Twenty-One Truths About Love

A Novel

By: Matthew Dicks

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

From the beloved author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend comes a wonderful new novel about a struggling man, written entirely in lists.

1. Daniel Mayrock loves his wife Jill…more than anything.
2. Dan quit his job and opened a bookshop.
3. Jill is ready to have a baby.
4. Dan is scared; the bookshop isn’t doing well. Financial crisis is imminent.
5. Dan hasn’t told Jill about their financial trouble. He’s ashamed.
6. Then Jill gets pregnant.

This heartfelt story is about the lengths one man will go to and the risks he will take to save his family. But Dan doesn’t just want to save his failing bookstore and his family’s finances--he wants to become someone.

1. Dan wants to do something special.
2. He’s a man who is tired of feeling ordinary.
3. He’s sick of feeling like a failure.
4. Of living in the shadow of his wife’s deceased first husband.

Dan is also an obsessive list maker, and his story unfolds entirely in his lists, which are brimming with Dan’s hilarious sense of humor, unique world-view, and deeply personal thoughts. When heard in full, his lists paint a picture of a man struggling to be a man, a man who has reached a point where he’s willing to do anything for the love (and soon-to-be new love) of his life.

©2019 Matthew Dicks (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. "Code Monkey" lyrics © 2006 by Jonathan Coulter.

Critic reviews

"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." —AudioFile Magazine

Twent-One Truths About Love

Hilarious!! Such a fun read! But the underlying messages are all there, the familiar, the feelings, and the true essence of love! So glad I read this totally unique book! Kudos to Matthew Dicks on a job well done!

Unique concept

I listened to the audible version of this book. This is one of the harder books for me rate. In some ways, I want to give it 10 stars. Writing a book entirely in list form seems like a magical thing to me and should be rewarded. The lists do start to wear on you after awhile, as this book does not have the same effortless flow that a non-list traditional novel would. This is a book that is better savored than devoured for this particular reason. I would have liked the collection of lists to have been separated out a little more. There were very few chapters, which made it a little harder to determine a good pausing point, and I couldn't really tell exactly what the reasoning was for how they were grouped together.

While I haven't read the physical copy, I feel that the audiobook adds a little something extra to the lists. I feel as though flipping page after page and reading lists as opposed to hearing them read to you might have worn on me even quicker. The narrator did a fantastic job in bringing this book to life.

It might not sound like I liked the book very much, but I did! Dicks does an amazing job telling a story and conveying emotion through lists. Dan is a likable character. Not because he is perfect and sweet, but because he is flawed and beautifully human. There were a few moments near the beginning I was nearly brought to tears. The emotion, however, did seem to wane toward the end. In fact, there were a couple aspects of the ending which fell a little flat for me, but the story was still compelling enough to see me through the end. There were parts of the ending which actually didn't even feel like lists, which threw me, but this was a hard to decipher in the audible version. Further, certain aspects of the ending wrapped up a little too quickly and a little too easily for my tastes.

With all of this said, I'm extremely glad I gave this book a try. It is definitely one of the more unique style of books I have read. It's a perfect beach or quick getaway read (or listen). I'll be interested in checking out more of Dicks' writing in the future.

Profanity detracts from content

Interesting premise, but amount & frequency of profanity severely detracts. Made it through maybe 1/5 and quit.