The Washington Post
The book suggests itself as a first effort in that it is one of those familiar crypto-autobiographical Bildungsroman debuts in which you only ever hear what the narrator is thinking. But Boswell is a good enough stylist that Trouble with Girls never approaches the dreaded pitfall of many such books, in which you're always catching the main character sniffing his own fingers or checking his hair in the mirror. The book has forward momentum. — Gavin McNett
Publishers Weekly
Though Boswell imbues this debut collection with infectious energy, the 10 stories are at times disconcertingly slight. The tales follow perpetually angst-ridden Memphis-born Parker Hayes from his youth in the 1970s and 1980s-catching a rare baseball in right field, weathering abuse from his muscle-bound older brother, trying to be a "punk rock jock" to impress his schoolmates-into his adulthood, where graduate school and a series of unfulfilling jobs waiting tables, managing supply companies and selling telephone services leave him feeling lost. As the title suggests, Parker's life is full of romantic complications. In "Venus/Mars," a soon-to-be-married woman takes Parker out drinking, with the notion that her own attractive presence will help him score. "Grub Worm" has Parker trying to get over his disappointment in love by sleeping with his love object's sorority sister-to his humiliation. Parker rises to the challenge of a long-term relationship in the volume's last story, "Spanish Omens"-only to compromise this progress through romantic misjudgments that threaten to spoil his honeymoon in Spain. If Parker has trouble with girls, however, Boswell himself has trouble writing about them. His female characters are often stereotypes: the unapproachable beauty, the angry but sexy punk. Parker's juvenile attitude toward women is plausible, but the book's one-sidedness is frustrating. Still, the dialogue is brisk and clever, and Parker himself is reasonably complex, a young man on the make who slowly gains some measure of insight and maturity. 10-city author tour. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A young man tries to separate the bruises from the clues in his coming-of-ager—sort of—in an understated, fitfully endearing debut. In ten self-sustaining chapters from age 14 to mid-30s, the eternally naive Parker moves from right-field daydreams to a Spanish honeymoon without ever quite knowing what he’s supposed to do. On the baseball field in junior high, the one fly-ball that comes his way just seems to find its way into his glove: Parker takes that as a sign that he was ready for it. His big brother takes him to the gym for his first crack at weight training, after previously treating him to a dip of snuff, but he isn’t ready for either of them. Girls enter the equation when he attends a weeklong Methodist camp and gets a crush on Nicole Liarkos; but he returns home to lose his best (and only) friend. With the help of a couple of new faces in his class, one male, one female, he begins a transition to high-school punk, but that phase doesn’t last beyond a scene at the prom. College is viewed only after it’s already over for Parker: trying to recover from a breakup with a woman who’s still enrolled, he jogs endlessly past her apartment and, for money, waits tables. A move to Miami puts him next door to two strippers—and provides a failed opportunity with the gorgeous one of them. Another move, to Atlanta, puts him into the company of two other women: crazy Trina, whom he finally advises to check into an institution; and Pamela, who inflames him wildly—and is engaged to his best friend. Parker finally meets his match, Rachael, in graduate school—but not before he drops out. A most exasperating lug, this Parker. The naïf has his innocent charms, but his endless stumbles, losses, andmisdirections do wear thin. Author tour
