Review | The ins and outs of falling in love with anyone is an addictive read
Arthur Aron devised 36 questions that are said to help anyone fall in love with anyone, and Mandy Len Catron decided to put them to the test
How to Fall in Love with Anyone
by Mandy Len Catron
Simon & Schuster
Arthur Aron’s lab-tested love formula persuaded Mandy Len Catron to reveal to a potential mate that, could she see her future in a crystal ball, she’d want to know if she would ever get married and have children. That may have been TMI but subjecting herself, and her date, to the psychologist’s 36 questions “for generating interpersonal closeness” led to many positives, including an essay, published in The New York Times, titled, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This”, which resulted in this book … and falling in love with the man in question.
This memoir made up of essays is an addictive read, especially for those who don’t buy the idea of a soulmate or its natural partner, destiny.
Catron, an English professor, is candid about her relationships, and those of her parents (who divorced after 28 years), although her analysis of her own failed, 10-year partnership verges on navel gazing and will have you counting the number of times “I” appears.
A few Carrie Bradshaw-type sentences (“I couldn’t help but wonder if …”) niggle, but otherwise there’s much to fall in love with between the covers.
