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Just Like You: A Novel
This warm, wise, highly entertaining twenty-first century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected
Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she'd been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable.
Now, two decades later, she's a nearly divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn't exactly looking for love--she's more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet.
It's not a match anyone one could have predicted. He's of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.
Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person--someone you didn't see coming.
Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she'd been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable.
Now, two decades later, she's a nearly divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn't exactly looking for love--she's more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet.
It's not a match anyone one could have predicted. He's of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.
Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person--someone you didn't see coming.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2020
1495 people are currently reading
21362 people want to read
About the author
Nick Hornby
137 books10.2k followersNicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch (1992) and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for An Education (2009), and Brooklyn (2015).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,732 reviews
July 8, 2020
Set in the months leading up to the Brexit referendum in 2016, Lucy, a white 42 year old single mother of two, unexpectedly finds love with Joseph, a black 22 year old man of multiple part-time jobs. Just Like You follows the ups and downs of what an interracial relationship with a large age gap is like in a country getting more divided by the week.
I loved Nick Hornby’s early novels - High Fidelity, About a Boy and How to Be Good - but I lost interest starting with A Long Way Down (unfinished) and everything else that followed (Slam, Juliet, Naked) didn’t entice me back. It didn’t help that the screenplays he was writing were for some of the worst movies I’ve ever seen - An Education was an education in patience because it was torture to sit through!
But I decided to revisit Hornby to see if the old magic was still there and initially I was delighted to see that it was. Just Like You is a charming romance novel with an unusual setup and it was sweet to see Lucy and Joseph falling for each other. Some light conflict kept things interesting - Lucy’s drug addict/alcoholic ex showing up to cause trouble, Joseph being hassled by police for the “crime” of being black and in an affluent neighbourhood at night - until around the halfway point when things took a nosedive and never recovered.
The biggest problem is that Hornby doesn’t really have a story. Once Lucy and Joseph get together nothing much really happens. The ex disappears forever, and all that’s left are people’s reactions to the two appearing as a couple which gets repetitive and tiresome after a while. Joseph half-heartedly sees a couple girls and sorta tries making it as a DJ but neither go anywhere or mean anything. Lucy keeps saying things like “When you’re 50 I’ll be 70”. It’s so boring!
And then there’s the Brexit and racial stuff that clogs up most of the second half. I am so done with Brexit - I honestly never want to hear about it ever again, let alone read a novel featuring it prominently, and so having to read page after page of the same tedious arguments for leave/remain was so annoying. The racial angle is part of the reason why Hornby chose to write this book but a lot of the conversations Lucy and Joseph have about race are so contrived - Lucy says something, Joseph misconstrues it in this cliched “what do you mean ‘you people’?” way, and they make up, agreeing once again that Lucy isn’t really racist. No - obviously she’s not, so why does this sort of conversation have to keep happening?? Coupled with the Brexit shite and any enjoyment there was to be had was completely nixed.
Sure, race relations is a relevant topic, particularly in 2020, but Hornby doesn’t have to say about racism beyond it exists and it’s bad. Duh. It got so angsty in the second half of the book that I began to wonder why Lucy and Joseph were even a couple. Joseph gets on well with her kids and there’s obviously a physical attraction between him and Lucy, but the way Joseph kept bringing everything down to race/class made me think they shouldn’t have been a couple in the first place! It also made them less likeable as characters and they weren’t that amazing to start with.
I feel like Hornby really wanted to write a Brexit novel but was also aware that most people are fed up with hearing about Brexit so he got around it by conceiving Just Like You as a parable-esque novel about Brexit with Lucy representing Remain and Joseph representing Exit and taking the form of an appealing contemporary romance novel. Except Brexit and the near-constant banging on about class and race turns a fine romance story into dreary muck. It’s like he aimed for both and fell short twice so he fails at a romance story and he fails at a Brexit novel (even though the latter I’m pretty sure shouldn’t exist).
I’d have liked to have said that Nick Hornby was back to writing great novels like he did when he started out but, like other popular writers hellbent on being taken seriously and “literary”, Hornby sabotages what could have been a decent story firstly by dragging it out for too long without adding anything to justify the length, and then ignoring it altogether and choosing to focus on overbearing politics and ham-fisted social commentary instead.
By the time I got to the uninspired and flat ending, I was just relieved it was over and vowed never to bother with Hornby’s fiction again (his nonfiction Stuff I’ve Been Reading columns, collected in several books, remain the best things he’s written in recent years - if he restarted those, I’d read them, but only them). Just Like You is unfortunately just like poo.
I loved Nick Hornby’s early novels - High Fidelity, About a Boy and How to Be Good - but I lost interest starting with A Long Way Down (unfinished) and everything else that followed (Slam, Juliet, Naked) didn’t entice me back. It didn’t help that the screenplays he was writing were for some of the worst movies I’ve ever seen - An Education was an education in patience because it was torture to sit through!
But I decided to revisit Hornby to see if the old magic was still there and initially I was delighted to see that it was. Just Like You is a charming romance novel with an unusual setup and it was sweet to see Lucy and Joseph falling for each other. Some light conflict kept things interesting - Lucy’s drug addict/alcoholic ex showing up to cause trouble, Joseph being hassled by police for the “crime” of being black and in an affluent neighbourhood at night - until around the halfway point when things took a nosedive and never recovered.
The biggest problem is that Hornby doesn’t really have a story. Once Lucy and Joseph get together nothing much really happens. The ex disappears forever, and all that’s left are people’s reactions to the two appearing as a couple which gets repetitive and tiresome after a while. Joseph half-heartedly sees a couple girls and sorta tries making it as a DJ but neither go anywhere or mean anything. Lucy keeps saying things like “When you’re 50 I’ll be 70”. It’s so boring!
And then there’s the Brexit and racial stuff that clogs up most of the second half. I am so done with Brexit - I honestly never want to hear about it ever again, let alone read a novel featuring it prominently, and so having to read page after page of the same tedious arguments for leave/remain was so annoying. The racial angle is part of the reason why Hornby chose to write this book but a lot of the conversations Lucy and Joseph have about race are so contrived - Lucy says something, Joseph misconstrues it in this cliched “what do you mean ‘you people’?” way, and they make up, agreeing once again that Lucy isn’t really racist. No - obviously she’s not, so why does this sort of conversation have to keep happening?? Coupled with the Brexit shite and any enjoyment there was to be had was completely nixed.
Sure, race relations is a relevant topic, particularly in 2020, but Hornby doesn’t have to say about racism beyond it exists and it’s bad. Duh. It got so angsty in the second half of the book that I began to wonder why Lucy and Joseph were even a couple. Joseph gets on well with her kids and there’s obviously a physical attraction between him and Lucy, but the way Joseph kept bringing everything down to race/class made me think they shouldn’t have been a couple in the first place! It also made them less likeable as characters and they weren’t that amazing to start with.
