NOW I KNOW EVERYTHING

This frothy novel about a writer who has a monthly ``about men'' column in a women's magazine is written by a former writer of an ``about men'' column in a women's magazine. Postman's hero, named Andrew Postman, is a bookish, smart- alecky, and struggling writer who gets his big break when he becomes Vince, the pseudonymous author of ``Vince: A Man's View,'' in an unnamed, yet ``glamorous'' women's magazine. Every month he is to dispense knowledge about what the new, sensitive man really wants from women, and what women should expect in return. Unfortunately, he has little to write about since he's just been dumped by his girlfriend. Worse yet, he can't seem to figure out how to sexually capitalize on his status as Vince-the-sexual- expert. Postman then must draw on his wacky friends for first- person sexual material, struggling to sanitize and manipulate their sordid tales of fetishes and sad, slow break-ups. After several columns, Postman becomes known as Vince, and his friends, family, potential girlfriends, and even himself believe that he is the personification of a caring cad. A crisis develops when he meets the girl of his dreams, a smart, artsy woman who couldn't care less for Postman's alter ego, who keeps getting in the way of the kind, sensitive true self. Like Philip Roth in Portnoy's Complaint, Postman gives an unfiltered, thinly veiled version of a young, single, neurotic, sexually obsessed Jewish man on the make in Manhattan. But unlike Roth, Postman never seems overwhelmed or seriously threatened by his darker side; from the start it is obvious that Postman will ultimately vanquish Vince and win the girl. Occasionally insightful and funny, this is a string of anecdotes masking as a novel, which Postman's (and Vince's) ``glamorous'' magazine readers will be sure to enjoy. (Film rights to Castle Rock Pictures)