I am extremely bad at relationships. In my almost 20 years of grown-up life, I have managed to spend a staggering 4 years in something you could kind of call a relationship. And don’t get me started on finding romance while being a mostly introverted but at the same time very outspoken book nerd with social anxiety in her thirties.
So I was intrigued when I spotted this book in a second-hand store. I mean comedians are not exactly known to be the romantic types and well, bad relationships make for great comedy. So I was hoping to maybe learn a bit and have some laughs.
And I have to say, my expectations were pleasantly shattered. The book was funny, quite informative and well-written. And also just pretty. As I am not exactly the shiny social butterfly type, that can meet people everywhere, I have been on dating apps for a while now. So reading about other people’s struggles with them and a lot of interesting facts and statistics, was kind of calming and encouraging.
Also learning about the dating culture in other countries was eye-opening. I guess we are quite happy here in Estonia that we don’t have such strong stereotypes, like the herbivore men of Tokyo and the very carnivorous no-is-just-a-prelude-for-yes men in Buenos Aires.
If there is only one thing to take away from this book, it’s that we don’t live in a mystical world where your other perfect half is out there somewhere. You got to give people a chance and put work into getting to know someone and building a relationship that lasts.
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
Published in 2015
Btw, I also loved that the book had a price tag from a second-hand bookstore on it, which means, I am at least its third owner. Re-use for the win!