All the Lonely People
Mar. 4th, 2023 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI picked up All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle in my recent charity shop haul and read it in about 24 hours.
So, it was certainly engaging!
It tells the story of Hubert, an elderly man who suddenly finds himself needing to make some friends, after lying about his social life for several years.
It's a split narrative - following Hubert's attempts to make friends, as well as charting his life from moving to England from Jamaica in the late 1950s through to the present day.
It's one of those books that slips very serious subject matter - racism, loss, grief, dementia, ageing, addiction, societal isolation - into a mostly light and cheery narrative - so you don't know how much your emotions are being engaged until it's too late.
But, as my favourite character says in her only scene, it 'totally got me in the feels' by the end - though I preferred the climax to the epilogue, which went a bit too far, in my opinion.
I do think the events of the story were slightly out of keeping with the tone in places, and the 'big reveal' raised some questions about how much previous events really made sense.
But the concept was marvellous, I loved all the characters (though some of Hubert's attitudes were a bit unfortunate, if believable) and it got where it was going without being overly predictable. One expected outcome to do with Hubert's children was avoided, which I thought was a good thing, and the other outcome to do with Hubert's children was a bit too unexpected in my view, and sent things slightly off the rails.
But overall, it kept me reading far past my usual evening habit, so it definitely had enough to it to make me want to know what happened.
So, it was certainly engaging!
It tells the story of Hubert, an elderly man who suddenly finds himself needing to make some friends, after lying about his social life for several years.
It's a split narrative - following Hubert's attempts to make friends, as well as charting his life from moving to England from Jamaica in the late 1950s through to the present day.
It's one of those books that slips very serious subject matter - racism, loss, grief, dementia, ageing, addiction, societal isolation - into a mostly light and cheery narrative - so you don't know how much your emotions are being engaged until it's too late.
But, as my favourite character says in her only scene, it 'totally got me in the feels' by the end - though I preferred the climax to the epilogue, which went a bit too far, in my opinion.
I do think the events of the story were slightly out of keeping with the tone in places, and the 'big reveal' raised some questions about how much previous events really made sense.
But the concept was marvellous, I loved all the characters (though some of Hubert's attitudes were a bit unfortunate, if believable) and it got where it was going without being overly predictable. One expected outcome to do with Hubert's children was avoided, which I thought was a good thing, and the other outcome to do with Hubert's children was a bit too unexpected in my view, and sent things slightly off the rails.
But overall, it kept me reading far past my usual evening habit, so it definitely had enough to it to make me want to know what happened.
