Publishers Weekly
06/10/2019
Dicks (Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend) chronicles the mounting economic and romantic anxieties of expectant father Dan Mayrock through Dan’s scribbled lists and notes, a gimmick that can’t quite be sustained for the length of a novel. Dan’s wife, Jill, was widowed when he met her, and Dan constantly compares himself to the specter of her seemingly perfect first husband, Peter. He’s certain that Peter would never have done what Dan’s done: quit his teaching job, open a bookstore, and lie to his pregnant wife about their financial situation, which is becoming dire. As Dan grows desperate in his attempts to shoulder this burden alone, he cooks up a plan to rob a local bingo night, driven to the absurd (“Be aggressive./ Move fast./ It’s better to get nothing than to get caught./ Remember that these are old ladies.”) in order to provide for his family. Dicks has impeccable comedic timing and touchingly renders family dynamics, but the exhausting list format will fall flat for readers who don’t find Dan charming enough to justify it. This experimental work never quite manages to transcend the essential boringness of flipping through someone else’s notepad. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
An Indie Next List - "Great Reads from Booksellers You Trust" - pick for 2019!
November 2019's LibraryReads pick!
One of Chatelaine's "Best Romance's to Cozy Up With This Fall"
"It's not quite enough to say that Twenty-one Truths About Love is original, it is radical and extraordinary. I have no idea how Matthew Dicks made a story comprised entirely of lists feel so human but that's exactly what this story is: honest, vulnerable, hilarious, and profoundly human."—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones and the Six
"Twenty-one Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks is a fresh, humorous exploration of what makes us vulnerable and what makes us responsible, and you can't help but root for Daniel Mayrock even when he's at his most mistaken. This is a love story of great pathos and beauty."—Sharma Shields, author of The Cassandra
"An unconventional, endearing tale of impending fatherhood."—The Washington Post ("18 Books to Read this Fall")
"A pleasure."—The Seattle Times
"Funny, sad, uplifting but always relatable. A must read for fans of Rachel Joyce and Gabrielle Zevin."—Shelf Awareness
"Often moving, sometimes shocking, always entertaining, this superbly crafted work emphasizes the incalculable variety of the novel form."—Booklist
"These lists—and the silences they outline—conjure a tense world. Dan's lists reflect his increasing desperation, ratcheting up the tension until life throws a potentially devastating curveball at him that pushes him to reassess everything he had thought to be true. A clever, genre-bending portrait of a man under pressure."—Kirkus
"Dicks has impeccable comedic timing and touchingly renders family dynamics."—Publishers Weekly
"A sometimes wild, sometimes serene, and always heartfelt ride."—The Harvard Crimson
"Recurring themes, including a pregnancy, money woes, and a developing friendship, give the novel momentum."—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Reasons we love Twenty-One Truths About Love:
1. It's deeply moving and full of emotion.
2. The protagonist is relatable (he quit his job to open a bookshop!) and so are his struggles.
3. It's a thoughtful reflection about love and what it means to be a good person.
4. Did we mention the protagonist owns a bookshop?
5. It's one of the most unique books out today, because:
6. It's written entirely in lists."—BookBub
"The most phenomenally entertaining and clever novel of the year. Poignant and hilarious...Grab a Little Debbie snack cake (or four) and curl up with what is sure to be a singular sensation in the literary world."—BookWeb
"A fresh, original new novel. Blending humorous and witty takes on life's idiosyncrasies with a raw and deeply human main character, dicks pens the perfect between-the-holidays book for readers who enjoyed Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and How Hard Can it Be?"—BookReporter
"If you're looking for a fun, fresh, and—I cannot stress this enough—incredibly heartwarming book about themes like fatherhood, family, and living up to one's potential, Matthew Dicks has crafted the perfectly imperfect character in Dan Mayrock, and his ingenious list-format makes this a can't-be-missed read."—The Young Folks
APRIL 2020 - AudioFile
Told entirely through a series of lists and notes, this audiobook is appealing in its novelty. Its protagonist, Dan, offers astute observations that elicit laugh-out-loud moments, and narrator James Patrick Cronin captures that side of the character's personality with aplomb. The individually titled lists are surprisingly easy to follow in the audio format, but, as the plot moves forward, the structure languishes. Plummeting into a financial crevasse, Dan becomes increasingly desperate and at times maudlin in his self-pity. Supplemental characters never get a chance to become real to the listener. Although Cronin's narration is solid and well paced, Dicks's commitment to the list format prevents the story from becoming three-dimensional. Overall, this audiobook is a fun diversion, with bright spots that will resonate with many listeners. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
APRIL 2020 - AudioFile
Told entirely through a series of lists and notes, this audiobook is appealing in its novelty. Its protagonist, Dan, offers astute observations that elicit laugh-out-loud moments, and narrator James Patrick Cronin captures that side of the character's personality with aplomb. The individually titled lists are surprisingly easy to follow in the audio format, but, as the plot moves forward, the structure languishes. Plummeting into a financial crevasse, Dan becomes increasingly desperate and at times maudlin in his self-pity. Supplemental characters never get a chance to become real to the listener. Although Cronin's narration is solid and well paced, Dicks's commitment to the list format prevents the story from becoming three-dimensional. Overall, this audiobook is a fun diversion, with bright spots that will resonate with many listeners. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-07-28
Dan Mayrock is in a bind: He has not yet told his wife, Jill, that his business is failing and they are almost out of money. He's kept this secret for 13 months now.
A former teacher who left his job to open a bookshop, Dan struggles daily with not only the slings and arrows of economic instability, but also the existential questions of what it means to be a man in the 21st century. What if he can't provide for his family? How can he measure up to Peter, Jill's deceased first husband? Is robbery a viable, not to mention moral, supplementary career path? Meanwhile, Dan's father, who left home when Dan was only 9 years old, is trying to reconcile. Too angry to even open his father's letters, Dan turns to Bill, a 72-year-old widower he met while scouting a bingo hall for theft potential. A Vietnam veteran who lost his wife to a carjacking and his son to cancer, Bill may be the friend Dan needs. Told entirely through the series of lists comprising Dan's journal, Dicks' (The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs, 2015, etc.) latest novel sketches surprisingly complex characters. Much like the famous six-word story often erroneously ascribed to Hemingway ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn"), these lists—and the silences they outline—conjure a tense world in which, no matter how hard Dan tries to gain control of his finances, his life, or his emotions, he continually gets stuck in simply recording the absurdities of life and making futile plans to become a hero to Jill. As the days pass, Dan's lists reflect his increasing desperation, ratcheting up the tension until life throws a potentially devastating curveball at him that pushes him to reassess everything he had thought to be true.
A clever, genre-bending portrait of a man under pressure.
