How to Fall Out of Love Madly: A Novel

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When he told her this she didn’t cry, but when she got home she cried a lot, and it made her wonder what was it that was making her feel this devastated if it wasn’t love and the best she could come up with was that it was loneliness and the second best she could come up with was disappointment and the third, rejection. This would be more of a win if Annie didn't have to manage every single interaction she has with Jason to avoid irritating him, asking something of him, or frightening him off. I understood the way Annie and Joy were able to see what would be the best thing for one another and to recognize unhealthy patterns in the other, but not be able to do the same thing for themselves. I was sitting at about 2 stars until about the last 10-15% of the book which I enjoyed so much that it bumped my rating up to 3. I found the ‘feminism’ dated, the characters dull, and just generally this didn’t seem to have anything new or interesting to say.

Joy and Annie had become roommates even though they were also good friends, a risky decision that in most contexts could be cataclysmic, but as it was they bought a couch split fifty-fifty and although he was Annie’s cat, Joy would feed Simon in the mornings and Annie would feed him at night. Yes, the book portrays how society puts so much emphasis on beauty and all the insecurities that women have faced over the years because of it.Potent and poignant, How to Fall Out of Love Madly offers characters so lovable, and social commentary so sharp, that I have paper cuts from turning the pages and a special place in my heart for Casale's unapologetic storytelling. Knowing that my experiences in life can happen to other people and that we all react in different ways and we’re just straight up not having a good time.

I’m still a bit younger than Joy and Annie, but I still found myself able to relate to a lot of their insecurities and issues.This is readable and relatable, it is not a romance, and you have to be able to relate to these women for the book to work for you. A blistering transparency of their little home would flash through Joy’s thoughts: the matching teacup and teakettle from a flea market they’d bought together, uselessly cheerful. This book is funny and heartfelt--readers will root for all three of these women as they shake themselves off and start asking what might actually make them happy.

Now, I don’t want to be too harsh because I do think this novel is well intentioned, but anyone who compared this book to Fleabag or Sally Rooney can go to hell.Haunted by an event from her past, Celine can’t escape her shame and finds herself in an endless cycle of self-sabotage. Unfortunately, the resolution feels incomplete as the characters indulge in self-pity instead of owning power. Joy starts spending a lot of time with Theo and ends up falling for him, only for him to show up a few weeks later with the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen and introduces her as his girlfriend.