“My name is Jimmy Hendricks and I’m a recovering idiot.”

As the central character in John Blumenthal’s Three and a Half Virgins, Jimmy introduces himself to others he encounters by anticipating the obvious: “Jimmy Hendricks. No relation.”

Blumenthal (novelist, screenwriter, former associate editor and columnist for Playboy Magazine), is blessed with the kind of comic timing that evokes memories of George Burns, or Carl Reiner, or Johnny Carson. One can almost hear the rim shots, punctuating some great lines and situations that populate the whole of Jimmy’s story.

But as those masters of American comedy also knew, there’s always a current of trouble and sorrow that runs just below the kind of comedy that lasts, and Jimmy Hendricks has his share.

He’s having a birthday with a zero on the end, watching his jawline blur and fighting the insidious beginnings of a paunch (“which I can suck in with stunning alacrity when circumstances require it”). He owns a successful electronics store—but has no clue how to actually use anything he sells.

And when his wife leaves him, her destination is every guy’s worst nightmare.

So Jimmy sets off on a trip through his past, to try and find some meaning in his future. Who among us hasn’t at least thought about doing that?

Jimmy’s journey feels very genuine, and most of us would recognize the people he meets along the way. How Blumenthal captured my ex-wife, for instance, as his character Molly, I’ll never know.

In one scene, Jimmy fields helpful suggestions from his poker buddies on how to move on, ranging from the civilized “apologize to the women you treated badly in your youth, it’s a form of closure,” (something Jimmy’s all for doing, until he finds out it has to be done in person and his sense of self-preservation kicks in) to the hands-on “I know a guy from New Jersey named Vinnie The Shoe, I hear he’s good at breaking knees and stuff,” just in case Jimmy decides to go in a different, less cooperative direction regarding the individual who made off with his wife. It’s good to have options.

One of the the best things about Three and a Half Virgins is the wry sense we get from Blumenthal himself, using Jimmy’s voice—both the author and his character know: there are some truly inventive ways a man can learn to kid himself, right on into middle age and beyond. Trying to resurrect a happier you, a better you, a more attractive you through your past loves never works. But many have tried, and Jimmy’s no exception.

Best of all, if you mine this brilliantly written story down to its core, you’ll find a message on the value of repentance and forgiveness in our shared world.

If you write, you’ll want to read this to see how a true master tells a story. If you’re breathing, you’ll want to buy it because it speaks to all of us.

And it’s really funny.

An excerpt from the book is on http://fictionique.com/ 

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