BOOK 243: GHOSTS: DOLLY ALDERTON

BOOK 243: GHOSTS: DOLLY ALDERTON

Nina Dean has arrived at her early thirties as a successful food writer with loving friends and family, plus a new home and neighbourhood. When she meets Max, a beguiling romantic hero who tells her on date one that he's going to marry her, it feels like all is going to plan.

A new relationship couldn't have come at a better time - her thirties have not been the liberating, uncomplicated experience she was sold. Everywhere she turns, she is reminded of time passing and opportunities dwindling. Friendships are fading, ex-boyfriends are moving on and, worse, everyone's moving to the suburbs. There's no solace to be found in her family, with a mum who's caught in a baffling mid-life makeover and a beloved dad who is vanishing in slow-motion into dementia

Dolly Alderton's debut novel is funny and tender, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships, family, memory, and how we live now.

(From Goodreads)

MY VERDICT: I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I did not. I can’t relate to being single in my thirties and have never used a dating app; I met my boyfriend in my twenties and have been with him for forever so I couldn’t and hope never to have to relate to the novel’s main issue. That’s not why I didn’t love it though. My pain at reading the book was based purely with the protagonist. I didn’t listen to the audiobook which might have made the tone clearer but I felt she was a bit of a snob and it made me dislike her, I also thought of her as a little naive and the whole make up of her life a little unbelievable. It’s not the type of book I often read and maybe it’s just not for me.