Saturday, June 4, 2022

Ghosts

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (2020) 303 pages

Nina Dean is thirty-two. She has written a cookbook which "has a thread of memoir spun between the recipes," and is editing proofs of her second book, while working on a third. She has also bought a flat‒which is need of upgrading‒but it's hers. She's also ready to date again after a few years between the breakup she had with her longtime boyfriend, Joe (who is still a good friend). Other friends include Katherine, who's married with a second child on the way, and Lola, a stylish single who has found only short-term dates, rather than a long-term relationship, to her chagrin.

Nina's parents, who are 17 years apart in age, have their own issues: Nancy, her mom, now says her name is Mandy. Nina can't accept that at all, one more thing they seem to be butting heads about. Nina's dad is suffering from Alzheimer's, with bad days starting to become more frequent.

What happens here is a large slice of Nina's life: Nina gets onto a dating app, navigates friendships that sometimes seem to be more work than joy, helps manage her dad's declining health, and tries to handle the neighbor in the flat below her, who turns out to be loud and intimidating. And the main attraction is Max, whom she meets on the dating app, who seems so promising, before he ghosts her after several months of dating.



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