I actually really enjoyed the format of this book. It made it fly by! I also appreciated the vulnerability.

Dan was a hard character to like, his lists at times were annoying. I read this a while ago, but it wasn't a book that stuck out to me. Dan was whiney and unlikable.

Review coming soon. Fell behind due to illness, amd working on all of the old ones now.

This one will not be forgotten. LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK!
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC; opinions are mine.


Pub Date was November 19th 2019
#twentyOneTruthsAboutLobe #MatthewDicks #NetGalley

A book that consists of nothing but lists. It sounds interesting and fun and different. That lasted about 15 minutes before I got annoyed with the format. It was about the same time that the storyline started dragging for me. I really wanted to bail on this book but decided to keep at it and I am glad I did. Things started picking up around the time that...well I don't want to spoil it. It did make me laugh at some points, gasp at others. By the time it ended I had a more positive view of the storyline although I can't say the same about the format. Adding him to a list of authors I would like to read more of.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the storytelling device of using only lists written by the main character, but it totally worked. Dicks does an amazing job of conveying emotion, humor and details despite the unconventional means by which he wrote the book and I found myself laughing along with Dan, thinking about his commentary and and empathizing with his obsessiveness.

This was just not what I was expecting. I got this because the premise seemed unique- writing a book via lists, and I am a sucker for uniquely formatted books ( ex: House of Leaves and Illuminae). However, this did not come through for me. The main character did not come off as sympathetic at all and killed my desire to complete the story.

I"m a huge fan of epistolary novels so this list-format was right up my alley. I've never read anything by Matthew Dicks before but I will gladly check out his backlist after this sweet story about family, love, and forgiveness.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. The book is written entirely in lists. I really did love the format. The story flowed well and the characters were relatable. I enjoyed reading Dan's lists and getting to know him. I always say that if a book makes a reader feel something, it’s a good book. I really enjoyed reading Twenty-one Truths About Love.

This is a quirky, fun, quick read that anyone can relate to. I gave this book 3 stars only because the list style made it easy to put this book down and forget about it.

I was intrigued by the list style of writing, but found I couldn't focus enough to actually read the book. This was a DNF for me unfortunately.

I was really excited about the premise of this book. It was a different kind of read as I've never read a book in this format before. It was good, not my favorite but it had its moments where i laughed and smiled

I wanted to love this one, but it was hard for me to read more than a little bit at a time because of the format.

This is a unique story, written entirely in lists. This is the story of a man struggling and at a crossroads in life . These are the lists of Daniel. He's trying to figure out his life and this is how he copes and figures things out, in lists. This is a unique novel and was a fun, quick read.

To write the whole book in the form of lists is a fun and fresh concept, enriched with main character Dan's quirky sense of humour and his really touching sensibility.
But the thing is - the novel is seriously prolonged. If much shorter, I would stay with my initial almost protective attitude and sympathy for Dan, neurotic bookseller with low self-esteem and openly bleeding heart because of his father abandoning him. But more than 300 pages has tired me and my positive attitude slowly changed into - boy, you are almost 40, your wife is pregnant. How about asking for some help - professional advice, friend's advice, or at least your wife's advice? No need to be a superhero and some of your quirks are your strenghts. But you need to start to talk to people, unless you do not want to develop serious mental health problems. Thanks God for Bill Donovan!

A star goes out for implying Kimberly's religion as a part of her being a bad, annoying person. How about simply make her a bad person?

Not my favourite book from the author, but still a a quick, fresh read with many wise observations about life, love and longing for something better, more hopeful.

The premise of this book was very interesting to me, and unfortunately that's where my interest stopped for the most part. Because of the list factor, everything just fell kind of flat for me. The plot was bland. The characters were super unlikeable. The book just kind of ended and didn't really feel like much of a resolution. I think this probably would have been better if it was only half lists, or had some kind of other viewpoint. It was nothing to write home about.