I feel like Hornby really wanted to write a Brexit novel but was also aware that most people are fed up with hearing about Brexit so he got around it by conceiving Just Like You as a parable-esque novel about Brexit with Lucy representing Remain and Joseph representing Exit and taking the form of an appealing contemporary romance novel. Except Brexit and the near-constant banging on about class and race turns a fine romance story into dreary muck. It’s like he aimed for both and fell short twice so he fails at a romance story and he fails at a Brexit novel (even though the latter I’m pretty sure shouldn’t exist).
I’d have liked to have said that Nick Hornby was back to writing great novels like he did when he started out but, like other popular writers hellbent on being taken seriously and “literary”, Hornby sabotages what could have been a decent story firstly by dragging it out for too long without adding anything to justify the length, and then ignoring it altogether and choosing to focus on overbearing politics and ham-fisted social commentary instead.
By the time I got to the uninspired and flat ending, I was just relieved it was over and vowed never to bother with Hornby’s fiction again (his nonfiction Stuff I’ve Been Reading columns, collected in several books, remain the best things he’s written in recent years - if he restarted those, I’d read them, but only them). Just Like You is unfortunately just like poo.
August 7, 2020
This is the latest from Nick Hornby of About a Boy, Fever Pitch and Hi-Fidelity fame, a story set in London 2016 in the run up to the Brexit referendum where the divisions in Britain are laid bare. Many of the numerous issues that divide the nation are echoed in a romance between a couple that at first glance have little in common and everything that suggests that at best it would be a short lived affair that will fizzle away. White, middle class, educated Lucy is in her forties, a teacher with two children, divorcing a husband with alcohol issues and a remainer when it comes to Brexit. 22 year old working class Joseph is black, working a number of jobs, including that of being a butcher and babysitter, dreaming of being a DJ, and, of course, is a leaver.
The scene is set for a interracial relationship that is going to face a number of challenges and difficulties, there is the obvious twenty years age gap between them, their different economic and political backgrounds, along with the class, cultural and social divisions. With humour and wit, Hornby lays out Lucy and Joseph's developing relationship and their interactions, facing the obstacles and narrow mindedness from the outside world that one might expect from such a coupling. Their differences are crucially explored through conversations, a medium through which the author might suggest that the country itself could benefit from when it comes to all that divides us.
This is a short, fun, light and entertaining read that has much going for it, told in Hornby's trademark style, although I imagine that many readers are too fed up with Brexit now to possibly give this a chance. I enjoyed it but it did not leave such an imprint on my mind that would ensure I will remember it in the long term. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.
The scene is set for a interracial relationship that is going to face a number of challenges and difficulties, there is the obvious twenty years age gap between them, their different economic and political backgrounds, along with the class, cultural and social divisions. With humour and wit, Hornby lays out Lucy and Joseph's developing relationship and their interactions, facing the obstacles and narrow mindedness from the outside world that one might expect from such a coupling. Their differences are crucially explored through conversations, a medium through which the author might suggest that the country itself could benefit from when it comes to all that divides us.
This is a short, fun, light and entertaining read that has much going for it, told in Hornby's trademark style, although I imagine that many readers are too fed up with Brexit now to possibly give this a chance. I enjoyed it but it did not leave such an imprint on my mind that would ensure I will remember it in the long term. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.
August 7, 2021
Where and when, inner north London, Summer 2016. She - 42, separated from addict husband, two junior school sons and the head of the English department at a local state school; interests are books, avoiding her sex obsessed married female friend, politics and.... sourcing food locally. He - 22, Saturday butcher's assistant, kids' football team manger, leisure centre worker and single; interests are making music, saving money for his future... pretending to like going t0 church every Sunday for (and with) his mum. Oh, and she's white and he's black. What on the face of it is a May-December romance read, is much more, as the book is set to the background of the changing face of the UK, the generational divide, the Brexit campaign and Trump's Presidential victory!
This book felt more like a personalised (through the protagonists) view of the generational divide that has been at the forefront of our ever more polarised nation states. On top of that, the adept Nick Hornby trod an almost immaculate path with this cross generational diverse cast, although his Black female characters were a tad one dimensional. What he did do well was critique the 'liberal' middle classes as much as the conservatives, with their privileged lives blinding them to the reality of the not so privileged. The major downside is, although to a degree authentic sounding, the romance itself doesn't really hold true with both protagonists being a bit too perfect at heart; and the race and generational issues could have been explored a lot more. Still, as ever, an enjoyable and interesting read that I wolfed down within a 24 hour period. 7.5 out of 12.
This book felt more like a personalised (through the protagonists) view of the generational divide that has been at the forefront of our ever more polarised nation states. On top of that, the adept Nick Hornby trod an almost immaculate path with this cross generational diverse cast, although his Black female characters were a tad one dimensional. What he did do well was critique the 'liberal' middle classes as much as the conservatives, with their privileged lives blinding them to the reality of the not so privileged. The major downside is, although to a degree authentic sounding, the romance itself doesn't really hold true with both protagonists being a bit too perfect at heart; and the race and generational issues could have been explored a lot more. Still, as ever, an enjoyable and interesting read that I wolfed down within a 24 hour period. 7.5 out of 12.
May 5, 2023
I liked this one. The topic of a Brexit has been dealt with before, but for me, Hornby has made a better fist of things than, say, Jonathan Coe, whose 'Middle England' was nominated for the Booker Prize last year. In addition, his study of race-relations in post-Brexit Britain could not have come at a more important time, given the response to the recent BLM movement. By no means Hornby's best work, but very definitely worth a read.
December 28, 2024
"She wanted intellectual stimulation and sexual excitement, and if she couldn't have that then she didn't need anybody."
As it was beautifully put in the book, this story is like the movie Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Except in this case, the female part of the couple is a forty two year old divorcée, and Mum, Lucy. And the male is half her age, twenty two year old, single Joseph.
Amusingly, when Lucy mentions the movie to Joseph, he'd not heard of it. Nor of Sidney Poitier.
LUCY: Oh shit. This is Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.
JOSEPH: You've lost me.
This is just one of many examples that gently and subtly highlight the age - and life experience - differences between Lucy and Joseph.
Lucy and Joseph seem to have fallen into a relationship. One of those, right person at the right time situations. Apart from the age gap, racially Lucy is white and Joseph is a man of colour (I really don't know the correct term anymore, as the goalposts seem to always be moving).
Lucy is in a secure job, as the Head of the English Department at the local high school.
Joseph cobbles together a living via working half a dozen part time jobs.
Lucy is a Mum to two young boys, and is in the awkward stage of being setup on blind dinner dates by well meaning friends.
Joseph is never short of female company, and thoughts of family are far into the future.
Yet the attraction is there. It's more than simple lust, or purely physical. It's the wonder of finding someone you can feel comfortable around, without there being obvious common threads. Someone you can just be yourself with, without pretence.
Friends, family and colleagues are puzzled. There is distrust and possibly a healthy dose of envy. What do Lucy and Joseph possibly see in each other? Where will this relationship go? Who's using who? Or do they genuinely love and care for each other?
