Read Bottom Up by Neel Shah and Skye Chatham is a short novel (can be read in a few hours) about dating in the modern world of today. It’s told exclusively through emails and text messages and it really does scream of the world we live in now. Back in my days of dating we didn’t have social media. It was the phone or nothing. Yet still the same emotions and insecurities exist today – they are just communicated in a different way.
Madeline and Elliot meet at a restaurant opening and begin dating. Of course in today’s world it’s all about emailing and text messaging and we see the relationship between these two unfold in just that way. In addition to the messages between Madeline and Elliot we also have the messages between Madeline and Emily (her best friend) and Elliot and David (his best friend). You really can see from the beginning that this relationship may be doomed because these two want very different things from life. Madeline is looking for a really serious relationship while Elliot is still looking to just have fun and doesn’t really see the big deal if he doesn’t answer a text message for days.
As the relationship progresses we see the insecurities and over analyzing of the relationship. Both Madeline and Elliot are constantly copying and pasting messages and sending them to their best friends for their opinions. There is anger and a million questions but neither makes a move to just confront the situation. It’s a normal dating scenario – just taking place in today’s world where everything seems to revolve around social media. I don’t want to give away the eventual outcome of the book but I will say I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.
I enjoyed this book primarily because of the format. I enjoy books done a little differently like that. The only thing I would have liked to see was a bit more of a romantic tone to the book. I think this book will really appeal to those who are hooked on all of the social media of today and definitely those who are currently dating in it.
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I’m from the telephone era, too, but this sounds like fun.
LOL JoAnn, I felt a little old reading this but it reminded me of my dating days and how different it was then. It’s fun to see how times have changed.
So it sounds like this is an epistolary novel, which I usually love. I think I’ll check it out because it sounds like a bit of fun. And, yes, you can add me to the telephone generation. LOL
Kay, it was fun although like I said I would have liked a more romantic tone to it and I’m not even one for romance. LOL. Ahhhh, another one from the telephone generation – me too. LOL. I remember sitting on the phone for hours. I imagine a text would have been so much easier.
I love different formats like that too. This sounds good!
Kathy, yes the format suits the story for sure.
This sounds like a cute book and would like to read. I’m from the days of letters and phone calls. So this should be good.
Diane, I too am from the days of letters and phone calls. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to just send a text but then I wonder if we weren’t a lot better off since most of our communication was done personally in a phone call or otherwise.
Our emotions and feelings when dating are the same no matter if we’re writing hand-written letters, making phone calls, or using social media to chat. I love the idea of exploring the modern form of dating in this book! Thanks for being a part of the tour!
Heather, it’s interesting how dating has changed over the years and I think this book highlights that.