Meretricious rubbish. If, in the modern mania for list-making, I had a list of the shallowest, least meaningful and most tedious novels I have read in a long lifetime, this one would be very close to the top. The "subject" of the book is the sex lives of a small group of thirteen year old, eighth-grade students and their parents in a small unnamed town in 'Middle America'. The unformed characters of the children are only faintly interesting and those of their self-seeking, sexually-needy parents little more so. I found it revealing that, in the edition I have just finished reading, there is a section of several pages in the middle of the book containing several egregious typos, indicating that (entirely justifiably IMO) the professional proof-reader nodded off.
It appears to me that the author was trying very hard to produce a book leading to a sensationally successful film, perhaps "The Valley of the Dolls" of his generation. Do I need to add that "successful" here means money-making, neither more nor less? Could there be any other possible yardstick?!? And speaking of films, it is a mystery to me why the book has, at the top of the front cover: "From the Director of Juno and Up In The Air". The director of those two films was Jason Reitman. There is no indication in the Internet Movie Database that Chad Kultgen had any connection with either of those two well-received films. Is the book cover not then a form of fraud committed on potential purchasers of the book?
I note some reviewers found the book funny. What a very subjective and individual thing humour is. I think Terry Pratchett and P.J O'Rourke are funny. To me this book is about as funny as Proust or perhaps Ghormenghast. It is also 'funny' in one sense of the word that one of the very favourable "Editorial Reviews" for this book on Amazon is by "Stoya, star of Perfect Picture" a character about whom one of the parents in the book has an obsession. ( )

Whenever I watch a film adaptation of a book I have not read, I experience moments of doubt and anxiety, believing myself unable to grasp the story in its most complete form. A picture may paint a thousand words, but words can also serve to illustrate the more subtle and intangible facets of the human condition. It is these facets, that I believe, I am missing out on in the instances where I have yet to read the pre-existing texts. These feelings are, of course, completely irrational; film is an excellent and unique medium for artistic expression with decades of theory and criticism informing and being informed by its productions. However, as the film progressed, I began to feel as if what was presented to me on screen was lacking. The characters were devoid of the depth and charm integral for character driven plots, and ultimately it made for a blasé watching experience.

After checking out the IMDB message boards, I came across many posters who expressed disappointment in the ‘watering down’ of the narrative for film and this served as the impetus in picking up Chad Kultgen’s book a few days later. Having completed the book in the early hours of this morning and giving myself time to mull it over, I find myself agreeing with the IMDB posters and their disappointment. Kultgen’s book has a completely different tone to that of the film, so much so that it is quite jarring to read and definitely a lot more challenging.

The film glamourises the experiences of those associated with Goodrich Junior High School and in doing so, dilutes the book’s messages. This isn’t a story akin to a Brazzers porn clip in which overwhelmingly flawless and attractive people incorporate sex into their daily lives without a second thought. No, this is a Dr. Gunther style autopsy on the effect of technology on our contemporary relationships, with Kultgen at the helm, scalpel ready for dissection. It is explicit, no doubt about it, but that doesn’t make the book ‘sexy'. Instead it is awkward and raw, and the frank narrative style puts everything on the table - even the moments most of us would much rather forget, let alone speak of in good company. This style is a new experience for me and I found myself able to connect with the characters on a much deeper level having been given complete, unbiased omniscience. The book is consistent in its approach and upon reading the final lines, I found myself wanting to read more of Kultgen’s work.

The ending is, unsurprisingly, open-ended. Kultgen presents the experiences of his characters as evidence in the case against allowing technology to dictate our lives, and it is up to us to decide what our next steps will be. This book informs us that life is already a complicated clusterfuck of choices and pressures, but it also highlights the further complications provided the by the rapidly developing and often insidious nature of computer technology. It is a fascinating read and definitely one I have no qualms in recommending. I would have given this book 5/5 stars, but had to knock one off as large chunks of the book focus on American football games, complete with game play jargon that went completely over my head as an Australian. That aside, I am glad to start off 2015 with a great read and even more thrilled to know that the author has other works for me to devour. ( )

SPOILERS

Explicit. Disturbing. Amazing. Those were the words that came to mind after I came to the (very depressing) end of Men, Women & Children.

Chad Kultgen is quickly becoming my favorite writer of this century. His no-holds-barred books writing style certainly won't appeal to everyone, but if you enjoyed either of his previous novels, you'll at least like this one.

Though the main characters in this book are mostly kids, Kultgen does not turn-down the explicit sex in his writing that makes him famous.

