“Iris Smyles has reinvented Sally Bowles and Holly Golightly for the 21st century.”
-Edmund White
“My favorite writer”
-Tom McCarthy
"Similar to Tolstoy's War and Peace, but much funnier and shorter."
-Martin Mull
"I love this book. But I wish there were more dogs in it."
-Patricia Marx
“Normally when I read a book, it’s a lot of squinting, mumbling, and moving of lips before I’m asked to leave the bus station altogether more than anything else. But Iris Smyles somehow manages to transport me to another world entirely, where thankfully none of that matters and I can just get lost in her hilarious, absurd, and dare I say (yes, I do!) elegant prose. More please!”
-Dave Hill
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"There are two kinds of people in this world, those without peanut allergies and those who cannot tolerate peanuts or any food produced or packaged in a facility that processes peanuts. Both will love this book."
-Andrea Martin
“An incandescent weave of fiction, essay, and spoof, Dating Tips for the Unemployed is about nostalgia, seduction, identity, desire, self improvement, love, youth, maturity, aging, family, friendship, the appeal and pitfalls of the shortcut, and the mess of adult life. Oh, and there's also some 19th century arctic exploration, cannibalism, astrophysics, husband-hunting, Greek mythology, and porn. Iris Smyles is an original and her fictional doppelgänger “Iris Smyles” is one of literature's most charismatic innocents, a Donna Quixote lost in the new world. What strange, moving fun to tag along on her adventures!”
-Frederic Tuten
“The prodigiously inventive Smyles melds novel, autobiography, and all manner of asides as she flails at art, love, and friendship with the wry intelligence of someone just wise enough to realize they have no idea what they're doing. A flat-out joy to read.”
-O, The Oprah Magazine
"Whimsy, satire, and rollicking social commentary… Ms. Smyles is a misanthrope-of-the-people, a standout on the order of Fran Lebowitz."
—East Hampton Star
"Structured in small episodes like Homer's Odyssey, which serves as an epigraph for the book, Smyles' adventuress calls to mind a Jane Bowles heroine who's read Ulysses while scrolling in despair through 10 open apps on her iPhone. Smyles' portrayal of Iris in all her weirdness offers much to recognize, fear, and embrace. Walking the line between self-obsession and thoughtful portraiture, Smyles explores an inextricable link between sex and loneliness, self-loathing and self-acceptance in contemporary New York."
—Kirkus Reviews
"In engaging episodes, Iris-the-character neurotically navigates dating in New York City, smokes pot on Greek islands with hapless lovers, drinks too much, deals with disapproving family, and eats a lot of cannoli. Smyles's surreal, lyrical voice elevates these every day scenarios into the realm of the fantastic and absurd. Included in the book are hilariously stylized advertisements full of false promises, such as 'Health Secrets of the Roman Empire' and 'Have Your Portrait Painted By An Elephant!' all for a price. Smyles is sharp, melancholy, and wickedly funny. She is unafraid to reveal and revel in her character's flaws because it is what makes them so achingly, relatably human."
—Interview Magazine
"Crafty comic writer Iris Smyles continues to follow the life of her fictional antihero, Iris, in Dating Tips for the Unemployed...She resumes her witty, self-deprecating and often self-defeating search for a place in the world...A clever, insightful glimpse into the often absurd existence of an intellectual young woman who makes the idea of floundering in life into a laudable art form."
—Shelf Awareness
"An astounding work of genre-bending fun by an obvious genius."
—Steve Hely, author of How I Became a Famous Novelist
"I didn't read this book and I didn't have to. On the cover, it said IRIS SMYLES and that's more than enough for me. Like logos for Coca-Cola, Fritos and Entenmann's, Iris' name assures me that what's inside... is so yummy.”
—Alec Baldwin*
*Alec Baldwin was paid for this endorsement.