Maybe 3.5? He certainly knows how to turn a phrase. Funny but better when spread over time. ( )

I read this after discussion with a friend about the TV show that was based on this book, a collection of eleven short stories. I did not realize that the TV show (a link to Wikapedia below) was based on a book. This is the very rare case where I enjoyed a TV program, or movie for that matter, as much or more then the book. If you're hoping to see Maynard, or Zelda in these stories forget it. Where the TV show explored issues other then just Dobie's love life, the book doesn't.

The eleven short stories in the book are not interconnected in any way, other then the main character. In all the stories he is a freshman at the University of Minnesota. In each of the stories Dobie is smitten with a beautiful girl at first sight. While this is not unusual for the typical 18-19 year old boy Dobie comes up with elaborate schemes, and lies, to gain the girl's affections. Not surprisingly, he crashes and burns (deservedly so) in each of the stories.

The stories were written in a more innocent/simplistic time and cultural attitudes were very different from those of today.
Most of the stories have a twist at the end, that is not totally surprising but through the author's narrative Dobie almost never, with one notable exception, learns anything. The characters lack a depth that I would have liked to see, especially the girls that are the object of Dobie's attention (he does objectify them).

I would have enjoyed the stories more if they had been linked together with Dobie gaining wisdom, albeit slowly, along the way. My favorite of the collection are the last three, "Boy Bites Man", "The King's English", and "You Think You Got Trouble"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Many_Loves_of_Dobie_Gillis
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Originally published in the early 1950s, these short stories are sweet, funny, and quaint without seeming irrelevant.
Dobie Gillis is the title character and the thread that connects these stories, though his character isn't set in stone and the stories aren't chronological or necessarily consistent. In all of them, he's an incurably optimistic and hopelessly romantic college student, but that's about it -- each of the stories is a different take on that basic character. Maybe he's fallen in love with a smart, ambitious girl, or a beautiful but dumb girl, or a spoiled rich girl, or a girl who's been sent away to New York by her parents. It doesn't matter, because each story is charming and Dobie is always a bit adorably goofy.
It's clear that these were written several decades ago, but though I had feared the female characters would be either flat or offensively stereotyped, they were widely varied and very fun to read. They certainly keep Dobie on his toes!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. ( )

I had been a big fan of The Dobie Gillis Show when I was a kid, and, if I recall correctly, I think Andy Cohen mentioned this book as a favorite in his autobiography, so I thought this would be a fun book to read. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of the re-issue of this book, and both my husband and I read it and enjoyed it on our vacation. It was very nostalgic for us, and we could see how it inspired the TV series. It was a nice trip back in time to a more innocent time, and it was a pleasure to read. I think other fans of the TV show would enjoy it as well. ( )

This book, published in 1951 and subtitled “Eleven Campus Stories,” is a collection of short stories written by Max Shulman from 1945 through 1951 and previously published in such magazines as Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post. In his opening note, Shulman notes that they “are, therefore, clean and wholesome narratives” (this was definitely the early days of Cosmopolitan!). All of the stories have college student Dobie Gillis as the main character, but his age and major vary from story to story, as do the girls he is chasing.

The book was the basis for the 1953 movie The Affairs of Dobie Gillis as well as the 1959-1963 CBS TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, with Dwayne Hickman and Bob ("Gilligan") Denver. I haven’t seen either, but from reading the description of the movie plot, it seems to be based on the book’s story called “She Shall Have Music,” with a little bit of “Love of Two Chemists” (a chemistry lab explosion) and “The Unlucky Winner” (a plagiarized English essay). Dobie is in high school when the TV series starts, and later briefly in the Army and then in junior college. Money-hungry Thalia Menninger from “The Sugar Bowl” is often Dobie’s dream girl, and the stories “You Think You Got Trouble?” and “Everybody Loves My Baby” form the basis of episodes in the series.

For me, the best story in the book (which is also the title and basis for one of the TV series episodes)is “Love is a Fallacy.” Apparently it’s often used in beginning logic classes as a humorous way to introduce types of fallacies. Despite the importance of a raccoon coat to the plot, this story and the others are so humorous that such dated references can be easily overlooked. ( )