Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning // Carrie Jenkins

Polity, 2022, 200 pages

#philosophy #love #happiness #meaning

“This book will transform the ways people think about their love relationships.”

—Myisha Cherry, author of The Case for Rage

“Do you ever get that feeling that a book just sees you? That was how I felt reading Sad Love. Jenkins deconstructs popular notions of happiness and romantic love with her characteristic combination of compassion, originality and rigour, challenging us to reconsider our foundational assumptions about what our relationships should even be for. I want everyone to read this book.”

—Eve Rickert, co-author of More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

“Sad Love zings with frustration at fairy tales, Valentine’s cards, romance novels and the ‘happy ever after’.”

—The Sunday Telegraph Magazine

“Jenkins […] brings a light-touch speculative air to her ruminations.”

—London Magazine

“Jenkins’s consideration of love beyond the traditional monogamous romantic model stimulates, and she’s equally thought-provoking whether unpacking 19th-century philosophers or Disney songs.”

—Publishers Weekly

"Our society gives us a surprisingly narrow view of what “real” love is. It must be between two people (often heterosexual). It must be long-term and headed toward marriage. It must include sex, co-parenting, and cohabitation. Philosopher Carrie Jenkins cuts through this limited perspective by examining the social, cultural, and even scientific history of how we have chosen to define love. Jenkins highlights the many different forms that socially acceptable love has taken throughout time, and also theorizes about the future of relationships. This is a great read for anyone who loves lofty, philosophical conversations with a partner, looking at the convergence of the abstract and the finite, the ideal and the real."

—Dedeker Winston

For more information: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=sad-love-romance-and-the-search-for-meaning--9781509539581