Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
Dolly Alderton is my queen and I might just end the review there 🙌🏻 Nah, in all seriousness her second book, Ghosts has lived up to all my expectations 👻
This is a story about 32-year-old Nina who, after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend, decides to hop on the dating app hype for the first time ever. Soon, she meets Max, a mature and intriguing man who she falls head over heels for.
Nina can’t understand how her single friend, Lola, manages to have so many traumatic dating tales, especially when things are going so swimmingly with Max. That is until one day, after months of dating and an ‘I love you’ exchanged, Max ghosts Nina.
This book is hilarious, witty, real and just so much fun. I was hanging on the edge of every word not wanting it to end.
When it comes to dating (and specifically men), Alderton writes with the wisdom and knowledge of Cupid, albeit a slightly more cynical, on-the-nose one. But that’s the great thing about this narrative, there are no fairytale endings or scenes of men showing up at the door with declarations of love written on white board. At the core, the message is to be confident in yourself and don’t be afraid to fall back on your girl friends.
‘I’ll keep your hope safe for you until you’re ready to hand it back.’ Lola says to Nina after she’s given up on men.
What’s even more interesting about this story is how Nina’s dating life is paralleled with the gradual loss of her father to dementia. The term ‘ghost’ quickly takes on a double meaning. Nina faces both sudden loss in Max and a slow, gut-wrenching loss in her father. Both men become shadows of their former selves.
I would go from crying to laughing with a single turn of the page. Alderton really is a bloody good writer. In my eyes, she’s the rebellious, sweary, take-no-shit goddess of writing, and it all shows in this book.
Katie S x
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