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scott_you_reading's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.0
zoefruitcake's review
4.0
I was really rooting for this slightly mismatched couple who met at the time of Brexit! Years ago I had a two year relationship with a guy 12 years younger than I was and I chuckled to remember my own experiences with meeting his parents, attending a family party, being the only one with a car etc.
tieganlucy's review against another edition
4.0
Really love Hornby’s writing. I enjoyed this book a lot and it was interesting to read a trope I would never usually read, however I found the two main characters had no chemistry at all which made the whole plot seem very unbelievable. I think maybe that might’ve been intentional. Not sure!
jess_mango's review
4.0
Let's call it 3.5 stars. This novel is a tale of the romance between a 42 year old white school teacher and the 22 year old black man who works at the local butcher shop. It is also a commentary on Brexit and the divisive state of contemporary politics. I liked it but found it just a tad lacking.
andreac713's review
emotional
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Not my favorite. Very slow, weird writing style and just boring.
katykelly's review
5.0
Honest, revealing and warm account of contemporary love and relationships.
Hornby shows us here that he isn't just a master of articulating the male viewpoint, he creates a heartily credible female lead as well, flitting between the two as we watch an unusual love story spark to life.
Two very unlikely souls live their lives out - Lucy, the 40-ish Mum and English, almost-divorced from an alcoholic, and Joseph, 22 and holding down several jobs while he works hard at creating the music he loves.
Lucy is Joseph's customer in the butchers', and her babysitting needs force the two to speak more at length. With a mutual attraction on both sides, reticence to act on it, flirty text messages and finally movement that begins a relationship, we move between Lucy and Joseph's viewpoints as they each consider the 20-year age gap from their very different lives and stances.
I enjoyed the creation of the world of each character too, Joseph's Mum, sister and friends, and his part-time, multi-job lifestyle, the way he interacts with a young woman his own age. Similarly, Lucy has screen-fixated children, an ex-husband, and a potential (similarly-aged professional) love interest that all contrast strongly with Joseph's.
Hornby gets to show us modern life from both sides at the same time, the disparate races/cultures, ages, the two very different sets of values and interests (this is set in the just-post-Brexit Britain).
I'm a near-contemporary of Lucy, literary-minded myself, similar age, children and interests, so I more strongly empathised with her views, but I loved how Hornby writes the younger man. His attitude towards dinner parties and grown-up conversations, his cringing at her dancing, but also his conflicted feelings about an older woman he clearly feels strongly about.
The relationship feels real, evolving naturally as the pair puzzle out where it can go, where they want it to go. It's not a fairytale, mistakes are made, dead ends taken. It's messy and confusing but also exciting and loving. It's love, it's what real life love is.
Amusing, insightful and a story you feel invested in, I really want this to make it to the screen alongside its brothers. Could be his most accessible and widely read book so far, with audiences on both sides of the 'gender divide' wanting to know how Lucy and Joseph end up.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
Hornby shows us here that he isn't just a master of articulating the male viewpoint, he creates a heartily credible female lead as well, flitting between the two as we watch an unusual love story spark to life.
Two very unlikely souls live their lives out - Lucy, the 40-ish Mum and English, almost-divorced from an alcoholic, and Joseph, 22 and holding down several jobs while he works hard at creating the music he loves.
Lucy is Joseph's customer in the butchers', and her babysitting needs force the two to speak more at length. With a mutual attraction on both sides, reticence to act on it, flirty text messages and finally movement that begins a relationship, we move between Lucy and Joseph's viewpoints as they each consider the 20-year age gap from their very different lives and stances.
I enjoyed the creation of the world of each character too, Joseph's Mum, sister and friends, and his part-time, multi-job lifestyle, the way he interacts with a young woman his own age. Similarly, Lucy has screen-fixated children, an ex-husband, and a potential (similarly-aged professional) love interest that all contrast strongly with Joseph's.
Hornby gets to show us modern life from both sides at the same time, the disparate races/cultures, ages, the two very different sets of values and interests (this is set in the just-post-Brexit Britain).
I'm a near-contemporary of Lucy, literary-minded myself, similar age, children and interests, so I more strongly empathised with her views, but I loved how Hornby writes the younger man. His attitude towards dinner parties and grown-up conversations, his cringing at her dancing, but also his conflicted feelings about an older woman he clearly feels strongly about.
The relationship feels real, evolving naturally as the pair puzzle out where it can go, where they want it to go. It's not a fairytale, mistakes are made, dead ends taken. It's messy and confusing but also exciting and loving. It's love, it's what real life love is.
Amusing, insightful and a story you feel invested in, I really want this to make it to the screen alongside its brothers. Could be his most accessible and widely read book so far, with audiences on both sides of the 'gender divide' wanting to know how Lucy and Joseph end up.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
kueki's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sslovesbooks_1's review
3.0
I had read a couple of books by this author before some years ago and enjoyed his writing so when I saw this I hoped it would be a good read and I found it to be an enjoyable read.
The story is set in London during the Brexit Referendum and features 40 something mother Lucy who happens to fall in love with 21-year-old Joseph, They are two very different people, Lucy is a white, well-off separated mother of two children and is a teacher. Joseph is black, has many different jobs, and is not well off and as dreams of being a DJ. The story follows them from meeting where Joseph works in the local butcher and Lucy is a customer to him babysitting for Lucy and as they spend more time together their attraction to each other grows.
I liked the characters, especially Lucy who seemed down to earth and realistic about her future with Joseph and although there was no tension between the two I felt that the fact the book was set during the referendum gave me feelings of anxiety as it brought back some of my memories of that time to me. I like how the author brings in big topics into this book like racism and class and the complex nature of people's views of leave or remain. There is something very down-to-earth about his writing and it took me back to how I felt reading High Fidelity and Fever Pitch.
I did not make me feel the need to keep picking up the book and reading on but it did bring a sense of familiarity to me when I opened the pages as well as a sense that this event in 2016 was a bit disconcerting.
I gave the book 3 stars. Worth a read and it is an interesting novel.
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
The story is set in London during the Brexit Referendum and features 40 something mother Lucy who happens to fall in love with 21-year-old Joseph, They are two very different people, Lucy is a white, well-off separated mother of two children and is a teacher. Joseph is black, has many different jobs, and is not well off and as dreams of being a DJ. The story follows them from meeting where Joseph works in the local butcher and Lucy is a customer to him babysitting for Lucy and as they spend more time together their attraction to each other grows.
I liked the characters, especially Lucy who seemed down to earth and realistic about her future with Joseph and although there was no tension between the two I felt that the fact the book was set during the referendum gave me feelings of anxiety as it brought back some of my memories of that time to me. I like how the author brings in big topics into this book like racism and class and the complex nature of people's views of leave or remain. There is something very down-to-earth about his writing and it took me back to how I felt reading High Fidelity and Fever Pitch.
I did not make me feel the need to keep picking up the book and reading on but it did bring a sense of familiarity to me when I opened the pages as well as a sense that this event in 2016 was a bit disconcerting.
I gave the book 3 stars. Worth a read and it is an interesting novel.
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.