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emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mike Gayle has delighted me again with a sweet but sometimes painful story that had me gasping (more than once). Another pandemic novel, Gayle examines loneliness through 82-year-old Jamaican immigrant Hubert. He’s on a quest to prove to his daughter that he’s got plenty of friends and she shouldn’t worry about him from Australia. Alternating flashback chapters give Hubert’s present circumstances a deeper poignancy. As all my favorites do, this novel turns a group of trauma-inflicted misfits into a real community. A great examination of relationships and aging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation
Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Abortion
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Violence, Dementia
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I can see why so many of my friends have read and liked this one. I was not familiar with Mike Gayle before; now I see he has written about 20 books in the UK. I listened to a little of the audiobook and it is fantastic. The full narration wasn’t available for a while from my library, so I mostly read a paperback copy. It was also a Target bookclub pick, so they have a version with some extra notes, but I found my copy from The Gloss bookclub had them also.
Like the title implies, this book is about a lonely, old man named Hubert Bird, an immigrant from Jamaica to London. I didn’t realize that in the 1950s, the British government encouraged West Indian people to move there because of a labor shortage. But, at the same time, people didn’t welcome them into their communities.
Such is the case with Hubert, who after he arrives is treated unfairly at his job and meeting someone is difficult until he meets Joyce. We get to know Hubert from being this young man until older age, with alternating chapters in the current Now of his life. We know his wife is not there, and his daughter Rose calls every week to check on him. For the last five years, he hasn’t kept up with any friends, but he has a journal with made up activities he does with friends, so she doesn’t think he is alone. When she tells him she is coming to visit in a few months, he considers what it would be like to have friends again and if he could make himself available in those ways again, especially after a friendly neighbor with a young daughter move in next door and need a friend.
I loved this book until the very end. I stayed up until 12:30 last night reading and couldn’t put it down until I was finished. I just felt like the last chapters rushed the ending and there were a couple parts I wondered more about . But it is such a lovely story of friendship and loneliness.
This one reminded me of: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting and Meredith, Alone.
“And in that moment, as he attempted to stem his tears, Hubert realized something he hadn’t quite understood before now: he was lonely, really lonely, and most likely had been for a very long time.” P84
“After all, it was always easier to meet new people if there were two of you. It gave you confidence and made you feel at ease. Look, it said to the world, I already have one friend so I can’t be all that bad.” P51
“I know sometimes the world’s a horrible place, but not always. Sometimes it’s a lovely place where nice things happen for no reason and I’d much rather… live in that world than the other one.” P54
P98 making new friends “become more Ashleigh.”
“Rose watched the dilemma play out across her father’s features. The desire to protect her from the truth matched with the relief of no longer having to hide it.” P243
“And that’s the funny thing about life. Extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people like you and me, but only if we open ourselves up enough to let them be.” P359
“…one of the central questions of the book is, do you resign yourself to the fact that one day your life might be empty or try to fill it up with new friends and “family?” Q&A with author
“I wanted to examine a character’s story from beginning to end as a way of thinking about how people become lonely.”
Understanding history to write a modern day novel
Recommends watching BBC documentary Windrush
Like the title implies, this book is about a lonely, old man named Hubert Bird, an immigrant from Jamaica to London. I didn’t realize that in the 1950s, the British government encouraged West Indian people to move there because of a labor shortage. But, at the same time, people didn’t welcome them into their communities.
Such is the case with Hubert, who after he arrives is treated unfairly at his job and meeting someone is difficult until he meets Joyce. We get to know Hubert from being this young man until older age, with alternating chapters in the current Now of his life. We know his wife is not there, and his daughter Rose calls every week to check on him. For the last five years, he hasn’t kept up with any friends, but he has a journal with made up activities he does with friends, so she doesn’t think he is alone. When she tells him she is coming to visit in a few months, he considers what it would be like to have friends again and if he could make himself available in those ways again, especially after a friendly neighbor with a young daughter move in next door and need a friend.
I loved this book until the very end. I stayed up until 12:30 last night reading and couldn’t put it down until I was finished. I just felt like the last chapters rushed the ending and there were a couple parts I wondered more about . But it is such a lovely story of friendship and loneliness.
This one reminded me of: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting and Meredith, Alone.
“And in that moment, as he attempted to stem his tears, Hubert realized something he hadn’t quite understood before now: he was lonely, really lonely, and most likely had been for a very long time.” P84
“After all, it was always easier to meet new people if there were two of you. It gave you confidence and made you feel at ease. Look, it said to the world, I already have one friend so I can’t be all that bad.” P51
“I know sometimes the world’s a horrible place, but not always. Sometimes it’s a lovely place where nice things happen for no reason and I’d much rather… live in that world than the other one.” P54
P98 making new friends “become more Ashleigh.”
“Rose watched the dilemma play out across her father’s features. The desire to protect her from the truth matched with the relief of no longer having to hide it.” P243
“And that’s the funny thing about life. Extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people like you and me, but only if we open ourselves up enough to let them be.” P359
“…one of the central questions of the book is, do you resign yourself to the fact that one day your life might be empty or try to fill it up with new friends and “family?” Q&A with author
“I wanted to examine a character’s story from beginning to end as a way of thinking about how people become lonely.”
Understanding history to write a modern day novel
Recommends watching BBC documentary Windrush
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book is pure magic. I need to come back and write more of a review but I want to capture my in the moment feelings which is happiness at the wonderfulness of thos book and the characters and the sadness that it’s over. I cried multiple times while reading this as well as had a myriad of other emotions. This is the type of book you want to hug and make everyone read it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Alcohol
Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Medical content, Abandonment