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The Course of Love  By  cover art

The Course of Love

By: Alain de Botton
Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
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Publisher's summary

Penguin presents, the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Course of Love by Alain de Botton, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Twenty years after his best-selling debut, Essays in Love, internationally acclaimed author Alain de Botton returns to fiction with a brilliant new novel about modern relationships.

What does it mean to live happily ever after?

At dinner parties and over coffee, Rabih and Kirsten's friends always ask them the same question: how did you meet? The answer comes easily - it's a happy story, one they both love to tell. But there is a second part to this story, the answer to a question their friends never ask: what happened next?

Rabih and Kirsten find each other, fall in love, get married. Society tells us this is the end of the story. In fact it is only the beginning. From the first thrill of lust to the joys and fears of real commitment to the deep problems that surface slowly over two shared lifetimes, this is the story of a marriage. It is the story of modern relationships and how to survive them.

Playful, wise and profoundly moving, The Course of Love is a delightful return to the novel by Alain de Botton, 20 years after his debut, Essays in Love.

©2016 Alain de Botton (P)2016 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Course of Love

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Direct, straight to the POINT

Alain de Botton is with this novel dissecting the most fundamental midnight thoughts of life. And God bless he has a solution and thesis for them. Very appropriate to read before/after/during a life crisis... Just saying, this novel is simple, eloquent and penetrating to our primitive notion of life.

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Honest and insightful

Really enjoyed every moment. A brutally honest but empathetic view on being human. Living life through the characters i gained perspective on my own relationships, and changed.

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Just amazing!

The insights and the way the author captured the sublime thought process of the characters left me speechless.

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Refreshingly realistic

This book gave insights into the ups and downs of love that most of us experience but think we are alone in experiencing.

There was a comfort in realising that a lot of the struggles and mundanities we go through during the course of love are an all too common part of the human experience, and yet, it is still an honor to experience them.

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Taking love to a different level

A narrative on love. Following a couple through their ups and downs. Clear storyline with good examples.

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Trying to convince you to go polyamory non stop

The book is nice but it doesn’t stop pushing to the fact that polyamory is the only and best way to go on a relationship.
I guess this can work for some people and has it’s advantages but the author presents the monogamous couples as repressing the lying.

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A must listen, if you’re into his style of expression

There are very little authors that can be as comforting, soothing, eloquent and sliding-wisdom-under-the-radar as Alain de Botton. He never fails to give me that “all-is-well” feeling.
Great story, saturated with the kind of details that grab one’s attention and make them relate.
Pleasant narration.
The book left me ever so relieved and inspired.

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Good informative drama

I would use this book with my therapy clients, to help them have an imagination of what love, sex, and relationships are in real life.

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Normalizing Love

An amazingly normal story of what happens after Romance, how to set a perspective and expectations around a relationship.

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Beautiful depiction of love

Loved the narration of the ‘story’ and the depth that it carries. The weaving in of the psychological aspects of love and relationships is profound. Gives one an opportunity to reflect on own relationship.

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