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Heartland
Based on interviews across Australia, Heartland guides readers through the intimate world of love, sex, dating, and commitment among millennials and Generation Z.
From hard and fast hook-ups to loneliness, deep love and even climate change stress, I want to understand the whole gamut of modern love. I want to know the heartland.
Stump, 30, has a knack for getting herself into unusual dating situations
Alex, 25, streams porn for four hours each day
Ku, 25, relies on alcohol to meet people and push boundaries during sex
Michael, 36, discovers polyamory after raising kids
Cassandra, 26, mixes kink with sex work
Finding love and quenching lust are desires humankind has sought for millennia. Today the internet plays a key role in how we find companionship and connection, but for writer Jennifer Pinkerton - who's traversing her own ups and downs in love and commitment - this new era of dating apps, omnipresent porn and increasingly fluid identities begs the question: what is the future of modern love?
This one-of-a-kind book blends reportage, memoir, extensive research and lyrical prose to take us on a journey into the heart-scapes of young Australians. Informed by interviews with more than 100 people under 40 - from transgender Aboriginal sistagirls in the Tiwi Islands to conservative Catholics living in Sydney - this book explores the hopes, fears and realities of romantic relationships at a time marked by great expectations and far fewer rules.
Heartland is a probing and insightful exploration of how love, sex, dating and commitment are changing - for better or worse. It gives us a window into the way we live now, and what this might mean for our futures.
From hard and fast hook-ups to loneliness, deep love and even climate change stress, I want to understand the whole gamut of modern love. I want to know the heartland.
Stump, 30, has a knack for getting herself into unusual dating situations
Alex, 25, streams porn for four hours each day
Ku, 25, relies on alcohol to meet people and push boundaries during sex
Michael, 36, discovers polyamory after raising kids
Cassandra, 26, mixes kink with sex work
Finding love and quenching lust are desires humankind has sought for millennia. Today the internet plays a key role in how we find companionship and connection, but for writer Jennifer Pinkerton - who's traversing her own ups and downs in love and commitment - this new era of dating apps, omnipresent porn and increasingly fluid identities begs the question: what is the future of modern love?
This one-of-a-kind book blends reportage, memoir, extensive research and lyrical prose to take us on a journey into the heart-scapes of young Australians. Informed by interviews with more than 100 people under 40 - from transgender Aboriginal sistagirls in the Tiwi Islands to conservative Catholics living in Sydney - this book explores the hopes, fears and realities of romantic relationships at a time marked by great expectations and far fewer rules.
Heartland is a probing and insightful exploration of how love, sex, dating and commitment are changing - for better or worse. It gives us a window into the way we live now, and what this might mean for our futures.
- GenresNonfictionRomance
384 pages, Paperback
Published May 3, 2022
8 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 15, 2022
‘What we do as individuals matters a lot.’
Well, that was a surprise. This book was a selection by my library’s reading group otherwise I can confidently say it would not have been on my reading radar. Why? Well, I am well into my sixties and have been married for forty-three years. I know nothing about the contemporary dating scene.
So, what is it about? Ms Pinkerton interviewed people across Australia to learn about their views on commitment, dating, love and sex. Ms Pinkerton herself is a Gen Xer who has never used online dating. I guess that in some ways the online dating world was as foreign to her as it is to me. Over a period of six years, Ms Pinkerton interviewed a range of people across Australia. She set out to investigate: ‘which avenue – high-tech or low-tech – results in better sex and relationships, and whether that’s even the right question to ask’.
While Ms Pinkerton succeeds in giving us an overview of issues including dating apps, hook-up culture, porn and kink, I wasn’t sure whether there were any answers (or what those answers might be). What was clear to me was the anxieties that so many people have about the world we live in, especially about climate change and the environment.
I especially enjoyed reading the interviews conducted in Canberra while trying to identify some of the meeting venues.
And, while I finished the book with more questions than answers, I am glad I read it. I may not recognise some aspects of the discussion or relate to others, but I appreciate the opportunity to read about them.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Well, that was a surprise. This book was a selection by my library’s reading group otherwise I can confidently say it would not have been on my reading radar. Why? Well, I am well into my sixties and have been married for forty-three years. I know nothing about the contemporary dating scene.
