Those of you who know me are very familiar with my less-than-favourable opinion of Valentine’s Day, but nevertheless I still wanted to do a love-themed book review post, and I thought this book was perfect.
This Modern Love is a crowd-sourced book published in 2016 by YouTuber and filmmaker Will Darbyshire that chronicles all of the feelings and experiences of love from beginning to middle to end. Having been in love before, all of the letters, tweets, words, and photos really resonated with me, and illustrated how love truly is a human universal. Most interestingly, this book also detailed the impact of technology on modern love, for better or worse.
In the summer of 2014, I experienced a break-up. It was my first. And I was devastated.
What I Loved Most
The book is sectioned into Beginning, Middle, and End, with submissions in each category spotlighting the euphoric rush of a crush or a new love, the deep affection of a relationship, and the bitter heartache that comes with the end of a relationship. I love that the submissions were categorized to paint such a vivid picture of what each stage of love is like. I also love that these was no particular order within each section so the entries could be read at random or in the order of appearance in the book.
What I Loved Least
This might be a bit of a cop out since I loved the book so much, but I wish it had been longer. The project received over 15000 submissions and, while I know they all could not be included, I think having them published on a blog would have been nice so they could all be read in one format or another.
You are like that one piece of artwork in an art gallery that people spend a little longer admiring (p. 31).
Finally, a massive thank you to my friends and my viewers for sticking with me. Your constant positive reinforcement keeps me going. I love you all terribly and I hope you like the book as much as I liked putting it together.