review
Click here to read our interview with the author to mark the publication of this book in English.
The End of Loneliness is a life-affirming, enriching work of literature with an international feel which asks important questions about what makes our lives our own and whether we are owed a certain kind of life.
The novel opens as Jules – the narrator-protagonist – awakens from a coma after a motorcycle accident. There follows the story of Jules’ life, told in a straightforward, conversational and accessible style which immediately engages the reader. Jules’ happy early childhood with his two siblings, Marty and Liz, is shattered by the death of their parents when Jules is aged around ten. The children react to their loss in very different ways, with Jules becoming a shy, reclusive dreamer who continually wonders about the alternative life he might have been living if things had happened differently. Jules falls in love with Alva, a fellow pupil at his boarding school whom he eventually marries, but it is the lovingly-drawn relationships between Jules and his siblings that prove the most enduring, as well as the most effective counters to loneliness.
This is a carefully constructed novel with themes, songs and other threads interwoven through the narrative. Its many literary and musical references – from Carson McCullers to Nick Drake – will enhance its appeal to contemporary readers.
All recommendations from Spring 2016