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I love Simon Rich. A lot. His writing is simple but sophisticated too - he manages to get across the funniest expressions and comments with such brevity. It just kills me.

This whole book is short stories of dating life. Most of it I loved. The CIA agent who is tasked with taking down the most dangerous terrorist in the world, but who uses the invisibility serum to stalk his girlfriend instead; the guy whose girlfriend has growing complaints about him is referred by their couples counselor to a back alley mechanic who pops her head open and adjusts a loose wire to return her to her earlier contented self. They are just fantastic.

But one left me deeply unsettled. In it, a 30ish man, not super attractive but not the worst agrees to being set up by his friends on a date with a Swedish girl. Only when he gets there she is a troll. An honest to goodness troll who lives under a bridge and bites his leg upon meeting him. He's rightly horrified and upset, until he realizes his friends think he is this troll girl's equal. Is he too good for a troll? Really? At his age and still single? They are disappointed in his attitude and he's horrified to realize he's on the same dating bar as this troll. Who, after being spurned, goes on to marry a nice lawyer and live it up in the suburbs while he remains depressingly single.

DEEPLY UNSETTLING as a person who is trying to date but still hoping for something better than troll.