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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
This book, or perhaps the author herself, grew on me. At first I thought she was an arrogant snob. I texted a friend (who’d recently read this book) something like “What kind of GenX/millennial Kiwi calls herself Rebekah and wears a fancy business suit to her parents’ house for Christmas lunch?! Why not be Bek in comfy shorts? Eugh.”
However, as the book went on, I realised it wasn’t snobbery, but feeling challenged by people and social norms. She mentions many times that she has few friends and finds her parents’ casualness confronting. She wears the suit and gets up at 5am to go running and calls herself by her full name because she doesn’t know any other way; there’s no room for anyone other than her professional self, and that’s part of the point of the story I guess: learning how to lower the walls and let others in.
I’ve also been on many dates, and had a similarly structured approach to meeting my partner, so I related to that and found it endearing. The startup world sounds excruciatingly tedious to me but… each to their own I guess.
My main criticism is that, despite her expressed left wing values, there didn’t seem to be any awareness of her social and financial privilege. For example she says at the end if you research rates for IVF clinics, it “doesn’t need to cost your life savings”. Um… fact-check #1: success rates for fertility clinics are largely based on their proportion of clients with no fertility issues (eg. same-sex couples, young professional women freezing their eggs “just in case”) and the age of clients, not differences in process. Fact check #2: for many people, their total savings are under $1,000, and nowhere does an IVF or egg freezing for under $1,000. Most people do not have apartments in Darlinghurst and $100,000 to spare when their business needs a financial boost. Those people are the exception rather than the norm.
Anyway, overall this was both entertaining and annoying, but more of the former, so I’ll say 3.5 stars rounded up.
However, as the book went on, I realised it wasn’t snobbery, but feeling challenged by people and social norms. She mentions many times that she has few friends and finds her parents’ casualness confronting. She wears the suit and gets up at 5am to go running and calls herself by her full name because she doesn’t know any other way; there’s no room for anyone other than her professional self, and that’s part of the point of the story I guess: learning how to lower the walls and let others in.
I’ve also been on many dates, and had a similarly structured approach to meeting my partner, so I related to that and found it endearing. The startup world sounds excruciatingly tedious to me but… each to their own I guess.
My main criticism is that, despite her expressed left wing values, there didn’t seem to be any awareness of her social and financial privilege. For example she says at the end if you research rates for IVF clinics, it “doesn’t need to cost your life savings”. Um… fact-check #1: success rates for fertility clinics are largely based on their proportion of clients with no fertility issues (eg. same-sex couples, young professional women freezing their eggs “just in case”) and the age of clients, not differences in process. Fact check #2: for many people, their total savings are under $1,000, and nowhere does an IVF or egg freezing for under $1,000. Most people do not have apartments in Darlinghurst and $100,000 to spare when their business needs a financial boost. Those people are the exception rather than the norm.
Anyway, overall this was both entertaining and annoying, but more of the former, so I’ll say 3.5 stars rounded up.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
slow-paced
This book is populated with shallow and uninteresting characters with shallow and uninteresting problems. Campbell seems to think that she can substitute name drops and outfit descriptions for character development. The writing is dull, and Campbell displays a distinct inability to probe into anything deeper than surface level. The insights she offers into dating and independence are forehead-smackingly obvious.
My full review of 138 Dates is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
138 Dates wasn’t a difficult read, I chewed through it in one sitting, but something about the particular strain of girlboss feminism running through it didn’t sit right with me. At times, it felt like Campbell was cloaking an advertorial about her business in a memoir about “love”. If you’re looking for a memoir about how to find your soulmate, this probably ain’t it, but it’s got business advice and Tinder nightmare stories aplenty.
138 Dates wasn’t a difficult read, I chewed through it in one sitting, but something about the particular strain of girlboss feminism running through it didn’t sit right with me. At times, it felt like Campbell was cloaking an advertorial about her business in a memoir about “love”. If you’re looking for a memoir about how to find your soulmate, this probably ain’t it, but it’s got business advice and Tinder nightmare stories aplenty.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
A funny recount of the author's dating life after being single for 10 years while still in love with her first love, starting a business and keeping it alive, a family emergency, several countries, and finding herself.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Alcohol