All The Lonely People: From the Richard and Judy bestselling author of Half a World Away comes a warm, life-affirming story – the perfect read for these times

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Listening to this in the afternoons when I was jobless, seeking any type of work that would pay—after my scholarship’s graduation stipend was depleted, spent for mailing my essays and poems to city-based magazines, that never even saw publication. Writing never did pay, and that time I hardly knew that it didn’t or that it could. Another villain in the contemporary debate is technology. Smartphones and social media are blamed for a rise in loneliness in young people. This is plausible. Data from the OECD club of mostly rich countries suggest that in nearly every member country the share of 15-year-olds saying that they feel lonely at school rose between 2003 and 2015. For many, phone calls are no substitute for company. Nesterly, founded in 2016, is designed to make it easier for older singletons with spare rooms to rent them to young people who help in the house for a discount on rent. The platform has “stumbled into loneliness”, notes Noelle Marcus, its co-founder. Users sign up to the platform and create a profile, then make a listing for their room. Last year the startup teamed up with the city of Boston, Massachusetts, to test the initiative across the city.

At least that’s what he tells his daughter Rose when she calls each week from Australia. The truth is, other than trips to the store and the vet for his cat, he barely sees or speaks to anyone. Dotty, Dennis, and Harvey don't even exist. Hubert is tremendously lonely, but he can’t let Rose know or she’ll worry. I think that this song can be interpreted many ways, but I'll just comment on, what I consider to be, the two most obvious interpretations. The first is based on the more superficial and tangible. The song begins and ends talking about lonely people, and asks the question, “where do they all belong”? The answer is obvious, with each other. If they were with each other they wouldn't be lonely. We all live in our own worlds. That's why Eleanor has a (public) face that she keeps in a jar by the door. We don't let others know the Real us. Why won't anyone hear the priest's sermon? It doesn't say nobody will be there, it says, “a sermon no one will hear”. The congregation will be there, they just won't hear, or understand the sermon. We tend to talk “at” each other, especially when given titles denoting authority or alleging expertise. We all live in our own world, by ourselves and that is why we are lonely.

Side note: The reference to Weight Watchers Points ... I've been there HAHAHA - this made me laugh out loud! I liked this one. It is definitely a character driven story. The MC, Hubert, was a great character and he was worth getting to know. He was wonderfully drawn. He had his heart in the right place and he also had some mighty big walls protecting it. I liked the way that element ebbed and flowed throughout. The other characters were also fun to get to know and they all felt purposeful. Most people feel lonely sometimes, for many different reasons. If loneliness is affecting your life, there are things you can try that may help.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel-good read. All The Lonely People would also make an excellent choice for book clubs. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. I love the characters in this book. Hubert immigrated to England from Jamaica as a young man. The racism that he faced was eye-opening. When he meets Joyce and they fall in love, they both went through a lot because of the reaction to their interracial relationship. Hubert goes through a lot of really difficult things over the course of his life and there were times my heart broke from him. The twist took me completely by surprise which was a big point in this book’s favor.The smartphone makes an easy scapegoat. A sharp drop in how often American teenagers go out without their parents began in 2009, around when mobile phones became ubiquitous. Rather than meet up as often in person, so the story goes, young people are connecting online. The topic of "loneliness" is a key component in this story. The author does an amazing job of covering the many different aspects of this topic, how it can impact many us at different times in our lives and in so many different ways. The trio met with George Martin in Los Angeles, at the offices of America's managers, Geffen-Roberts. Peek remembered with a laugh: "The first thing he did was take his shirt, sweater and shoes off. He said it was too hot in L.A. He put everyone at ease, and we just got along well from the first second. He has a very musical mind, and as we began working we bounced ideas off of him quite a bit, with things like vocal arrangements and guitar parts. It was an amazing experience working for a mind-producer." Peek left the band in 1977 to focus on his faith; after leaving America, he performed this song live, altering the lyric to leave no doubt of his intention, singing "Don't give up until you drink from the silver cup and give your heart to Jesus Christ."