"I like this one. I want to be with her."
Set in 2016 with Brexit as a running theme, Nick Hornby cleverly threads the yes/no vote to highlight the differences between Lucy and Joseph's life experiences and social circles. I love the discussions - often pointed and heated - which the characters displayed depending which way they were voting.
As Neale (who I buddy read this with) so wisely points out in his review, it's as if Brexit is used as "a metaphor for their relationship."
I really enjoyed this. It's been years since I'd last read any of Nick Hornby's books. This reminds me of why it's such a pleasure to read his writing. He writes about real people, in everyday situations. He writes with low key, intelligent humour. His characters are believable. They're you, and me.
What stood out to me was the point being made about living in the moment. To stop worrying about next week, next month, next year. After all, what other moment can you live in?
I actually cared about Lucy and Joseph, and wished like in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, that they could thumb their noses at society, and make an unlikely relationship work.
"All they could do was walk, and see how far they could get."
*** Buddy read with the wonderful, talented Mr.Neale-ski. Lucky No.13! It's always a pleasure. Please make sure you check out his wonderful review for the male perspective.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ***
As it was beautifully put in the book, this story is like the movie Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Except in this case, the female part of the couple is a forty two year old divorcée, and Mum, Lucy. And the male is half her age, twenty two year old, single Joseph.
Amusingly, when Lucy mentions the movie to Joseph, he'd not heard of it. Nor of Sidney Poitier.
LUCY: Oh shit. This is Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.
JOSEPH: You've lost me.
This is just one of many examples that gently and subtly highlight the age - and life experience - differences between Lucy and Joseph.
Lucy and Joseph seem to have fallen into a relationship. One of those, right person at the right time situations. Apart from the age gap, racially Lucy is white and Joseph is a man of colour (I really don't know the correct term anymore, as the goalposts seem to always be moving).
Lucy is in a secure job, as the Head of the English Department at the local high school.
Joseph cobbles together a living via working half a dozen part time jobs.
Lucy is a Mum to two young boys, and is in the awkward stage of being setup on blind dinner dates by well meaning friends.
Joseph is never short of female company, and thoughts of family are far into the future.
Yet the attraction is there. It's more than simple lust, or purely physical. It's the wonder of finding someone you can feel comfortable around, without there being obvious common threads. Someone you can just be yourself with, without pretence.
Friends, family and colleagues are puzzled. There is distrust and possibly a healthy dose of envy. What do Lucy and Joseph possibly see in each other? Where will this relationship go? Who's using who? Or do they genuinely love and care for each other?
"I like this one. I want to be with her."
Set in 2016 with Brexit as a running theme, Nick Hornby cleverly threads the yes/no vote to highlight the differences between Lucy and Joseph's life experiences and social circles. I love the discussions - often pointed and heated - which the characters displayed depending which way they were voting.
As Neale (who I buddy read this with) so wisely points out in his review, it's as if Brexit is used as "a metaphor for their relationship."
I really enjoyed this. It's been years since I'd last read any of Nick Hornby's books. This reminds me of why it's such a pleasure to read his writing. He writes about real people, in everyday situations. He writes with low key, intelligent humour. His characters are believable. They're you, and me.
What stood out to me was the point being made about living in the moment. To stop worrying about next week, next month, next year. After all, what other moment can you live in?
I actually cared about Lucy and Joseph, and wished like in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, that they could thumb their noses at society, and make an unlikely relationship work.
"All they could do was walk, and see how far they could get."
*** Buddy read with the wonderful, talented Mr.Neale-ski. Lucky No.13! It's always a pleasure. Please make sure you check out his wonderful review for the male perspective.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ***
October 25, 2020
The novel opens with Lucy, one of the protagonists, mentally going through the things that she hates in her mind. Try as she might, she cannot come up with anything that trumps waiting in a que to get into her local butcher’s shop. Waiting in the cold outside as the line slowly moves towards the entrance. To make matters worse she is stuck with, Emma, who would consider herself a friend of Lucy’s, but Lucy does not really share the same view, perhaps, acquaintance might be a better definition. Emma’s constant prattle about sex is driving Lucy insane.
Just as Emma’s talk is starting to cause sniggers in the line, they finally make it to the counter, behind the counter we meet Joseph, the other protagonist of the novel.
It is also here that we find the structure of the narrative as the perspective changes to Joseph. Throughout the novel the perspective will shift between protagonists, many times quite suddenly and within the chapter and the book is a far more rewarding read because of it.
Emma flirts with Joseph outrageously but it is Lucy that, despite Emma’s flirtatious distractions, catches Joseph’s eye. They have met before this is where Lucy shops, but he does not just see Lucy, he “notices” her. Big difference.
Lucy is single because her toxic husband Paul just could not seem to rid himself of all the habits and actions that made him toxic. Drug use, bringing drugs and users and dealers into their family home with the children. Mental abuse in the form of calling her names and constantly demeaning her. When violence entered the picture in the form of Paul, hitting a Deliveroo driver, Lucy decided to leave and move him out of the picture for her and the kid’s safety.
Joseph is black single and twenty-two years of age. He has been drifting along in life not truly sure what he wants from it. He works multiple part time jobs, while he hopes he will find some direction in life. Baby-sitting is one his jobs and this is how he and Lucy start to get to know each other.
What makes this a great read, apart from Hornby’s simple yet elegant prose, is that the reader gets to see the relationship from both perspectives. The mistaken assumptions, the fear of rejection, the twin taboos of age and race difference, which really should not be taboo at all in this age.
The narrative is also populated by some great characters who contribute to the subtle humour of the novel. It will not have you laughing out loud buy you may find yourself with a smile on your face for most of the book.
Another major strength of the book is the dialogue. Dialogue, particularly in this genre, needs to feel real and flow along nicely and Hornby’s dialogue not only does the job, it’s great and adds so much depth to the characters.
It’s easy to say that love conquers all and love transcends the boundaries and limits that society and civilization place upon it. But this book is firmly grounded in reality, and the relationship never feels stable.
Everything they do, going to a play, meeting friends, attending functions, exposes cracks in the relationship. Cracks that seem to grow deeper as time goes on threatening the two with arguments and potential break up. The question is whether their love is enough to repair the cracks.
It’s about worrying and stressing over what the people in your circle of life think. Your friends, your workmates, your parents and relatives. How these worries eventually end up corroding your own thoughts.
By all accounts this is a relationship that just should not work on every level. The difference in age, the difference in race, the difference in class. Reading the narrative from both perspectives we find that both characters spend all their time worrying about these differences and how easily any one of these differences could have dire consequences for the relationship.
This novel takes place while England is in the middle of their Brexit referendum, and at times I feel Hornby is using Brexit as a metaphor for the relationship. The pros and cons of staying or leaving, everybody having a different opinion. Or is he simply using it as another prop to shine a light on the difference between the couple?
Above all this book to me is about just doing what feels right in life. Forget about what anybody thinks, forget about what society deems taboo or frowns upon. If it feels good, logically it must be good. Live your life doing what makes you happy, not what others think makes you happy.
A most entertaining novel. 4 Stars.
This was Buddy Read 13 with the wonderful Nat K. Please check out her review when she posts it, I can assure you it will be better than mine.
Just as Emma’s talk is starting to cause sniggers in the line, they finally make it to the counter, behind the counter we meet Joseph, the other protagonist of the novel.
It is also here that we find the structure of the narrative as the perspective changes to Joseph. Throughout the novel the perspective will shift between protagonists, many times quite suddenly and within the chapter and the book is a far more rewarding read because of it.
Emma flirts with Joseph outrageously but it is Lucy that, despite Emma’s flirtatious distractions, catches Joseph’s eye. They have met before this is where Lucy shops, but he does not just see Lucy, he “notices” her. Big difference.
Lucy is single because her toxic husband Paul just could not seem to rid himself of all the habits and actions that made him toxic. Drug use, bringing drugs and users and dealers into their family home with the children. Mental abuse in the form of calling her names and constantly demeaning her. When violence entered the picture in the form of Paul, hitting a Deliveroo driver, Lucy decided to leave and move him out of the picture for her and the kid’s safety.
Joseph is black single and twenty-two years of age. He has been drifting along in life not truly sure what he wants from it. He works multiple part time jobs, while he hopes he will find some direction in life. Baby-sitting is one his jobs and this is how he and Lucy start to get to know each other.
What makes this a great read, apart from Hornby’s simple yet elegant prose, is that the reader gets to see the relationship from both perspectives. The mistaken assumptions, the fear of rejection, the twin taboos of age and race difference, which really should not be taboo at all in this age.
The narrative is also populated by some great characters who contribute to the subtle humour of the novel. It will not have you laughing out loud buy you may find yourself with a smile on your face for most of the book.
Another major strength of the book is the dialogue. Dialogue, particularly in this genre, needs to feel real and flow along nicely and Hornby’s dialogue not only does the job, it’s great and adds so much depth to the characters.
It’s easy to say that love conquers all and love transcends the boundaries and limits that society and civilization place upon it. But this book is firmly grounded in reality, and the relationship never feels stable.
Everything they do, going to a play, meeting friends, attending functions, exposes cracks in the relationship. Cracks that seem to grow deeper as time goes on threatening the two with arguments and potential break up. The question is whether their love is enough to repair the cracks.
It’s about worrying and stressing over what the people in your circle of life think. Your friends, your workmates, your parents and relatives. How these worries eventually end up corroding your own thoughts.
By all accounts this is a relationship that just should not work on every level. The difference in age, the difference in race, the difference in class. Reading the narrative from both perspectives we find that both characters spend all their time worrying about these differences and how easily any one of these differences could have dire consequences for the relationship.
This novel takes place while England is in the middle of their Brexit referendum, and at times I feel Hornby is using Brexit as a metaphor for the relationship. The pros and cons of staying or leaving, everybody having a different opinion. Or is he simply using it as another prop to shine a light on the difference between the couple?
Above all this book to me is about just doing what feels right in life. Forget about what anybody thinks, forget about what society deems taboo or frowns upon. If it feels good, logically it must be good. Live your life doing what makes you happy, not what others think makes you happy.
A most entertaining novel. 4 Stars.
This was Buddy Read 13 with the wonderful Nat K. Please check out her review when she posts it, I can assure you it will be better than mine.
December 24, 2020
It’s Christmas Eve and I didn’t have a lot on my plate so I read this book. It was quite a disappointing read.
Plot: A 22-year black man in London working at a butcher shop and a 42-year old white woman working as chair of an English Department at a high school (I think) and separated-from-alcoholic-husband are in a relationship. That’s it. While they are having their relationship the initial vote for Brexit is going on (for most of the book except a brief chapter at end it is 2016), and I guess those folks who are racist tend to support leaving the EU, and those folks who are not racist tend to want to stay in. Something like that I think. Curious I am reading this when I think Brexit becomes a done deal on December 31, 2020, about a week from today.
I did not take many notes on this book because there was nothing much memorable about it and after a while I just wanted to get done with it. I think I need to formulate in my own head some guidelines for me as to when to:
• do a DNF and not review, versus
• DNF and review, versus
• read all the way through although disliking it immensely
Because I think for some books such as this – it being 355 pages in length – I shoulda bailed earlier and gone onto reading something else.
Oh here is something Christmas-y. While I was reading the book, a friend of mine in Copenhagen wished me a Merry Christmas on WhatsApp and sent me a picture of her and her husband’s Christmas tree in their apartment. And I remarked to her “Oh it’s a real tree!” because I saw needles on the floor. And she said yes, and she said she had to watch the tree because there were real candles on the tree. I thought initially they were a string of lights and I accused her of fabricating the candle stuff, and so she sent me a brief GIF of the tree and — damn! — they were real candles and they were lit. She said it’s a Danish tradition. No way I would do that… 😯
Where was I? Oh, the book. Yes. You know 19 years ago I had an uncorrected proof copy of Hornby’s “How to Be Good”. I gave it an ‘A’. 🙂 No can do this time. 😕
Reviews of ‘Just Like You’ (they all liked it!)
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/entert...
• https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Happy Holidays to all of you Goodreaders!
Plot: A 22-year black man in London working at a butcher shop and a 42-year old white woman working as chair of an English Department at a high school (I think) and separated-from-alcoholic-husband are in a relationship. That’s it. While they are having their relationship the initial vote for Brexit is going on (for most of the book except a brief chapter at end it is 2016), and I guess those folks who are racist tend to support leaving the EU, and those folks who are not racist tend to want to stay in. Something like that I think. Curious I am reading this when I think Brexit becomes a done deal on December 31, 2020, about a week from today.
I did not take many notes on this book because there was nothing much memorable about it and after a while I just wanted to get done with it. I think I need to formulate in my own head some guidelines for me as to when to:
• do a DNF and not review, versus
• DNF and review, versus
• read all the way through although disliking it immensely
Because I think for some books such as this – it being 355 pages in length – I shoulda bailed earlier and gone onto reading something else.
Oh here is something Christmas-y. While I was reading the book, a friend of mine in Copenhagen wished me a Merry Christmas on WhatsApp and sent me a picture of her and her husband’s Christmas tree in their apartment. And I remarked to her “Oh it’s a real tree!” because I saw needles on the floor. And she said yes, and she said she had to watch the tree because there were real candles on the tree. I thought initially they were a string of lights and I accused her of fabricating the candle stuff, and so she sent me a brief GIF of the tree and — damn! — they were real candles and they were lit. She said it’s a Danish tradition. No way I would do that… 😯
Where was I? Oh, the book. Yes. You know 19 years ago I had an uncorrected proof copy of Hornby’s “How to Be Good”. I gave it an ‘A’. 🙂 No can do this time. 😕
Reviews of ‘Just Like You’ (they all liked it!)
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/entert...
• https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Happy Holidays to all of you Goodreaders!
March 24, 2021
“And maybe there was no future in it, but there was a present, and that’s what life consists of.”
(2.5 stars)
This was an interesting read for me. If it had been written by someone other than Nick Hornby it would have been a waste. But Hornby is an excellent observer of relationships and has moments in his books that are startlingly simple human truths, and so while I was not blown away by this text, or even cared for it all that much, I still enjoyed reading it.
“Just Like You” is a novel about a mixed race couple, who also happen to be 20 years apart in age. Taking place mostly in 2016 amidst the swirl of the Brexit vote, and ending in 2019, it usually avoids the traps that a lot of modern novels fall into. Most importantly, it avoids smug glorification of the author’s politics. At first I was annoyed by the use of Brexit as a device in this novel, because I thought that Hornby was preaching to me, but then he turns that on its ear, and I realized there are some didactic characters, but the author hid himself pretty decently, with one glaring and irritating exception which I will choose to ignore for this review.
The subject of this novel is tricky. A 20 year age gap. What do 22 and 42 year olds have in common? Hornby handles it without clichés, and the ending is appropriate, because it is ambiguous, as is the future of any relationship.
Here are a few lines that stuck out, for various reasons, to me as I was reading:
“The shrug was a carefully casual way of disguising acute and undigested pain.”
“Neither happy nor unhappy. Like most people.”
“Why using punctuation in a text was sexy, he couldn’t say, but he found himself wondering what it would be like to sleep with someone like that.”
“How was one supposed to go home and feel as if one’s world was ending if it wasn’t?”
“Now all they had to do was walk, and see how far they could get.”
“Deciding to forgive, after all, was not the same thing as forgiveness.”
And then there was this gut puncher-
“But five is a difficult time at a weekend when you’re on your own.”
“Just Like You” is not a great book, but I enjoy Nick Hornby because he cuts to the truth of human experience, especially in matters of the heart. And he is usually good for a few chuckles along the way. No regrets on reading it.
(2.5 stars)
This was an interesting read for me. If it had been written by someone other than Nick Hornby it would have been a waste. But Hornby is an excellent observer of relationships and has moments in his books that are startlingly simple human truths, and so while I was not blown away by this text, or even cared for it all that much, I still enjoyed reading it.
“Just Like You” is a novel about a mixed race couple, who also happen to be 20 years apart in age. Taking place mostly in 2016 amidst the swirl of the Brexit vote, and ending in 2019, it usually avoids the traps that a lot of modern novels fall into. Most importantly, it avoids smug glorification of the author’s politics. At first I was annoyed by the use of Brexit as a device in this novel, because I thought that Hornby was preaching to me, but then he turns that on its ear, and I realized there are some didactic characters, but the author hid himself pretty decently, with one glaring and irritating exception which I will choose to ignore for this review.
The subject of this novel is tricky. A 20 year age gap. What do 22 and 42 year olds have in common? Hornby handles it without clichés, and the ending is appropriate, because it is ambiguous, as is the future of any relationship.
Here are a few lines that stuck out, for various reasons, to me as I was reading:
“The shrug was a carefully casual way of disguising acute and undigested pain.”
“Neither happy nor unhappy. Like most people.”
“Why using punctuation in a text was sexy, he couldn’t say, but he found himself wondering what it would be like to sleep with someone like that.”
“How was one supposed to go home and feel as if one’s world was ending if it wasn’t?”
“Now all they had to do was walk, and see how far they could get.”
“Deciding to forgive, after all, was not the same thing as forgiveness.”
And then there was this gut puncher-
“But five is a difficult time at a weekend when you’re on your own.”
“Just Like You” is not a great book, but I enjoy Nick Hornby because he cuts to the truth of human experience, especially in matters of the heart. And he is usually good for a few chuckles along the way. No regrets on reading it.
November 24, 2020
This was a good palate cleanser and a quick read. It was also my first Nick Hornby book and while I enjoyed the humor and writing style (very much so in some parts), I am going to give this a more neutral rating. Why? The story of a relationship between a 22 year old Black man (Joseph) and a 42 year old white woman (Lucy), written from the perspective of a white male is kind of just blah to me. While it was a nice idea to write about, on one hand they got together rather quickly and once they did the storyline kind of ended. Any conflict that occurred after were incidences of people reacting to them being together and it kind of just went through the same routine multiple times.
On the second hand, I felt this story could have been handled better from the perspective of a POC. While I have no knowledge to back this up, I am gathering that Mr. Hornby wanted to write a diverse love story in the age of nativism with Brexit as a backdrop to highlight the complexities of this relationship even more. However, it just kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Particularly, in a scene where Joseph was stopped by the police in Lucy's neighborhood. I'm also not saying that Mr. Hornby should only write characters that are white males, but I guess my point is that if us white people are trying to be better about lifting up marginalized voices and stories, I don't think it brings much to the table by writing the stories ourselves. I don't have the answers, but this is just something I'm being honest about in my reaction to what I read.
As an American (and political nerd), I enjoyed the background on Brexit, but I imagine my friends across the pond have had enough (similar to how I'm avoiding Trump books right now). I live it every day and need a break. I think that this point in time could have been delved into a little deeper, particularly with our couple, but I think there was a struggle in the identity of this book. Was it a love story or was it a contemporary take on life in an increasingly divided world? If it was to be both, I think it fell short.
Lastly, while it's certainly up to Mr. Hornby to end the book the way he wants, I also didn't quite understand how very real points of contention between the characters seemed to be brushed aside. I appreciate that he wanted to try and prove that the odds could be beaten in these circumstances, but it didn't seem quite true to the rest of the book. (I'm being deliberately vague so as not to completely spoil the ending.)
Overall, it was a book that raised more questions for me than gave answers.
Thank you to the Buffalo Library for providing me my copy!
Review Date: 11/24/2020
Publication Date: 09/29/2020
On the second hand, I felt this story could have been handled better from the perspective of a POC. While I have no knowledge to back this up, I am gathering that Mr. Hornby wanted to write a diverse love story in the age of nativism with Brexit as a backdrop to highlight the complexities of this relationship even more. However, it just kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Particularly, in a scene where Joseph was stopped by the police in Lucy's neighborhood. I'm also not saying that Mr. Hornby should only write characters that are white males, but I guess my point is that if us white people are trying to be better about lifting up marginalized voices and stories, I don't think it brings much to the table by writing the stories ourselves. I don't have the answers, but this is just something I'm being honest about in my reaction to what I read.
As an American (and political nerd), I enjoyed the background on Brexit, but I imagine my friends across the pond have had enough (similar to how I'm avoiding Trump books right now). I live it every day and need a break. I think that this point in time could have been delved into a little deeper, particularly with our couple, but I think there was a struggle in the identity of this book. Was it a love story or was it a contemporary take on life in an increasingly divided world? If it was to be both, I think it fell short.
Lastly, while it's certainly up to Mr. Hornby to end the book the way he wants, I also didn't quite understand how very real points of contention between the characters seemed to be brushed aside. I appreciate that he wanted to try and prove that the odds could be beaten in these circumstances, but it didn't seem quite true to the rest of the book. (I'm being deliberately vague so as not to completely spoil the ending.)
Overall, it was a book that raised more questions for me than gave answers.
Thank you to the Buffalo Library for providing me my copy!
Review Date: 11/24/2020
Publication Date: 09/29/2020
October 15, 2020
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Talk about all the stars aligning. My turn at the library for this new release from Nick Hornby just so happened to coincide with . . . .
Treat Yo Self Day. And that is exactly what this book was. A complete and utter treat.
Forty-one year old English teacher Lucy never expected to find herself single with a couple of young sons, but when her husband not only spent all of their money, but did so on drug dealers that he let into the house, it was kind of her only option. She also never expected to find herself in some sort of entanglement with the 20-something butcher’s assistant, but . . . .
“When a black guy goes out with a forty-year-old white teacher, people talk.”
“Even with everything going on in the world?”
“Especially because of everything going on in the world. Who wants to talk about that?”
May/Decembers aren’t generally my bag and as a woman the same age as the female lead in this book, even the idea of actually bringing home a 22 year old (assuming I had offed my husband in order to do so rather than the three of us sharing the bed together in some sort of hellish nightmare three-way) is 100% terrifying, but sometimes it’s all about right place and right time and this was just what I needed to brighten my mood. Sort of a How Stella Got Her Groove Back for a new era with a lot less focus on the slap and tickle and more about actually getting to know each and figuring out just how such a relationship could successfully function. With characters who talked about things and were so aware of the fact that there was an almost guaranteed expiration date to them being together, but that it would all be okay no matter what the outcome. And the humor!!!!!!
“Oh, shit. This is Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“It’s an old movie. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Their daughter is going to marry Sidney Poitier.”
“I’m guessing there’s someone black in this movie. Or white.”
“Sidney Poitier?”
“Nope.”
“He was the most famous black actor ever for a while.”
“So this nice white girl is going to marry Sidney Whatsit.”
“Yes.”
“What’s that got to do with us?”
“Well . . .”
“That was a joke as well.”
“Oh. So he’s marrying this white girl, and her parents are liberals, but the dad doesn’t want her to marry him because of all the prejudice in the world. But this film was made in 1967. And here I am, thinking about it in 2016.”
I could have lived without the (very minimal) subplot of Joseph wanting to become a musician because really it only served the purpose of being the jumping off point for a small argument between the two leads that stemmed from a “you people” sort of comment that they then nearly immediately discussed because they weren’t complete effing assholes and got over like grown-ups in functional relationships are known to do – and then later served as the catalyst for another not-so-great thing that I won’t spoil. I mean really if dude wanted to be a famous DJ he should at least like go out to a club once in a freaking while or at least run a turntable (ha – I’m old – turntables) at a wedding or a bar mitzvah or something.
I also could have certainly lived without the Brexit talk because – let’s face it – we’ve all been living in a turd sandwich recently and with the upcoming election here in the U S of A I need more politics in my fiction like I need a bigger ass. That being said, I’m all in favor of authors writing whatever topic they need to propel their stories along and obviously Brexit was a big deal to Hornby that he needed to vent about a bit. I’m also for authors using whichever characters they feel are necessary to deliver their stories and leaving it up to the reader whether their choices were the right ones. Now, please don’t get confused and think I’m not in favor of the #ourvoices movement and diversity when it comes to reading material in general (whether author, characters, genre, style, etc.), but should Nick Hornby chosen to follow that directive he would have clearly had to cancel this book entirely (as he is neither a female nor a black male). If that had happened his fans would have missed out on something pretty delightful (especially after the meh-ness of Juliet, Naked *snore*).
Talk about all the stars aligning. My turn at the library for this new release from Nick Hornby just so happened to coincide with . . . .
Treat Yo Self Day. And that is exactly what this book was. A complete and utter treat.
Forty-one year old English teacher Lucy never expected to find herself single with a couple of young sons, but when her husband not only spent all of their money, but did so on drug dealers that he let into the house, it was kind of her only option. She also never expected to find herself in some sort of entanglement with the 20-something butcher’s assistant, but . . . .
“When a black guy goes out with a forty-year-old white teacher, people talk.”
“Even with everything going on in the world?”
“Especially because of everything going on in the world. Who wants to talk about that?”
May/Decembers aren’t generally my bag and as a woman the same age as the female lead in this book, even the idea of actually bringing home a 22 year old (assuming I had offed my husband in order to do so rather than the three of us sharing the bed together in some sort of hellish nightmare three-way) is 100% terrifying, but sometimes it’s all about right place and right time and this was just what I needed to brighten my mood. Sort of a How Stella Got Her Groove Back for a new era with a lot less focus on the slap and tickle and more about actually getting to know each and figuring out just how such a relationship could successfully function. With characters who talked about things and were so aware of the fact that there was an almost guaranteed expiration date to them being together, but that it would all be okay no matter what the outcome. And the humor!!!!!!
“Oh, shit. This is Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“It’s an old movie. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Their daughter is going to marry Sidney Poitier.”
“I’m guessing there’s someone black in this movie. Or white.”
“Sidney Poitier?”
“Nope.”
“He was the most famous black actor ever for a while.”
“So this nice white girl is going to marry Sidney Whatsit.”
“Yes.”
“What’s that got to do with us?”
“Well . . .”
“That was a joke as well.”
“Oh. So he’s marrying this white girl, and her parents are liberals, but the dad doesn’t want her to marry him because of all the prejudice in the world. But this film was made in 1967. And here I am, thinking about it in 2016.”
I could have lived without the (very minimal) subplot of Joseph wanting to become a musician because really it only served the purpose of being the jumping off point for a small argument between the two leads that stemmed from a “you people” sort of comment that they then nearly immediately discussed because they weren’t complete effing assholes and got over like grown-ups in functional relationships are known to do – and then later served as the catalyst for another not-so-great thing that I won’t spoil. I mean really if dude wanted to be a famous DJ he should at least like go out to a club once in a freaking while or at least run a turntable (ha – I’m old – turntables) at a wedding or a bar mitzvah or something.
I also could have certainly lived without the Brexit talk because – let’s face it – we’ve all been living in a turd sandwich recently and with the upcoming election here in the U S of A I need more politics in my fiction like I need a bigger ass. That being said, I’m all in favor of authors writing whatever topic they need to propel their stories along and obviously Brexit was a big deal to Hornby that he needed to vent about a bit. I’m also for authors using whichever characters they feel are necessary to deliver their stories and leaving it up to the reader whether their choices were the right ones. Now, please don’t get confused and think I’m not in favor of the #ourvoices movement and diversity when it comes to reading material in general (whether author, characters, genre, style, etc.), but should Nick Hornby chosen to follow that directive he would have clearly had to cancel this book entirely (as he is neither a female nor a black male). If that had happened his fans would have missed out on something pretty delightful (especially after the meh-ness of Juliet, Naked *snore*).
August 28, 2021
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Set against the backdrop of the 2016 referendum (Brexit) Just Like You follows two very different individuals who happen to fall in love. Recently divorced Lucy, a forty-one year old white schoolteacher, is looking to date again so she hires a babysitter for her two sons. The babysitter, Joseph, happens to be a twenty-one year old black man who works part time at a the butcher counter and aspires to be a DJ. In spite of how little in common Lucy and Joseph have, the two become romantically involved. Nick Hornby tackles many different issues: politics (particularly on Brexit), class, race, interracial dating, racial profiling, divorce, drug addiction, and alcoholism.
Throughout the course of their relationship Lucy and Joseph attempt to bridge the gap between their generations and to overcome their drastically different interests and backgrounds. Their friends and relatives are not very approving of their relationship, and their age gap raises a few eyebrows.
While I did enjoy reading the early stages of Lucy and Joseph's relationship (a lot of which occurs via texting), once they begin sort-of-dating, Hornby seems to gloss over their more positive interactions, focusing instead on scenes in which tensions arise between the two. While their seemingly silly misunderstandings were realistic, in the way they often escalated to actual arguments, they didn't give a full-picture of their relationship. Their earlier chemistry seems to fizzle out all too quickly, so that we are left with two people who don't really act like they really like or even love each other. Towards the end in particular I wish that Hornby had articulated Lucy and Joseph's feelings for each other (it seemed that 'for reasons' they wanted to make things work).
I also wish that Joseph hadn't been painted as being so clueless and disinterested in politics and literature. He has no real passion for music, so his dj aspirations seemed little other than a diversion.
The story too could have been more developed as it comes across as rather directionless. Lucy and Joseph have very few meaningful connections, so that many interactions—in which either of them is sick of talking to whoever they are talking to—felt repetitive. They have awkward dinners and get-togethers, they meet up with 'friends' they don't particularly care for...
And while I understand that Hornby wanted to play the devil's advocate when he introduces us to 'likeable' characters who turn out to be xenophobic Brexiteers...well, the wound is still fresh, and I have 0 sympathy for these characters.
While I appreciated that Hornby wanted the everyday moments that make up a relationship, I found myself wanting a bit more passion or romance between Lucy and Joseph. Most pages however seemed to focus on the more negative aspects of their relationship....and by the end I was just ready to be done with the 2016 referendum. The first time around was hard enough, do I hate myself so much that I want to experience it again? Not really.
Set against the backdrop of the 2016 referendum (Brexit) Just Like You follows two very different individuals who happen to fall in love. Recently divorced Lucy, a forty-one year old white schoolteacher, is looking to date again so she hires a babysitter for her two sons. The babysitter, Joseph, happens to be a twenty-one year old black man who works part time at a the butcher counter and aspires to be a DJ. In spite of how little in common Lucy and Joseph have, the two become romantically involved. Nick Hornby tackles many different issues: politics (particularly on Brexit), class, race, interracial dating, racial profiling, divorce, drug addiction, and alcoholism.
Throughout the course of their relationship Lucy and Joseph attempt to bridge the gap between their generations and to overcome their drastically different interests and backgrounds. Their friends and relatives are not very approving of their relationship, and their age gap raises a few eyebrows.
While I did enjoy reading the early stages of Lucy and Joseph's relationship (a lot of which occurs via texting), once they begin sort-of-dating, Hornby seems to gloss over their more positive interactions, focusing instead on scenes in which tensions arise between the two. While their seemingly silly misunderstandings were realistic, in the way they often escalated to actual arguments, they didn't give a full-picture of their relationship. Their earlier chemistry seems to fizzle out all too quickly, so that we are left with two people who don't really act like they really like or even love each other. Towards the end in particular I wish that Hornby had articulated Lucy and Joseph's feelings for each other (it seemed that 'for reasons' they wanted to make things work).
I also wish that Joseph hadn't been painted as being so clueless and disinterested in politics and literature. He has no real passion for music, so his dj aspirations seemed little other than a diversion.
The story too could have been more developed as it comes across as rather directionless. Lucy and Joseph have very few meaningful connections, so that many interactions—in which either of them is sick of talking to whoever they are talking to—felt repetitive. They have awkward dinners and get-togethers, they meet up with 'friends' they don't particularly care for...
And while I understand that Hornby wanted to play the devil's advocate when he introduces us to 'likeable' characters who turn out to be xenophobic Brexiteers...well, the wound is still fresh, and I have 0 sympathy for these characters.
While I appreciated that Hornby wanted the everyday moments that make up a relationship, I found myself wanting a bit more passion or romance between Lucy and Joseph. Most pages however seemed to focus on the more negative aspects of their relationship....and by the end I was just ready to be done with the 2016 referendum. The first time around was hard enough, do I hate myself so much that I want to experience it again? Not really.
July 3, 2022
Έχω ένα soft spot για τον Χορνμπυ, παρόλο που δεν έγραψε ποτέ ΤΟ βιβλίο. Πήρα το βιβλίο σχεδόν μηχανικά, ενώ δεν ήξερα λέξη για την υπόθεση: 22χρονος μαύρος working class συνάπτει σχέση (συνάπτει σχέση; Πόσο Κατακουζηνος) με 42χρονη λευκή εν διαστασει middle class καθηγήτρια ενώ η χώρα διχάζεται εν μέσω Brexit. Θα μπορούσε να ήταν Ντολτσε Βιτα (του Ρήγα, όχι του Φελινι) with a twist, αν και δεν ξέρω πόσο σοκάρουν πια οι σχέσεις με διαφορά ηλικίας, έστω και interracial. Εκείνο που μου χτύπησε άσχημα ήταν ότι στην πραγματικότητα ο Χορνμπυ ήθελε να γράψει ένα μυθιστόρημα για το Brexit (από ότι διαβάζω, ολόκληρο κύμα βιβλίων στη Μ Βρετανία, αντίστοιχο του δικού μας για την "κριση"). Θυμάμαι το άθλιο βιβλίο της Ακρίτα "Το μυστικό της Μπλε Πολυκατοικίας", όπου κάπου ανάμεσα αναφέρεται ότι ο ακροδεξιός που δέρνει την γυναίκα του ψήφισε ΝΑΙ στο δημοψήφισμα, και θεωρεί τον Τσιπρα τσογλανι ( ε μα...). Ο Χορνμπυ δεν είναι ζαιος ούτε αταλαντος σαν την Ακρίτα για να το κάνει τόσο άκομψα, αλλά κάπου χτυπάει άσχημα στην πλοκή (που είναι το κύριο setting, και όχι απλή αναφορά στο δημοψήφισμα) ακόμη και για ένα μη-Βρετανο να παρουσιάζονται οι οπαδοί του Brexit ως αμόρφωτοι working class ρατσιστές (αν και όχι ακριβώς χρυσαυγιτες, αλλά παραπλανημενοι από τις διαφημίσεις) και οι οπαδοί του Remain ως μορφωμένοι middle class με cool δουλειές των γραμμάτων και τεχνών (και τεκνών). Μπορεί να είναι και έτσι, και στην Αγγλία να ψήφισαν κάπως έτσι, μηπως ξέρω, αλλά το να το χρησιμοποιείς ως vehicle μιας ρομαντικής ιστορίας, ξέρω γω; Το 3αστερο γιατί έχει μια ωραία γραφή, αγαπάς τους χαρακτήρες, και έχει ένα ΜΗ αναμενόμενο τέλος. Κατά τα άλλα Νικ Χορνμπυ, μαντεύω τι ψήφισες...
