Passing Lane Jed Ringel’s memoir, Stuck in the Passing Lane provides a brutally honest look at dating for a middle-aged man coming out of a twenty-three year marriage.

Dating has changed a lot in those twenty-three years. Online dating alone is a whole different animal. Jed is trying to not repeat the mistakes of his marriage. His teenaged daughters freely express their thoughts about Jed and his dating. And in his efforts to find the “right” woman, Jed dates every type of woman- an intellectual elitist from Moscow; a barely literate Chinese massage parlor queen, among others.

The challenge for Jed, as he’s looking for his soulmate, is Jed. He’s his own worst enemy,at least at the beginning.  His drinking is out of control; he’s truly in a downward spiral.  I’ll admit, I didn’t much care for this Jed.  Thankfully, he catches himself and begins AA, and the “real” Jed begins to emerge.

What starts out as merely a dating memoir begins to delve into what makes us the people  we are, the choices we make in relationships. What we look for into relationships, and what we bring to relationships.  Against the backdrop of dating, Jed is able to explore his upbringing and begins to understand what has shaped him into the person he is.

I was a bit skeptical when I began reading Stuck in the Passing Lane.  I had a different expectation of it when I started reading it.  What I got was something deeper than I originally expected, and I ended up rooting for Jed to find happiness.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.