Some of us even go as far as incorporating powerfully under-cutting sarcastic phrases such as “Brilliant!â€?? into our daily vocabulary in an effort to demonstrate how wordly and sophisticated our own personal sense of humor can be. Others among us simply buy books by British authors and wish we could be half as funny. In my case, this behavior can be exemplied by my purchase (quite by accident, I assure you) of Mil Millington’s “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.â€?? In an interesting departure from the standard “boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy acts like boy and loses girl but then comes to his boy senses and regains girlâ€?? story, “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued Aboutâ€?? begins where that well-worn plotline ends. Boy and girl, in this case named Pel and Ursula, have been living together for years, and — while not married — already have two children. Pel spends his time bluffing his way through a job he knows very little about, Ursula complains about her job constantly, and the two argue endlessly, yet by the time you reach the last page you realize you’ve read a story about the enduring strength of a loving relationship and you want to kick yourself for having been suckered in by what you thought was just a damn fine dose of British comedy. Millington takes his time establishing the story, carefully illustrating the characters and setting through the first-person view of our anti-hero, Pel:

As you might have guessed, the catch with our cheap house was that it was in an area of the northeast of England so dire that the government was applying for a grant from the European Union to pay for it to be placed under martial law. It was good for the shops, which was enough for me, but Ursula took exception to the joyriders, break-ins and occasional street riots. Naturally, I’d hate to admit that Ursula is ever right about anything, but one of her points was that it wasn’t a good place in which to bring up children. She did have the appearance of rightness here, I’d have to concede (give the kids a cardboard box with wheels drawn on it and Jonathan would excitedly say to Peter, “Okay, you be the one who hot-wires the engine, I’ll be the one who breaks the steering lock.�?).

Then, a short distance into the novel Pel’s boss disappears and what at first seems to be a romantic comedy evolves into a funny story of local and international intrigue, behind the scenes cover-ups, car-chases and break-ins, all delivered with that impeccable British timing.

For most of the next six weeks I held my head in my hands. As I was doing two jobs, I had to make some tricky time-management decisions. It was a constant balancing act, but in the end I managed to devise a system where I was, day in and day out, doing both of them really, really badly. While not getting to grips with [my new job] I succeeded in losing my grip [on my old job]. Overall, not a good time for gripping. However, so long as you’re one step or more away from catastrophic collapse, you’re not failing in your duty. And if you are that single step ahead, going for any more just smacks of vulgar flamboyance.

Insightful and entertaining, “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About�? is hilariously witty – be prepared to laugh out loud.