style was there, but I felt like nothing ever actually happened. I like a good bit of detail while reading novels but this went a little over the top. I didn't need to know every last detail of this dead poet's life, it just seemed like it went on and on and on.

Easier to read and enjoy than to describe! Deftly weaves in the interrogations of our cultural moment and the way The Bachelor reflects these back to us (and in particular to the narrator) while also being a pensive treatise on connection. Delighted to include it in the July instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month's top fiction for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and books section (full review and feature at link).

Take note: Seattle author Andrew Palmer is one to watch after the release of his debut, “The Bachelor.” The unassuming, sharp novel quietly questions love and the nature of perception in an overconnected world.

“The Bachelor” starts off with an unnamed narrator beginning a stint as a housesitter for a friend of his mother’s. He has ended up in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, in an attempt to process a breakup with his almost-fiancée, Ashwini. With not much to keep him entertained — he barely knows anyone in Des Moines anymore — the narrator quickly becomes infatuated by two contrasting interests: the reality show “The Bachelor” and the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet John Berryman.

These juxtaposing preoccupations end up serving two points. One is to distract him from writing, an expectation that has filled him with anxiety and pressure ever since the release of his debut novel only a few months prior. And two, to allow the narrator to become removed from his current reality, blurring the lines of what’s fact and fiction. It is this shift of perception that becomes a significant driving theme throughout the novel.

“He’s convinced himself he’s the role he’s playing, or else — which may amount to the same thing — he doesn’t believe he’s playing a role at all,” writes Palmer in the early stages of the narrator’s “Bachelor” obsession. “This, it struck me with the force of an epiphany, must be how what is called character is formed.”

Not much happens in the overall storyline (readers who enjoy fast-paced novels will have a hard time with this book). Most of the story takes place in Des Moines, with a short stretch at a new housesitting gig in a “Bachelor”-esque mountaintop California mansion. The driving plot of “The Bachelor” is what is happening to the main character’s mentality. “How did I spend those first few days back in Des Moines?” writes Palmer. “To an observer, it might have appeared like nothing was happening.”

The novel is a mediation on the inner workings of someone who has lost themself, and reads like a journal or stream-of-consciousness memoir. “I don’t remember most of what I said in response,” writes Palmer of his real-life breakup. “I didn’t react well, I think.”

In a sense, “The Bachelor” is akin to Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2018 “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” (minus the constant, Ambien-induced haze) and “The Idiot” by Elif Batuman. Palmer’s novel features a quirky, aimless protagonist, with smart insights, dry humor and a character-driven narrative. But it’s all anchored in poignant, amusing, relatable observations of “The Bachelor” and Berryman, many of which make excellent pulled quotes.

“Strange that the reality we’re given isn’t enough,” writes Palmer. “Continents, oceans, antelopes, skyscrapers, neutrinos, Melville, sex, the internet, our Chicago Bulls — not enough. For Berryman, in any case, nothing sufficed.” “The Bachelor” is a story of the mundane that’s a slow rumination on the self. Or selves.

As the narrator reflects on love, “The Bachelor,” Berryman, reality and relationships, he begins to rebuild the semblance of a new sense of life via platonic and romantic relationships with a series of women, including the house’s owner. The way Palmer portrays this, however, can be seen as the book’s strength, or its weakness. The stories of these women, and a few others, are told through pages-long monologues, conversations and biography-esque writing (what makes a biography good or not is another topic of discussion in the novel) that can be either thrilling or meandering — a story of many stories.

The focus is the people in his life, and perhaps that’s why the narrator doesn’t have a name. Not that he doesn’t matter, he’s just not the novel’s focal point — contrary to the reality show. These are women who live out loud, and he’s learning to live again, through them.

“The Bachelor” excites for what’s next from Palmer, a new literary talent. This stimulating debut is a refreshing, thoughtful foray into what defines a human. “What makes you, you?” the novel wonders — and what are we if not creatures built on a million influences from others, focusing on the reality we choose to see?