All The Lonely People

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
WHAT'S ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE ABOUT?
In the 1950's Hubert Bird left his home and family in Kingston and went to London in search of work. When we meet him, he's been a widower for over a decade and has been living shut-off from just about everyone (other than those he runs into doing food shopping, etc.) with only his cat to keep him company.

Until one fateful day (of course, or this'd be a boring book)...

We learn about Hubert's life in alternating chapters—one in the present and one from his past.

THEN

Since arriving in England, Hubert had felt out of place in a whole host of locations in the mother country, everywhere from the streets around Mayfair to the pubs of east London and beyond. But as he stepped off the 9:20 from London Victoria that Saturday morning, all previous experiences paled in comparison to how he felt standing on platform two of Bromley South Station.

He felt like a character from one of the Westerns he enjoyed seeing at the pictures—not the hero, cowboy, or sheriff, but rather the stranger in town. The man who walks into a bar full of life, music, and chatter, only for the whole room to fall into a complete and uneasy silence the moment they notice his presence.

“Look, me see you in a pickle. Really, me see that. But have you lost your mind? You can't just ask a complete stranger to look after your child. Don't you watch the news?”

“Of course I do,” said Ashleigh. “And yes, 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...” She began to get upset. “I'd much rather live in that world than the other one!”

a lot

ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE

“It's easy to waste a lot of time trying to think of a perfect solution to a problem. But sometimes the only thing you can do is cross your fingers and have a go.”

All the Lonely People gets 4.5 from me.

From the minute I picked this up I knew I was going to love it. It was such a bittersweet look into the human experience. I wasn't expecting the twists and turns Hubert's life took, especially around chapter 40.

I loved Gayle's writing, I felt like I knew Hubert and the jumping between timelines really helped expand on how he got to where he was while also making me love Hubert more and more, I loved that Gayle made Hubert so loveable but also gave him flaws and complications that deepened how complex a man he was but through it all love was kept him going and when the love was requited and he finally seen there was so much love from his new found family he could be at peace with all his previous loss.

A huge reminder that there's always love and friendship to find no matter the age or circumstance! I think Hubert felt he was lonely because he was old and alone but the whole story goes to show how loneliness doesn't discriminate and we all have a duty to each other to keep love and friendship alive.