“OMG did he get my message? What if he is ignoring my text? Did I come off too weird? Should I have only used one y in my hey instead of two?” These are common questions in today's dating world. With the invention of smartphones, Internet dating and apps like Tinder, a whole new world of dating has opened up with a whole new world of problems. People constantly worry about if the emoji they used sent the right message, or that it has been a whole two hours without a response and the world must be ending because they know the other person has their phone. Aziz Ansari’s new book, Modern Romance: An Investigation, with help from Erik Klinenberg demonstrates the new dating struggles that have become commonplace in today’s technology ridden world. Ansari, best-known for his stand-up comedy performances and his role on NBC’s Parks and Recreation as Tom Haverford, surprised me by the amount of research and work that went into his book. I originally expected a comedic outlook on his own personal love life and the things he had experienced, but I instead was astounded by the vast amount of studies and interviews he conducted in order to confirm his theories and hypotheses. The statistics and studies were sometime monotonous and lengthy, but Ansari manages to break them up with humor and attention grabbing stories. The most interesting and relatable parts of the book, though, were the many interviews he conducted with people all over the world. He got people from Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and people all over the United States to speak to him about their personal romantic struggles and successes from online dating to hitting up random people in bars. These stories gave his book multiple perspectives and voices that allowed Ansari’s personal humor to shine through. One of the many dating conundrums Ansari writes about is the fear about settling down and finding “the one”. He speaks about how older generations had fewer options and with that came less confusion about if they picked the right one. Younger generations have more people available to them with the Internet and a smartphone in their pocket. This creates doubt that a person has found the perfect match because if they check their phone they can have multiple other dates within the hour. With people waiting longer to get married and having more options, there seems to be less certainty of picking the right person. Ansari perfectly captures the main issues and differences of this generation’s struggle for love and companionship. Throughout Modern Romance, Ansari investigates the mysterious of romance with meticulous research and pairs it with his well-known personal style and humor that creates a nearly perfect book. His humor and age creates a feeling that he is struggling along side each and every one of his readers and makes it extremely relatable. It was very easy to tell just how Ansari felt about each and every issue and his passion shone through and made Modern Romance one of 2015s best selling books.
Ansari, best-known for his stand-up comedy performances and his role on NBC’s Parks and Recreation as Tom Haverford, surprised me by the amount of research and work that went into his book. I originally expected a comedic outlook on his own personal love life and the things he had experienced, but I instead was astounded by the vast amount of studies and interviews he conducted in order to confirm his theories and hypotheses. The statistics and studies were sometime monotonous and lengthy, but Ansari manages to break them up with humor and attention grabbing stories.
The most interesting and relatable parts of the book, though, were the many interviews he conducted with people all over the world. He got people from Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and people all over the United States to speak to him about their personal romantic struggles and successes from online dating to hitting up random people in bars. These stories gave his book multiple perspectives and voices that allowed Ansari’s personal humor to shine through.
One of the many dating conundrums Ansari writes about is the fear about settling down and finding “the one”. He speaks about how older generations had fewer options and with that came less confusion about if they picked the right one. Younger generations have more people available to them with the Internet and a smartphone in their pocket. This creates doubt that a person has found the perfect match because if they check their phone they can have multiple other dates within the hour. With people waiting longer to get married and having more options, there seems to be less certainty of picking the right person. Ansari perfectly captures the main issues and differences of this generation’s struggle for love and companionship.
Throughout Modern Romance, Ansari investigates the mysterious of romance with meticulous research and pairs it with his well-known personal style and humor that creates a nearly perfect book. His humor and age creates a feeling that he is struggling along side each and every one of his readers and makes it extremely relatable. It was very easy to tell just how Ansari felt about each and every issue and his passion shone through and made Modern Romance one of 2015s best selling books.