Wednesday, March 21

Audiobook Review: Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Author: Aziz Ansari
Narrator: Author
Title: Modern Romance
Genre: Nonfiction & Humor
Pages: Audiobook
Published: June 16th 2015 
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible)

At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?

Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?” 

But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate.

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.



This guy is such a hoot. I have watched a lot of his specials and stand up. I also liked him in ‘Park and Recreational’ show. I watched that other show that is on Netflix. Very funny, but he also has a serious side that is interesting. THUS why I wanted to check this book out. 
I originally wanted to read this SO bad, but I was the 10th in line and then I moved to a different city (dang – I still need to sign up for the library in town). When I signed up for Audible they gave this to me for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee so I was excited. 

Now, the book looks deeply into modern romances. It compares and contrasts our modern dating compared to the past. It compares it with different societies. It looks over the bad and the good. How our technology has helped and hindered us. The book also really looks at us, the people, and how our goals in love have changed because of the modern age. 

I found it SO interesting when we looked at three different countries and how they deal with the dating world. SO interesting to see how different other places can be compared to the USA. 

This was all very interesting and I was very hooked. I remember when I was in the dating world how hard it was. I tried my hand at online dating. Not for me. My current BF I was introduced to at his sister’s party. I’ve been lucky these 5 years. I do not miss dating AT all. 
Now, I listened to the audiobook version of the story and I am glad I did. I got some humor and I learned a few things. The author actually did the reading and he was a hoot. I would for sure recommend listening to the book over reading it. I feel like it was an experience as well. 

What else to really say? Even if you are in a comfortable relationship it is still interesting to read/listen to this. It shows a part of our society I never really thought much about since my whole dating life was in this modern era. I do want to learn more about how other cultures and countries deal with the dating and relationships. 

All-in-all this was good. I highly recommend it. 5 stars. 








4 comments:

Rashika said...

I actually read this at the end of last year and enjoyed it as well! I love that it combines actually research with comedy and that made it all the more fun to read! It was also really cool reading about dating cultures in other places!

Blodeuedd said...

Omg even more audio! Carole, I am impressed

Carole Rae said...

Rashika, yes! So good!

B, I knew you would be proud of me. Makes it handy now that I have a long commute to work ;)

vvb32 reads said...

Loved him in Parks & Rec. Will definitely do the audio version for this one. Sounds good.