Cambridge Edition October 2020 - Web

BOOK CLUB

GHOSTS BY DOLLY ALDERTON

Pandemic-induced brain fog resulted in my excitedly looking forward to what I’d very literally interpreted to be not only Dolly’s first novel, but her first foray into horror writing, and it was only upon actually reading the book’s blurb that I realised it was a tale of ghosts in the 2020 sense, rather than the gothic fantasy I’d attempted to imagine. In the same manner as her smash hit Everything I Know About Love , in perhaps what’s becoming a hallmark of Alderton’s writing, the story’s scope unfolds to beyond the title, to cover not just literal ghosting – the experience of going sudden cold turkey on those you’d been in a relationship with – but about past connections that nostalgically haunt our thoughts, or those who are fading from view before our eyes. Ghosts is utterly glorious, and contains one the finest fictional first dates ever committed to paper, a splendid concept called the ‘Schadenfreude Shelf ’ that you’ll encourage your friends to adopt immediately, and a truly yelp-out-loud, perfectly rendered account of surviving the horrors of a hen weekend. Hugely, whole-heartedly recommended.

YOU EXIST TOO MUCH

BY ZAINA ARAFAT You Exist Too Much strings together a set of beautifully drawn vignettes, like pearls lit from within, connecting the motivations of a young woman feeling stuck between expectation, reality, religious and societal convention, and choosing to follow her own path. As the book’s epigram from Kierkegaard neatly sums up: “Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.” Leaping from past to present, from the Middle East to the US, the chapters weave together the strands of the protagonist’s dreams and desires into an exquisitely written and provocative whole. After moving into an apartment with her first serious girlfriend and faced with the prospect of domesticity, the narrator seemingly subconsciously and deliberately implodes the relationship by seeking and having affairs with others, often unobtainable individuals. Admitting and facing up to the destructive tendencies rooted within her, she seeks help at The

ABOVE The Sunday Times columnist Dolly Alderton debuts her first novel, described as “funny, tender and painfully relatable”

Ledge, an unconventional therapy centre where she’s diagnosed with an addiction to love and forced to undergo numerous sessions with other addicts, all hunting for their own resolutions. How can you find somewhere to call home when you float between worlds? Can the love given by another individual ever fill the void of not truly loving yourself? Though the book is painful in places, it’s also perfectly paced, leading the reader slowly through realisations just like a brilliant therapist would and, as with Pandora’s box, there’s hope at the end. An impressive debut that’s well worth your time, and makes Zaina Arafat one to watch.

“You Exist Too Much strings together beautifully drawn vignettes, like pearls lit from within”

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