Everything I Know About Love

Published 2020 · 87,099 words · about 5 hours at an average pace

How hard is Everything I Know About Love to read?

Everything I Know About Love scores 36 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 32 out of 100
The vocabulary is contemporary and accessible, using everyday language and slang. While there are some cultural references specific to British culture, they are generally explained or easily understood in context. The language is similar to that found in "Beach Read," with a focus on clear and relatable prose.
Sentence structure: 40 out of 100
The sentences are generally straightforward, with a mix of short, declarative statements and longer, more descriptive passages. While there are some instances of complex sentence structures, they are not overly dense or difficult to follow. The syntax is more complex than "1984" but less so than "The Great Gatsby."
Abstraction: 45 out of 100
The text primarily focuses on personal experiences and anecdotes, with some reflections on love, relationships, and identity. While there are moments of introspection, the narrative remains grounded in concrete events and observations. This places it between "Atomic Habits" and "The Great Gatsby" in terms of abstraction.
Information density: 40 out of 100
The text is relatively easy to follow, with a focus on storytelling and personal reflection. While there are some cultural references and details, the overall information density is manageable. The attention demands are similar to "The Housemaid," with a focus on plot and character development rather than dense conceptual information.
Narrative indirection: 40 out of 100
The narrative is largely direct, with the author sharing her thoughts and experiences in a straightforward manner. While there is some room for interpretation, the meaning is generally clear and explicit. This is similar to "Beloved," where fragmented memories require some reconstruction, but less indirect than "The Great Gatsby."
Symbolic density: 30 out of 100
The text contains some symbolic elements, such as the significance of MSN Messenger and the author's relationship with food, but these are not heavily emphasized or deeply explored. The narrative primarily focuses on literal events and personal experiences, rather than relying on extensive symbolism. This is comparable to "To Kill a Mockingbird," where the mockingbird serves as a symbol of innocence, but the story is primarily grounded in concrete events.
Ironic distance: 40 out of 100
There is some ironic distance in the author's reflections on her past experiences, particularly her teenage years and early twenties. However, the overall tone is sincere and self-deprecating, rather than heavily satirical or detached. This places it between "It Ends with Us" and "Moby-Dick" in terms of ironic distance.
Resolution withholding: 30 out of 100
The memoir does not withhold resolution in the way literary fiction does — Alderton recounts her twenties with the knowingness of hindsight, and the narrative arc moves toward self-understanding rather than ambiguity. While there may be some open-endedness about future love, the story provides a clear emotional reckoning.
Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
The text follows a broadly chronological structure interspersed with diary entries, lists, letters, and recipes — a fragmented but accessible form. While there may be some digressions, the overall structure is relatively easy to follow and reinforces the memoir's collage-like representation of memory.

How Everything I Know About Love is regarded

Everything I Know About Love holds a literary regard score of 32 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Everything I Know About Love sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (152 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Everything I Know About Love scores 68 out of 100. A second mythos, irony, pulls at it with a weight of 0.2. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
A little explanation: I grew up in the suburbs. That’s it; that’s the explanation.
Symbol: Formal
It was as beige as the plush carpets that adorned its every home. There was no art, no culture, no old buildings, no parks, no independent shops or restaurants.
Mythos: Comedy ii (comedy ii)
I woke up safe in my one-woman boat. I was gliding into a new horizon; floating in a sea of love.
Genre: Confession + Anatomy
Nearly everything I know about love, I’ve learned in my long-term friendships with women.

Where the story of Everything I Know About Love takes place

  • London and its suburbs, 1999-2018 (1999 to 2018), the main setting
  • Stanmore and Hertfordshire suburbs, teenage years, 1999-2006 (1999 to 2006)
  • Exeter University, 2006-2009 (2006 to 2009)
  • Camden yellow-brick maisonette, 2012-2015 (2012 to 2015)
  • New York and the Catskills, August 2014

5 things that are true of Everything I Know About Love, with the passage for each

  1. Her first email address, set up at twelve, was [email protected].

    My first email address was [email protected], which I set up aged twelve in my school IT room.

  2. She paid a minicab £200 to drive her drunk from London to Leamington Spa after bargaining down from £250.

    I got him down to £200. Will said he’d pay for the other £100.

  3. After a breakup she lost three stone in three months.

    By December, I’d lost three stone. Three stone in three months.

  4. Hector's bedside address book was split into three hair-colour categories.

    Next to his bed there was a black leather address book with three words embossed in gold on the front: BLONDES, BRUNETTES, REDHEADS.

  5. Farly and Scott split eight weeks before their wedding.

    It was eight weeks before their wedding.

Scenes in Everything I Know About Love that Frye would name

35 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Pathos, untitled
“She’s gone,” she said, gasping for breath. “She died.” Florence's death is the book's sacrificial pathos scene.
Anagnorisis, untitled
Because I am enough. My heart is enough. The stories and the sentences twisting around my mind are enough. The book's climactic self-recognition: she needs no male gaze to be visible.
Cognitio, untitled
“Because it was all real,” I will say. “And it was so ridiculous.” A comic recognition years later confirms Graysen's story of the fish book was true.
Anagnorisis, untitled
“Everything,” I said, realizing it as I said it out loud. “I’m trying to have a hand in everyone’s opinion of me. In therapy she recognises that control is the root of her people-pleasing and drinking.
Cognitio, untitled
“That’s my mum,” I replied. Rodney discovers that Dolly is the daughter of a woman he knew in the seventies, a comic recognition scene.
Confession, untitled
Here, in the mess, I found a simple formula of which I was the master. An introverted account of her eating disorder, told from inside.

Books that share these scenes with Everything I Know About Love