Ten Things I've Learnt About Love

Sarah Butler's Ten Things I've Learnt About Love popped out at me at the library so I grabbed it and decided to check it out. I had never heard of the author or the book, but a quick glance at the acclaim on the back was enough for me to give it a shot.

The novel tells the story of Alice, a young woman who has always felt like an outsider in her family since her mother's death when she was a child. She has two older sisters and a father who are all close and she has taken to wandering, traveling the world without a solid sense of purpose. She is aching for a man she was in a relationship with for years that refused to acknowledge her presence in his life to his family and heartbroken, she has separated from him. Alice's perspective is juxtaposed with Daniel's, a homeless man searching for his daughter. Each chapter is preceded by a list of ten things written by either Daniel or Alice.

I almost abandoned this book. It's written well, but the writing wasn't grabbing me and the characters weren't really either. I pressed on though because of all the positive reviews I had read (plus it's not a terribly long book). In the end, I liked the novel, but can't endorse it with any of the enthusiasm on the book jacket. (It's just not that good.)