So, what is it about? Ms Pinkerton interviewed people across Australia to learn about their views on commitment, dating, love and sex. Ms Pinkerton herself is a Gen Xer who has never used online dating. I guess that in some ways the online dating world was as foreign to her as it is to me. Over a period of six years, Ms Pinkerton interviewed a range of people across Australia. She set out to investigate: ‘which avenue – high-tech or low-tech – results in better sex and relationships, and whether that’s even the right question to ask’.
While Ms Pinkerton succeeds in giving us an overview of issues including dating apps, hook-up culture, porn and kink, I wasn’t sure whether there were any answers (or what those answers might be). What was clear to me was the anxieties that so many people have about the world we live in, especially about climate change and the environment.
I especially enjoyed reading the interviews conducted in Canberra while trying to identify some of the meeting venues.
And, while I finished the book with more questions than answers, I am glad I read it. I may not recognise some aspects of the discussion or relate to others, but I appreciate the opportunity to read about them.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
October 13, 2022
This is one of those books that makes you feel less alone in the world. Jennifer Pinkerton did a fantastic job of exploring dating and relationships from a diverse perspective, which to me only highlighted the similarity of the way we all experience infatuation, rejection, heartbreak, longing, lust, and loneliness.
I enjoyed the way the author's own dating history and experiences weaved into her research, rather than feeling bland and clinical, her research and interviews with different people felt dynamic and personal. The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because I feel there was a bit too much of an emphasis on online dating and what Pinkerton calls 'hook up culture'. I don't think this was an accurate portrayal of people my age (early 20s), although I recognise that it does play a huge part in modern dating.
Also, reading this book makes me want to move to Darwin. It sounds like a cool place.
I enjoyed the way the author's own dating history and experiences weaved into her research, rather than feeling bland and clinical, her research and interviews with different people felt dynamic and personal. The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because I feel there was a bit too much of an emphasis on online dating and what Pinkerton calls 'hook up culture'. I don't think this was an accurate portrayal of people my age (early 20s), although I recognise that it does play a huge part in modern dating.
Also, reading this book makes me want to move to Darwin. It sounds like a cool place.
July 6, 2022
Finding love and quenching lust are desires humankind has sought for millennia. Today the internet plays a key role in how we find companionship and connection, but for writer Jennifer Pinkerton - who's traversing her own ups and downs in love and commitment - this new era of dating apps, omnipresent porn and increasingly fluid identities begs the question: what is the future of modern love?
As a twenty something also dating and looking for love in this modern and confusing world, I found this book fascinating. It looked into the experiences of a whole variety of Australian people, looking to explore not just the cis, heterosexual people, but looking at the LGBTQI+ community as well, which I found really interesting, because in all honesty, it’s a perspective I don’t know a lot about.
With so many Canberra voices, I felt deeply connected to this book as well, but it’s just so brilliantly written. Exploring heartbreak, tinder, casual and fun hook ups and everything in between. It’s insightful and raw and amazing.
If you are dating, or just want to hear some different experiences on modern love, I would highly recommend this!
As a twenty something also dating and looking for love in this modern and confusing world, I found this book fascinating. It looked into the experiences of a whole variety of Australian people, looking to explore not just the cis, heterosexual people, but looking at the LGBTQI+ community as well, which I found really interesting, because in all honesty, it’s a perspective I don’t know a lot about.
With so many Canberra voices, I felt deeply connected to this book as well, but it’s just so brilliantly written. Exploring heartbreak, tinder, casual and fun hook ups and everything in between. It’s insightful and raw and amazing.
If you are dating, or just want to hear some different experiences on modern love, I would highly recommend this!
September 20, 2022
Heartland was a blend of research and memoir, a story of an author’s exploration of love in contemporary Australia. Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, this had more of a journey to it than I anticipated.
In setting out to tap into the ‘heartland’ of modern love in Australia, Pinkerton ends up travelling all over the country (though it’s mainly split between Canberra and Darwin).
It feels as though her personal journey in this book became inseparable from its creation. A death, a birth, fire and plague all pepper the insights of others experienced. There is a feeling of a deepening as you read - starting with Tinder, drinking and hook-up culture: ending with soulmate friendships and love leaving and lasting through grief.
