Man Camp

Best friends Lucy Stone and Martha McKenna are on a mission: to teach sissy city men how to be men. Lucy, a biologist who sees the dating scene in scientific terms, is alarmed to find her own boyfriend, Adam, severely lacking in basic masculine skills on what turns out to be a not-so-very romantic weekend in the country; he can't build a fire, split wood, or jump-start a car --- and he's even afraid of noises on a nighttime trip to the outhouse! The weekend ends on an unhappy note, and with Lucy wondering if Adam is the man for her after all. Martha has endured her last bad date, which actually broke her will to even try to find a guy, and has decided to concentrate on contributing to womankind by making men in general more appealing. She starts a business, FirstDate, which is a step in the right direction, teaching men how to make a good impression on a first date. Martha has a full schedule for her FirstDate service, and they all need her help terribly: the guy who knocks her beer into her lap twice, the date who knows more about hair products than Martha does, and the guy who mentions his mother's womb. In fact, these poor men need way more help than just one date's worth. So Lucy and Martha come up with the idea of a camp men can go to in order to learn how to act like men. Lucy's hunky farmer friend, Cooper Tuckington, the model they wish all men could achieve in terms of masculinity, volunteers his farm and his help. Lucy, however, is appalled to discover electricity arcing between Martha and Cooper. Cooper, after all, is her back-up husband, according to a long-ago agreement between the two: if they reach a certain age and have found no one to marry, they plan to tie the knot. Then again, what about Adam, who has many good qualities? Surely, he can be taught to be a manly man --- or can he? Lucy tricks Adam into believing he's one of the instructors at Man Camp, but in reality he's there to learn from Cooper. If he finds out the truth, how will that affect their relationship? The Man Camp recruits accomplish various manly tasks, including changing flat tires, carpentry, firearms, fence building, and milking a cow. They watch movies in which the heroes are excellent manly role models, and they eat hearty man-style meals cooked up by Cooper's Southern belle mother, Beatrice. Unfortunately, Beatrice has NOT taken a shine to Martha, who returns the hostility. Adding to Martha's angst over Cooper, he seems horribly distracted and her attempts to woo him appear to go nowhere. Is he just not interested in Martha after all? Is his mother's influence swaying him? As a matter of fact, Cooper has a secret that is incredibly distressing. When the campers discover what Cooper's problem is, they hope to use their own skills to help him. Can the hapless students actually pull together and save their instructor? (...)

Anyone who is ever been on a date will enjoy Man Camp. This story takes all the aspects of dating - the gruesome, the funny, the beautiful - and rolls them into a smart, lively, witty novel that is so fun to read. Male or female, you'll have a hard time putting this down. Adrienne Brodeur is someone to watch!

This is the book that every single women wishes she had written. While Brodeur chronocles all that is wrong with men in NY, she doesn't let the women off the hook either. Instead of just another male-bashing diatribe, Man Camp illustrates how both sides can work to cross the great gender divide. I loved these characters so much I didn't want it to end - so I read it again.

hooray for Adrienne Brodeur's funny and fast-moving book! any woman who's ever wondered what's happened to men in the wake of feminism--who's ever thought, "this is not a zero-sum game! they're not supposed to get weaker as we get stronger!"--will empathize with the heroines of this book, and delight in the lengths they go to so that the modern man might macho-up. read this book!

Hilarious read that reminds us women to be careful what we wish for, it just might come true... Not long ago we chided our men to be a little more sensitive, to communicate their feelings, and to use a little hand lotion now and then. But should all this come at the expense of being able to fix a flat tire or woo a woman with a bit of sexy masculine bravado? Adrienne Brodeur's Man Camp is a fresh and funny take on how both men and women could use a refresher course in the ways of seduction.