** nuggets of wisdom but from a very witty friend who is like an elder sister with high emotional quotient **

I heard about this book in passing in a random YouTube video and not gonna lie, I was intrigued by the cover. I am def that person who judges books by their cover. I have simple reasoning for it. A book is a labour of love. Every author puts an incredible amount of effort to write and edit it to perfection, publish and market it. So if an author who cares so much would also put in a significant amount of thought and effort in bringing forwards a book cover that is in line with the values and theme of the book. I feel a book's cover is a good proxy of what the book's vibe would be, followed by a blurb. I read this book online (and I wish I had the hard copy for this). This one is definitely the one for annotating and revisiting in bits.
The first 100 pages just felt like a confessional/romanticised chronicle of drug and alcohol use. I pushed through it because it felt like an interesting study of the cultural traits of a British teenager. I could not relate to it one bit. It was the style, the humour and the (lack of) structure of the book. The more the author ventured into her 20s (it's a memoir, if you didn't know), I felt more invested.
It takes courage to recognise and write about your flaws, insecurities, mistakes and bare it all out. For May, the act of facing the truth is hardest, let alone write and publish it for millions to read it too. She is compassionate while she talks about love, loss and friendship. She is witty when she discusses sex, alcohol, drugs and parties. She is wise when discussing adulting, relationship and career. The tone syncs well with the theme and it all flows so effortlessly as a giant big story.
It is like a fun, engaging and non-preachy TED talk from your friend, delivered over multiple cups of coffees. I think this one is worth a repeat telecast and I see myself referring to some of my highlighted bits now and then to remind myself of what's important.
I still don't know who Dolly Alderton is, apart from the 300-odd pages I read about her and I am fine with it. This felt like a more laid-back, chiller version of Tina Fey's Bossypants. (highly recommend the book if you haven't read it)
I love women telling personal stories where they provide a deeply flawed person erring and fixing and still succeeding, makes them feel real (while providing assurance that I am not a complete failure and it's never too late).
I'll end with one of my favourite quotes from the book (there are many).

"I finally grasped the machinations and subtext of that phrase the year I turned twenty-five. When you begin to wonder if life is really just waiting for buses on Tottenham Court Road and ordering books you’ll never read off Amazon; in short, you are having an existential crisis. You are realizing the mundanity of life. You are finally understanding how little point there is to anything. You are moving out of the realm of fantasy ‘when I grow up’ and adjusting to the reality that you’re there; it’s happening. And it wasn’t what you thought it might be. You are not who you thought you’d be.”

Excerpt From: Dolly Alderton. “Everything I Know About Love”.