this book has made me cry like a baby ☁️ alderton’s everything i know about love

(something rather close to my ❤️, may also be a sensitive topic for some)

having finished the bbc adaptation and absolutely falling in love with it i knew i just had to read the book. one minute i’m giggling to myself and then, i’m starting a new chapter and im crying! - no other book has made me cry apart from yanagihara’s a little life, and if you’ve read that i’m sure you’ll understand my distress. having dealt with body image and food issues growing up i have always felt some what misunderstood, that was until today. dolly shows the true ugliness of eating disorders and body image troubles; and the rules and rituals that come alongside, so much so i truly feel as if 16 year old me had read this book i wouldn’t have felt so alone or convinced myself i was broken beyond repair. the chapter is titled “being a bit fat, being a bit thin” and dolly reflects upon her time dealing with relationships whilst going through the hardships of poor mental health and self image. - again something that i can deeply resonate with. this is not the first time i have come across this topic in any of the books i read but i will admit to subconsciously “switching off” when i read it as a mode of self preservation. but reading dolly’s words were some what reassuring, as if my own thoughts and feelings from the past had finally been articulated and printed onto paper. additionally, alderton explicitly shows that often enough eating disorders are not things you typically wholly and entirely recover from; but this doesn’t make you weak, if anything it makes you incredibly strong to wake up everyday and choose yourself, your healthy and beautiful self over the remains of any self deprecating rules of the past.

it doesn’t go away, we simply learn to cope with it

i’m sure i will be making another post on this book as i’m only 100 pages in. regardless of what you’ve been through whether it’s failed dates, horrific breakups or periods of poor mental health, alderton covers it all in a hilarious but heartfelt manner. 💗