This is young adult literature masquerading as adult fiction. I found the narrator to be hypocritical in a way that I think was unintentional—I believe it was actually poor editing (there are other inconsistencies/errors in the book to drive this theory). I could have easily tolerated a quick read with an unreliable/irritating narrator and editing errors if not for the fact that this book often passes off memes and pop culture concepts as its own. For example, one of the lists says, “A party without cake is just a meeting.” The author did not write that, but made no attempt to note it. And in some instances, it acknowledges that a quote is a quote, but is too lazy to find the originator

You’ll either love the format of Matthew Dicks’s novel, Twenty-one Truths About Love, or it will drive you crazy. Personally, after labouring over two essays for uni last week while reading, a story written entirely in list format was light relief.

The story focuses on Dan – list-maker, bookstore owner, soon-to-be father. Dan needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to save his failing business. Plus, there are things that are nagging him – his estranged relationship with his father, and the spectre of Peter, who was the first husband of Dan’s wife, Jill.

There will always be a part of Jill’s life that will remain a secret to me because you can only tell your second husband so much about your previous life with your dead husband.

Some elements of the book follow the Bridget Jones format – tracking finances, diet and so forth, which allows the reader to deduce Dan’s stress levels before delving into the detail.

Also like Bridget, Dan’s self-deprecating humour reveals his anxieties and fears. There are some gentle reflections on fatherhood, as well as an exploration of Dan’s feelings of abandonment and failure.

The action takes place in the background, and the thread of what has happened, or is about to happen, is revealed in the lists. Throughout, the lists provide a good balance between introspection and humour. For example, Dan lists the five problems with lying, including ‘Lies always cover up the worst parts of you’, and follows it with another list:

How liars with the best intentions are like the owners of every iteration of Jurassic Park

They never set out to hurt anyone.
They operate with enormous hubris.
Denial both perpetuates and intensifies the problem.
The situation inevitably gets worse and worse as time goes by.
The end is never pretty.

The humour carries the book, and it borders on slap-stick when it gets to Dan’s hare-brained scheme to secure some funds for his bookshop (a heist). I’ll forgive the silliness of the heist because some of the lists really made me laugh:

Dan’s 6 rules of Drinking Stories: … No one will ever care about your drinking stories as much as you do; If you have more than three excellent drinking stories from your entire life, you do not understand what constitutes an excellent drinking story.

Things that don’s make sense: People obsessed with the Hamilton soundtrack even though they’ve never seen the musical.

Reasons for fighting with Jill tonight:I proposed that no one be allowed to hold the baby until they admit that climate change is real.

Why parallel parking is bullshit: It’s a public performance; If you succeed, no one gives a damn.

Subjects that should be broached during the first three months of dating: Previous marriages; Bizarre love of Barry Manilow and Air Supply.

It’s probably a good time to mention that I am an excellent parallel-parker, and also that Barry Manilow and Air Supply are in my all-time favourites.

3.5/5 Good fun.

I received my copy of Twenty-one Truths About Love from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I have since purchased a copy of this book so that I can read at my own pace. I'm really looking forward to reading more Matthew Dicks books

This was a cute idea and I really liked the premise. However, it did get a bit redundant after a while. This doesn't mean I didn't like the book, because the storyline was great and the author is witty.

This book was just not for me. Some readers have noted that the format was not to their liking, but I didn't mind the story unfolding in list format. I've read other books not told in traditional narrative prose, such as Bridget Jones's Diary told in journal entries and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen told in emails and inter-office memos, and enjoyed the newness of both of those. However, the content was a different story. While I love novels about bookstores and booksellers, there wasn't enough of that in this book to hold my interest, along side the lists of the less savory parts of Dan's life. In fact, I just didn't like the main character Dan enough to care about his lists. Not every book is for every reader, and I'm happy to read another of Matthew Dicks' books to see if they suit me better!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-book of this novel.