Everything I Know About Love

As Alderton’s memoir progresses, members of her inner circle begin entering long-term relationships while Alderton herself is often left alone. How does the memoir use such occasions of isolation to theorize about Alderton’s friendships, as well as Alderton’s relationship with herself?

In Chapter 38, the author of the satirical email assures the recipients that their relationship to Karen will change once she has her baby, the event itself will make her childless friends feel alienated, and her fellow parenting friends will feel inadequate. In what ways does this email demonstrate the very real ways in which friendships change in adulthood and the social expectations surrounding such milestones in Western culture?

Another chapter devoted to a satirical email, Chapter 9, describes in thorough detail an evening of literary and cinematic discussion. How might the reader interpret these descriptions and the email author’s voice to better understand Alderton’s view of and relationship to the artistic scene she inhabits?