In setting out to capture the uncapturable heartland I’m not sure she was successful, but along the way you meet a diverse range of people loving messily, confusingly, inescapably, fully. It’s a reminder that love is something to be reckoned with no matter where you land. An ever present relationship with relationship itself.
In setting out to tap into the ‘heartland’ of modern love in Australia, Pinkerton ends up travelling all over the country (though it’s mainly split between Canberra and Darwin).
It feels as though her personal journey in this book became inseparable from its creation. A death, a birth, fire and plague all pepper the insights of others experienced. There is a feeling of a deepening as you read - starting with Tinder, drinking and hook-up culture: ending with soulmate friendships and love leaving and lasting through grief.
In setting out to capture the uncapturable heartland I’m not sure she was successful, but along the way you meet a diverse range of people loving messily, confusingly, inescapably, fully. It’s a reminder that love is something to be reckoned with no matter where you land. An ever present relationship with relationship itself.
September 30, 2022
This one took a while to read. Its beautifully written with a strong image of each interviewed character, grounded in a deep sense of place. There's a love here of the Australian landscape, almost more than the people-scape of the topic. It took a while to read because it's depressing. Pinkerton treats her subjects lightly and warmly but the overall picture is one of dysfunction, where no-one knows how to commit anymore. We're not sure we even want to because we're wary and afraid. This seems to be the driving force behind behaviours like ghosting. It's all too easy to get immediate needs met and not do the work needed for deeper rewards and connection.
Maybe there IS a generational realignment and reinterpretation of meaningful relationships. I sure hope so. Too late for me, perhaps, but Pinkerton seems to believe they'll figure it out.
Maybe there IS a generational realignment and reinterpretation of meaningful relationships. I sure hope so. Too late for me, perhaps, but Pinkerton seems to believe they'll figure it out.
May 26, 2022
I found this to be a refreshing snapshot of love, sex and relationships as they exist in their myriad permutations in modern Australia. Pinkerton deftly weaves anecdotes and interviews with everyday Australians in with insightful contemporary research and beautifully poetic vignettes of her own journey in love. It's not particularly deep in any of the topics covered but I think that is a strength as I reckon anyone would be able to find something of themselves in these pages or at the least, something to consider. The locales and people in the book are delightfully Australian which triggers a unique sense of nostalgia and connection in me.
August 15, 2022
As a veteran of the online dating scene, this intimate and thoughtful look at love and dating in 21st century Australia (particularly for my generation and the one coming up behind) was so interesting. What lifts it above similar studies though is the personal flavour; it's a loving blend of research, memoir and reportage. And I loved that most of it took place in either Darwin or Canberra, two cities that don't get much exposure in Australian fiction or non-fiction. Very readable and relatable.
October 17, 2022
I love the idea of this, and the topics it dicusses and the themes it covers are really good and important. Also bonus point for the diverse cast of characters interviewed for this book. But oh my goodness the amount of unnecessary details described drove me up the walls. The reading for the audio book was done really well also.
June 2, 2022
Comprehensive, tender, insightful. A massive 'love project' that never loses sight of land (there's always a cockatoo around the corner). But seriously, this is a remarkable book, a true labour of love that challenges notions of what kind(s) of love we think we're after.
October 16, 2022
3.75. This was an interesting look at the concept of modern love, and I really appreciated the attention to different communities and identities, despite the author being a straight, cis woman themselves. Full of personal stories as well as interesting facts, this was a pretty engaging read.
December 30, 2022
Loved the diversity of voices and lavish descriptions of different Australian cities. I finished this book feeling quite disillusioned about the state of modern romance. I don’t think this was the author’s intention.
March 4, 2023
3 1/2 stars. Some lovely writing and I enjoyed the depictions of Darwin and Canberra (where I live). Interesting and occasionally eye-opening discussions about sex and love from the perspective of this 60 year old but the approach was a bit too scattershot for me.
January 3, 2023
a couple of jabs at gen z at points and some misrepresentation of kink mar an otherwise excellent book about the modern landscape of sex, love and relationships
March 9, 2023
3.25/5: Fascinating pockets of anecdotal research presented well, and with heart as promised, even if the specific lands chosen seemed somewhat random (& included chilly Canberra of all places).
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews