Audiobook Review | Everything I Know About Love

A wee non-fiction audiobook that I started last year but only got round to finishing recently.

Everything I Know About Love
Dolly Alderton

When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. In her memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realising that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you’ve ever been able to rely on, and finding that that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out. It’s a book about bad dates, good friends and – above all else – about recognising that you and you alone are enough.

Glittering with wit and insight, heart and humour, Dolly Alderton’s powerful début weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age – while making you laugh until you fall over. Everything I know About Love is about the struggles of early adulthood in all its grubby, hopeful uncertainty.

Bookshop.org | Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon

I will be very honest when I first started reading this book, I had a horrible feeling it was going to be a bit vapid. I don’t know if it was the tone at the start or because I wouldn’t usually read a memoir unless I find the person very interesting or because I am intrigued by their backstory, which wasn’t entirely the case here.

With this book, I decided to read it because I quite enjoyed listening to one of the author’s podcasts, I kept hearing about it due to the TV show that was based on it and because I had previously read her fiction book. Whilst it was entertaining, I didn’t really find the first section profoundly interesting, and it struggled to keep my attention.

After dipping in and out a few times and getting past the drunken uni days that seemed miles away from what I imagine most people experience, I felt like the book suddenly clicked a bit more with me. I imagine because I felt like the author was starting to be a bit more vulnerable and we were exploring past the surface level.

There was also a slight tone shift, as the author got to know herself a bit better, and as she navigated the changes in her relationships with her friends. I quite enjoyed, though that between some more serious chapters there were some that provided comedic relief. Sections in the form of emails sent to a group were my favourites, it was funny how many of these sections I had experience of, they made me chuckle.

The writing and narration were fantastic, as expected, even when I wasn’t sure about the book, I did keep coming back and enjoying the effortless style in which Dolly weaves her story.

I’m glad that this book wasn’t just about love within romantic relationships, which I didn’t find too clear from the outset, but it highlights how important it is to have people that you love outside of romance and to work on these relationships just as much. Whilst I did have some reservations at the start, I ended up thoroughly invested in this journey and would recommend it.