Be warned, the characters that you love will lose and the ones you hate will win. The antagonists don't get their comeuppance, the protagonists all suffer, and everyone in between becomes a worse person. In fact, over the course of the novel, everyone became a worse person. One girl becomes blindly devoted to a childhood crush, another becomes a slut because she wants to be famous so bad. One boy, after wishing to remain abstinent, basically rapes his girlfriend. The only way a husband and wife are able to stay together is if they begin seeing other people. It's depressing. Don't go into this thinking everything will come out peachy for everybody.

This may seem like a critical review, but I loved Men, Women & Children. It's a bit of a diversion from the other book by Kultgen I read (The Average American Male), but it's just as good. I knocked a half a star off because it wasn't as funny as The Average American Male. ( )

In Men, Women & Children, Chad Kultgen pulls no punches in his pointedly matter-of-fact exploration of human sexuality and its impact on relationships. His cast of characters is large, and the situations in which his characters find themselves cross the gamut from normal, healthy sexual expression to fetishes and beyond. Of even greater interest is the age range of his characters and the impact of social media and the Internet on fueling certain issues.

Men, Women & Children is not for the faint of heart. From the opening sentence, the reader will know whether s/he will be able to stomach the subject matter. It reads like a clinical description of pornography at times, but this method of storytelling only serves to proves Mr. Kultgen's point. It is very reminiscent of George Michael's hit song, "(I Want Your) Sex", in that Mr. Kultgen showcases that everyone thinks about/obsesses about sex in some fashion and that doing so is healthy. It is how people use that obsession to drive their everyday interactions where the problems occur.

When one removes the shock and awe from the explicitness of the text, the reader is met with an abundance of thought-provoking situations. The role the Internet plays in creating and supporting unhealthy habits among young teens is something about which every parent must be aware. The fact that the teens in question are in eighth grade, even though their actions and issues seem so much older than that, is both disturbing and shocking only because of the fact that the behaviors and situations discussed in the novel are more typical than one would like to realize. One discussion with a parent of a thirteen-year-old and the reader understands that what Mr. Kultgen is describing is, unfortunately, normal for this age group. Exploring one's sexuality through exposure to pornography and experimentation, fighting parental control, pressure to perform (whether it is in sports or in the bedroom), wanting to fit in and feel important - this is very much what a modern-day teen faces each and every day. Mr Kultgen presents this tragic but true situation rather clinically, removing the sense of horror that so easily could be added in order to add credence and legitimacy. It is an effective ploy.

For the adults in the novel, Mr. Kultgen explores similar topics as Meg Wolitzer did in her most recent novel, The Uncoupling. Sex in adult relationships means something completely different than it does in teenage relationships, and both novels portray the more nuanced power behind sex among couples. Whereas Ms. Wolitzer explored the feminine aspect of this dynamic, Mr. Kultgen focuses on the male perspective.

While sex is the uniting theme among the cast of characters, it is by no means the main point of Men, Women & Children. Rather, it is an emotionless exploration of humanity - a girl fighting an eating disorder, a young man struggling with depression, a mother trying to protect her daughter, and another mother trying to ensure her daughter achieves her dreams, the power struggle between child and parent as the child gets older, the power struggles among teens. These are the all-too-common issues faced by much of today's society and deserve to be studied and highlighted. For those who are willing and able to overlook the purposefully explicit scenes, designed to draw ire and shock, the result is an eye-opening study of the pressures our teens face at younger and younger ages and how parents' own self-absorption fuels their responses.

Thank you to Erica Barmash from Harper Perennial for my advanced reading copy. She warned me it would be a challenging but rewarding read, and she was right!

I have a sort of love/hate thing going with Chad Kultgen's books. In "The Average American Male", it seemed like he worded everything for shock value and the biggest cringe factor he could get. But after polling some of my average American guy friends about some of the points in the book, most said, "Ya, that's pretty much right." "The Lie", Kultgen's second book centering the concept of the man/woman relationship dynamic was just as brutal to my tender heart, and polled, once again, as pretty accurate in my guy-friends pool.

So, when I received the third book, "Men, Women and Children", I was very afraid. But, as I began to read it, I recognized all sorts of people I know in its pages. I don't need to poll this time. Kultgen still speaks the truth, albeit in the most graphic, TMI, sexual way possible, but somehow gentler than he has before (don't ask me to explain that, I'm still working through that myself). This book deals with families, and all the relationships that are involved, and all of the secrets they keep from each other. There is a profound emotionality to this book that hasn't been present before--there are moments of genuine heart-break in these pages that are stark, raw, and desperately true. These stories are digging much farther than the grubby surface to something dark but meaningful, almost illuminating. This is far from a comfortable or easy read, but I found it to be rather profound (as well as profane--don't say I didn't warn you), and I'm still struggling with some of the ideas that are brought up in it. I'm impressed, to say the least. ( )