By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Aziz Ansari, the man behind Master of None and of Parks & Recreation fame. And if you haven’t, which rock have you been living under? Can I join you? I’ve become utterly obsessed with Ansari as of late. I watched all of Master of None within a handful of days and it was easily the most relatable TV drama I’ve seen in a while. One for the multi-cultural millennial for sure!
Anyway! I just finished reading Modern Romance and thought it’d be the perfect time to share a little review of sorts here. My tiny, tiny forays into blogging about dating and singledom on Daisybutter have always gone down well and this book almost entirely encapsulates a whole wealth of my thoughts towards dating. I’d like to think I’m beyond playing mind games via the modern medium of text message but, you know, even not playing games is a game in itself.
I’d heard much about the tome from my well-meaning colleagues who get to hear about my misguided endeavours every Monday and kinda pushed it aside as an embarrassing self-help book as I’d never heard of Aziz Ansari a month ago! Far from being a dating guide, self-help book or celebrity memoir, Modern Romance is a witty, clever, well-researched and compulsive look into the different facets of dating today and dating from the past. It’s also worth noting that I finished this in three(?) days and ended up downloading (and subsequently deleting) Tinder in the process.
Modern Romance is full of Ansari’s own thoughts on dating in the modern world, one cluttered with technology, not only phone calls and text messages, but social media, read notifications, dating apps, online dating profiles and the wealth of opportunity out there. It discusses at length – guided by interesting, hard facts, interviews and focus groups – concepts like ‘why is the phone call so elusive?’ and how as millennials, we have almost too many opportunities available to us, something I covered briefly in a post here. It’s a lengthy number but full of wise quips, genuinely hilarious anecdotes and plenty of reassuring facts and case studies. I can’t even pick a favorite chapter! I found myself nodding along – laughing out loud, even! – to almost every page and particularly enjoyed a part about ‘whoever receives the last message bubble, wins!’ because, let’s face it, that’s the game we all play. I do think that I reached a level of realising that romance needs to leave your phone (even if they’re already your boyfriend/girlfriend!) to persist, but this is such an insightful and witty take on the phenomena of dating today in the age of Tinderella. He even covered some of the things on my To Blog list – dammit… A definite must-read.
