Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is her first novel after her highly acclaimed memoir Everything I Know About Love. But does it live up to the hype? Read on for my Ghosts book review.
Ghosts Book Summary
Nina Dean has arrived at her early thirties as a successful food writer with loving friends and family, plus a new home and neighbourhood. When she meets Max, a beguiling romantic hero who tells her on date one that he’s going to marry her, it feels like all is going to plan.
A new relationship couldn’t have come at a better time – her thirties have not been the liberating, uncomplicated experience she was sold. Everywhere she turns, she is reminded of time passing and opportunities dwindling.
Friendships are fading, ex-boyfriends are moving on and, worse, everyone’s moving to the suburbs. There’s no solace to be found in her family, with a mum who’s caught in a baffling mid-life makeover and a beloved dad who is vanishing in slow-motion into dementia.
Dolly Alderton’s debut novel is funny and tender, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships, family, memory, and how we live now.
Source: Penguin
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Ghosts Book Review
Ghosts is Dolly Alderton’s first novel and I felt like it was almost a fictional continuation of the autobiographical Everything I Know About Love. It follows the story of Nina George Dean, a 32-year-old food writer from London.
She’s single (still best friends her ex I might add) and it feels like everyone around her is getting married, having children and settling down.
Meanwhile, Nina is still swiping through men on dating apps. She then meets Max and everything seems like it’s falling into place. Until he tells her he loves her and then ghosts her.
This might sound like a piece of chick-lit or some sort of romance novel but it’s not in the slightest. As the title suggests, this book is all about ghosts.
The ghost of Nina’s past relationships, the ghost of Nina’s past friendships, the ghost of her father’s spirit as Alzheimer’s takes hold. It’s a commentary on what it means to be a 30-something single woman in 2020 and I found it sometimes funny, sometimes sad, almost always relatable.
READ MORE: Best Books for Women in their 30s
That said, whilst the story gets off to a strong and funny start, I had mixed feelings about the second half. The observational humour is spot on at the outset and it made me fall in love with Nina.
Then in the second half, she did some things that didn’t really make sense to me and made me respect her character a little less. No one’s perfect but I found myself screaming “girl, NO!” during certain parts.
In my opinion, the best part of this is the story of Nina’s Dad and his struggles with early-onset Alzheimer’s. These scenes are incredibly touching and I think Alderton handled this delicate subject quite well.
My heart ached for Nina and her mother during these passages as two women watched a man that they loved begin to slip away and change.
All in all, I’d recommend Ghosts, especially if you’re a woman at the sort of age where lots of people around you start to settle down and really “adult”.
I think Dolly Alderton can be somewhat like marmite with some women hanging on her every word and others rolling their eyes at every other paragraph. If you’re already a fan of her writing, book or podcast, then it’s worth giving this a go.
Overall I’d give this 3.5-4 stars.
Buy Ghosts by Dolly Alderon Now
Amazon | Blackwells
About Dolly Alderton
Dolly Alderton is an award-winning author and journalist based in London. She is a columnist for The Sunday Times Style and has also written for GQ, Red, Marie Claire and Grazia.
She is the former co-host and co-creator of the weekly pop-culture and current affairs podcast The High Low.
Her first book Everything I Know About Love became a top five Sunday Times bestseller in its first week of publication and won a National Book Award (UK) for Autobiography of the Year. Ghosts is her first novel.
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