A review by pandaintheshelves
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Bridget Jones meets Girls meets Emily in Paris.
Some parts are beautifully written. Others, not so much. It is fluid and I appreciated the way the author choose to present certain subjects (dating in your 30s, ghosting, ailing parents, friendship changing through time, society's double standards for women). Those are close to home topics. But, in spite of that, I couldn't relate to the protagonist. She's judgy, she's preachy, she sees the world from a horse higher than the one entering Troy with soldiers inside. She complains about being left alone and behind, but she's incapable of looking at herself critically and to accept her part of responsability in the whole ordeal. Everyone is out to get her and she's always the victim. She asks for things she can't give herself. No, she demands them. Usually, I'm all for an unlikable protagonist. Love me some growth and development in a book. But in this case, you barely see any changes in her.
The only moments I genuinely felt something other that "ugh, now what" was when she reflected about her father's illness and how it affected her. 
Also, I'm so tired of reading about the irrational, whiny millennial. And even more so, of the "desperate" woman in her thirties trying to find love and becoming obsessed with that. Can we let those tropes rest?