SOURCE: Hiney, Tom. “The Mechanics of Love in the Nineties.” Spectator 273, no. 8668 (27 August 1994): 35-6.

In the following mixed review of The Romantic Movement, Hiney asserts that de Botton “eschews any story line or character-drawing in favour of presenting the author as a sociological raconteur.”

It seems that we have more to thank Douglas Coupland for than we first imagined. Not only did he give us the now completely redundant expression ‘Generation X’, but also a new format for the post-Postmodernist novel. Characterised by short chapters, regular digressions from the ‘plot’ and lots of ironic cartoons, ‘Novelisation X’ eschews any story line or character-drawing in favour of presenting the author as a sociological raconteur. All of which can be fun; when Alain de Botton hits the target, The Romantic Movement is a delight to read. But when he's bad, he's awful.

De Botton's speciality is love and relationships, and...