Essays In Love

Just amazing. Witty, insightful and really enjoyable.

The best way to describe this book is as de Botton does in the afterword to the most recent edition: it's a hybrid of a set of essays and a piece of fiction. A short snippet of story drives the plot forward conveniently and is then followed and expanded on by the narrator musing philosophically about what just happened in the story. It's a really smart way to present this kind of content and I'm a huge fan of his work having read it!

Although sometimes bored by the self-deprecating and laborious-thinking narrator, I found many glimpses of enlightenment in this brief novel. Every lover who has read this book might wonder which chapter their love story is in now. With each chapter, you will see your assumptions about love in general and dating culture in particular challenged, and for good reasons. I'd like to think of this novel as a literal introduction to the subject of love as Sophie's World is an outright beginner's course in philosophy. As such, perhaps it is better not to read this book for the plot as you will be in a massive boredom trying to find action in the dense paragraphs of Alain de Botton.

Definitely would read again some time.