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A review by riagibbison
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
5.0
4.5 Stars but I’m feeling generous so I’m rounding up!
I really loved this. I absolutely flew through this and found it so funny, and truthful and heartbreaking!
I’d already read Dolly Alderton’s Ghosts and I really loved that too, so I went into this knowing I would enjoy it but hoping her debut could live up to her second book.
Dolly has certainly lived a life, and though somethings were completely unrelatable to me (her privileged upbringing, the circles she moved, in how much she partied in her 20s and the Londoncentricness of it all) she’s such a good story teller most of the time it didn’t matter.
Her insights into what’s it’s like when your life revolves around hen dos, weddings and baby-showers are so accurate. As someone who shortly turns 29, I really enjoyed her accounts of her own and her friends 30ths as that’s just around the corner.
I also thought her chapters on therapy were incredible - you can tell she’s done some real work on herself and it’s really inspiring to see.
The only thing I wanted more of was perhaps Dolly’s parents and how they shaped her upbringing.
There were also times when the privilege did get a little too much and eye rolling happened. When Dolly is in New York and she hasn’t been paid yet, she seems to thrust herself into needless poverty and further depression - girl did you not have a credit card?! Also living such a carefree constant party life in London is not sustainable for 90% of people without a significant safety net or plunging yourself into severe debt.
Finally I loved that the book ended on how significant her relationships with women had been to a life rather than men, her friendship with Farly reminded me so much of me and my best friend and it was lovely to read.
If Dolly writes another book, I’ll definitely be excited to read it!
I really loved this. I absolutely flew through this and found it so funny, and truthful and heartbreaking!
I’d already read Dolly Alderton’s Ghosts and I really loved that too, so I went into this knowing I would enjoy it but hoping her debut could live up to her second book.
Dolly has certainly lived a life, and though somethings were completely unrelatable to me (her privileged upbringing, the circles she moved, in how much she partied in her 20s and the Londoncentricness of it all) she’s such a good story teller most of the time it didn’t matter.
Her insights into what’s it’s like when your life revolves around hen dos, weddings and baby-showers are so accurate. As someone who shortly turns 29, I really enjoyed her accounts of her own and her friends 30ths as that’s just around the corner.
I also thought her chapters on therapy were incredible - you can tell she’s done some real work on herself and it’s really inspiring to see.
The only thing I wanted more of was perhaps Dolly’s parents and how they shaped her upbringing.
There were also times when the privilege did get a little too much and eye rolling happened. When Dolly is in New York and she hasn’t been paid yet, she seems to thrust herself into needless poverty and further depression - girl did you not have a credit card?! Also living such a carefree constant party life in London is not sustainable for 90% of people without a significant safety net or plunging yourself into severe debt.
Finally I loved that the book ended on how significant her relationships with women had been to a life rather than men, her friendship with Farly reminded me so much of me and my best friend and it was lovely to read.
If Dolly writes another book, I’ll definitely be excited to read it!