Alain de Botton. Intimate Details

De Botton's third romance novel is a biography. It begins with a young man, caught in the act of self-absorption by his ex-girlfriend, deciding to write a book about the first woman he meets, who turns out to be a seemingly ordinary girl. However, as the nameless narrator, about whom we know almost nothing, begins to diligently study her lifestyle, habits, and flaws, he becomes intrigued by the subject of his research. This interest soon blossoms into a passionate love. In his signature style, de Botton skillfully intersperses magazine essays and frankly parodic passages with captivating reflections on the mechanisms of human memory and the subjectivity of our perceptions.