Twenty-one Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks - NO

Twenty-one Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks, 352 pages. St. Martin’s Press, 2019. $27.

Language: R (149 swears, 135 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Making lists is how Dan copes with and processes the world around him. He makes at least one new list every day, recording everything from silly ideas to finances to his insecurities. When Dan’s wife gets pregnant, these lists reflect his thoughts -- and the desperate measures he will take to provide for his growing family.

The unique idea of telling a story completely through lists is what made me want to read this book. At first, the novelty of it was enough to keep me reading, but, at some point, I stopped caring. I didn’t want to read useless lists and I wondered where the story was. As I continued reading for the sake of finishing for this review, there was a shift that happened somewhere about three-fourths of the way through the book, and I started enjoying the story again. Maybe it was that I had finally gotten used to how the story was being told and could read between the lines better, maybe Dan had grown on me, or maybe the plot actually picked up -- or a combination of all three. In the end, I liked the book, but I feel like I had to slog through a lot to get to that point of enjoying it. This book is marked “not to buy” and “low appeal” because I don’t think teenagers are the most interested audience for this book. The mature content rating is for mentions of vaginal sex, oral sex, orgasms, and masturbation as well as talking about sexual organs; the violence rating is for discussion of gun violence and bomb threats.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen