The to-read pile just got a little smaller this week!

I’ve had Modern Romance sitting around for a while. I became a fan of Ansari during his time on Parks and Rec (as well as loving Master of None),  so I bought his book without reading the synopsis. Sadly, the book jacket makes it sound like a sociology textbook and so I kept putting it off.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before.

In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world. 

What I Loved

Happily, Ansari’s signature quick wit comes through on every page. At his shows, he frequently grabs an audience members phone and goes through their texts, and this felt like an extended version of that.  It is definitely a subject that he’s confident with and he handles it in his usual quick witted fashion.

What I Didn’t Love

Sometimes despite the humour, it was a little hard to read. Not to sound like an old married person, but it all seemed a little unbelievable. How does anyone get together anymore? It seems so complicated!

My Rating: (3.5 / 5)