36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You (Vicki Grant)

EN “36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You" is a book by Canadian writer Vicky Grant, awarded for some of her books in the young adult genre and still has the particularity of writing episodes of children's TV, being awarded in this field as well. This book was originally published in October 2017 but in Portugal it was only released a year later, by publisher Gailivro. The inspiration for this story came from a very popular study conducted by the “Modern Love” column in the New York Times, and the concept is very interesting. In addition to being a light story, it is also a story that captivates us from start to finish, because of the simple fact that we want to understand the whole concept around the questions that allows us to get to know the characters more closely.

This novel perpetuates love through communication and non-physical intimacy. We are introduced to two young people, Hildy and Paul, who decide to participate in a study conducted by the University, to clarify whether it is possible for love to be planned. These two young people, completely strangers to each other, decide to participate in this study for completely different reasons. Hildy decides to participate for more existential reasons while Paul decides to participate because he needs money. In this case, Hildy and Paul become Betty and Bob, and subject themselves to these intimate and emotional questions, without realizing that this invasion of their personal space would be at least embarrassing and very difficult. These questions must be answered face to face so that the details are revealed more intensely, and in the end, they must look into each other's eyes in silence for 4 minutes. The result is always variable, which does not diminish in any way the study and its questions.

"If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?”

Hildy's character is very similar to me because she is clumsy, but at the same time with a strong pulse, which was very funny as the story developed. Although the ending was a bit clichéd, I found the book very dynamic and captivating, and even the back-stories with the other characters were very well written. The interaction between the main characters was also credible to the passion they developed in the end.

I admit that my opinion is a bit biased because this book accompanied me at the best stages of my life and, moreover, accompanied me on a trip to Madeira where I was asked to be married. I can never have negative thoughts about this book. Still, it's not a wow book, but it's a beautiful book, with a funny novel, that entertain us from start to finish.

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