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emotional
hopeful
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: Racial slurs, Racism
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
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Mike Gayle strikes again! I really enjoyed this heartfelt story, filled with Gayle's characteristic warmth and emotional intrigue.
In All the Lonely People we follow Hubert Bird as he comes to terms with the fact that he is lonely and works to form a support for other lonely people in his local community. It all starts with a visit from his new next door neighbour and her young daughter. The two push themselves into Hubert's world, and slowly into his heart too. Meanwhile his quiet existence is upended as he starts to engage with his neighbours, his community, and ultimately the truth of his own story.
I really loved Hubert, his neighbors, and the story that came to pass between them. I listened to the bulk of his story on audiobook but switched to digital for the final 20 or so %. The audiobook really brought the story to life and I enjoyed that reading experience very much. Would recommend!
In All the Lonely People we follow Hubert Bird as he comes to terms with the fact that he is lonely and works to form a support for other lonely people in his local community. It all starts with a visit from his new next door neighbour and her young daughter. The two push themselves into Hubert's world, and slowly into his heart too. Meanwhile his quiet existence is upended as he starts to engage with his neighbours, his community, and ultimately the truth of his own story.
I really loved Hubert, his neighbors, and the story that came to pass between them. I listened to the bulk of his story on audiobook but switched to digital for the final 20 or so %. The audiobook really brought the story to life and I enjoyed that reading experience very much. Would recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief
Please note that there are a lot of content warnings which could come with this book. I labelled this review with a few but due to time passed since I finished reading, I'm certain I haven't caught them all and would encourage readers to do their own research on this.
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
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Wow. This book is so beautiful. Start to finish I was locked in. I gasped, I cried, I questioned everything. This story is thought provoking and a great reminder to hold your people close and to love your neighbor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Dementia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A quick, fun read with book club. Probably not something I would've picked up in terms of writing style, but I'm glad to have read it for the hopeful and positive message overall, and very diverse characters.
I do think generally everything things either a bit too easy or obvious for plot progression (eg the first woman Hubert really meets ends up being the love of his life with a pretty blandly perfect relationship) - or twists that come too out of nowhere and don't really feel convincing (Rose's death)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Grief
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:
Complicated
<spoiler > I adore Mike Gayles books and this one may be my favourite one yet. Like his others the characters are so real and they make their way into your heart. The book helps to make you believe in humanity again and that there are genuinely good people like Hubert and Asheligh out there. Some really important themes of loneliness, drug abuse, racism , alzhimers and grief were all showcased throughout this book. Told between the present day and the past we learn of Huberts life from how he left Jamaica and came to England to start a family and all of the heartbreak he experienced. The plot twist towards the end that Rose wasn't really alive and he'd been talking to a ghost for the last five years was heartbreaking. But I loved the sense of community andall his friends he then made as he tried to rebuild his life from his oldest friend Gus to his new friendship with Joyce. Just when you think he finally got his happy ever after it was then only eighteen months later when he died but no doubt reunited with his beloved wife and his daughter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-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
Compared to a Man Called Ove, All the Lonely People is about Huburt Byrd, an elderly recluse who finds out his daughter is about to visit and decides to show her how full and fulfilling his life is.
At the heart, this novel is about finding friendships later in life and how we may all more in common than we first think.
There are plenty of twists to keep the plot moving the reader interested, however I felt the author was trying to cover far too many topics that I got a little tired and found that it lacked depth.
At the heart, this novel is about finding friendships later in life and how we may all more in common than we first think.
There are plenty of twists to keep the plot moving the reader interested, however I felt the author was trying to cover far too many topics that I got a little tired and found that it lacked depth.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Dementia
Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, Dementia
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had no idea I would find this book so very relatable. Mike Gayle is a brilliant writer!
Hubert Bird is a recluse for all intents and purposes. Something terrible happened to him 5 years ago and he has become a shut-in, losing contact with all his friends and secluding himself from his neighbors until a new neighbor, Ashleigh and her daughter Layla come knocking.
The chapters alternate between present times and the past and through the various timelines, we see Hubert as he was, fresh off the boat from Jamaica in a very racist backdated London, his falling in love with Joyce and the life they built together, the tragedies that struck his life, and him trying to take back his life in the present day. It's a beautiful book, albeit very sad at times. It deals with many painful topics such as racism, loss, and loneliness and how it isn't just affecting the elderly, but also young people from all walks of life. I picked it up on a whim and I am so very glad I did.
This is quite a relevant book in today's changed world where we are all trying to navigate to the people we were before the world changed so drastically and forced us all into seclusion and made so many of us into introverts.
Hubert Bird is a recluse for all intents and purposes. Something terrible happened to him 5 years ago and he has become a shut-in, losing contact with all his friends and secluding himself from his neighbors until a new neighbor, Ashleigh and her daughter Layla come knocking.
The chapters alternate between present times and the past and through the various timelines, we see Hubert as he was, fresh off the boat from Jamaica in a very racist backdated London, his falling in love with Joyce and the life they built together, the tragedies that struck his life, and him trying to take back his life in the present day. It's a beautiful book, albeit very sad at times. It deals with many painful topics such as racism, loss, and loneliness and how it isn't just affecting the elderly, but also young people from all walks of life. I picked it up on a whim and I am so very glad I did.
This is quite a relevant book in today's changed world where we are all trying to navigate to the people we were before the world changed so drastically and forced us all into seclusion and made so many of us into introverts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism
Minor: Death, Drug abuse