December 22, 2020
Were we to evaluate people, not only according to their intelligence and their education, their occupation and their power, but according to their kindliness and their courage, their imagination and their sensitivity, their sympathy and their generosity, there could be no classes. Who would be able to say the scientist was superior to the porter with admirable qualities as a father, the civil servant with unusual skill at gaining prizes to the lorry driver with unusual skill at growing roses?
I try to do something similar when I rate a book, not necessarily for any objective quality of its subject or style, but for the emotional journey I shared with its characters and its generosity of ideas and imagery. I have always enjoyed the company of Nick Hornby, his humour and his pop culture references (sport, music, movies), even as I sometimes dismissed his work as light entertainment – a sort of modern P G Wodehouse who is guaranteed to put a smile on my face and reconcile me with some of the most thorny issues of modern living. His latest novel shows more engagement with the world at large and a more mature attitude towards relationships.
It was a time when everyone was vowing never to forgive people. Politicians were never going to be forgiven for what they have done, friends and family were never going to be forgiven for the way they have voted, for what they have said, maybe even for what they thought. Most of the time, people were not being forgiven for being themselves.
While on the surface Just Like You is a romantic novel about two unlikely people falling in love and dealing with the inevitable ‘bumps’ along the road to happiness, the liaison between Lucy and Joseph unfolds against the backdrop of political and social upheaval, mostly from the Brexit referendum and its aftermath, with a dash of Trumpism thrown in towards the end. It is a novel that explores the distance between expectations and pragmatism, between white collar and blue collar, between a middle aged divorced woman who likes her teaching career and a twenty-something young man who juggles two low paying jobs while dreaming to become a musician, between a liberal white intellectual who loves books and witty conversations and a black youth who likes football, clubbing and socializing on his mobile phone.
“Lucy, friend of Natasha’s, two boys, Dylan and Al, ten and eight, very, very involved in their lives, probably more than I want to be, no longer with their dad.”
Pressured by her loud, obnoxious friend Emma, Lucy finally agrees to go out dating after a painful separation from her alcoholic, drug-addicted husband. Right from the start, I loved Lucy [no connection I believe to the classic sitcom]. She has a non-nonsense approach to matters of the heart that acknowledges the difficulties of getting back in the game and the low probability of finding Mr. Right over a couple of cocktails in a downtown bar.
Imagine that this unlikely man loved fresh flowers and the films of Asghar Farhadi, that he preferred cities to the countryside, that he read fiction – proper fiction, not novels about terrorists and submarines – that, yes, he enjoyed both giving and receiving oral sex, that he was kind to her sons, that he was tall, dark, handsome, solvent, funny, clever, liberal, stimulating.
Lucy has a pretty clear idea of what she would like in her love life, but she is enough of a realist to whittle down the wishlist to a couple of basic requirements, ‘proper hygiene’ coming top of the page. She also has a great sense of humour, equally directed at her conversation partners and at her own occasional recklessness.
‘cut to the chase’ - she had googled it, and she now knew that it came from the early days of cinema, and meant more or less exactly what it said: get to the exciting part as quickly as possible. Hal Roach, the man thought to have coined the phrase, probably never imagined it would be used to describe the moment in a meal where two divorced people talked about their disappointment and oversensitivity.
You really can’t get involved with someone out of pity or out of boredom. Lucy would rather spend her evenings with a good book, but the heart has a way of ignoring direct signals from the brain, and eventually makes landfall on the nice young man who serves Lucy choice cuts at the butcher every Saturday. Joseph is equally smitten with the pretty lady with the nice eyes, even as he wonders whether she would consider him too young to notice.
All things being equal, the eyes usually swung it, and not just because it was the eyes that made the face beautiful. The eyes were everything – they contained the first indication of whether someone was smart, kind, funny, hungry in all the right ways as well as some of the interesting wrong ones.
One thing lead to another, and from discussing the weekend menu they go to a babysitting arrangement, then to secret rendez-vous, to Joseph moving in, to making their relationship public, breaking up, getting back together or maybe calling the whole thing off, or maybe accepting that they are made for each other.
Maybe that was it, Lucy thought. Maybe there was only wondering about wondering, which had to be as good a definition of self-consciousness as any.
Self-awareness is probably the one thing Lucy and Joseph share, the one quality that makes up for all the things that claim they shouldn’t be together. Self-doubt and the ability to see the world through the other person’s eyes are in fact the only way the two lovers, and society in general, can get over these divisive times. Nick Hornby lays his story down like the proverbial bridge over troubled waters, tackling thorny, polarizing issues of the world we have to deal with today: Brexit intransigence ( How would Shakespeare have voted? She supposed it depended on how old he was at the time of the referendum. ) , pervasive propaganda, racism, income inequality, cultural desolation ( “Didn’t you bring anything to read?” “My phone.” , job satisfaction, family interactions, age, and so on. Together, Lucy and Joseph are engaged in something similar to a ‘hurdles’ race , with each obstacle overcome only paving the way for the next one around the bend.
“Everyone I know is miserable. Everyone. Except you, apparently, Lucy. That’s why we’re here. We want to know why you’re not miserable.”
“We need a master class.”
“Give us hope.”
Success is not guaranteed, not even in the final few pages of the story. Instead of a happy ending, peace of mind and knowing you gave it your best shot, with honesty and kindness and an open mind, might be all we can hope for.
October 3, 2020
Does Nick Horny write the best "contemporary fiction" aka "women's fiction" aka "chick lit"? Maybe, even if this wasn't one of my favorites. It takes two people who it's hard to imagine together and plays with the idea of them trying to make it work anyway, despite racial and gender differences, Brexit and Trump landscape, different socio-economic backgrounds, oh yeah and a huge age difference. It was a bit of a slog at times but I was glad I read to the end.
I was very aware the entire time of the white maleness peering through the eyes of the characters in a way that made me feel the entire novel was a "what if" exercise more than it was an actual story. Something about the surreal to it, although that might be the world right now as much as anything else.
I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss and NetGalley, and it came out September 29.
I was very aware the entire time of the white maleness peering through the eyes of the characters in a way that made me feel the entire novel was a "what if" exercise more than it was an actual story. Something about the surreal to it, although that might be the world right now as much as anything else.
I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss and NetGalley, and it came out September 29.
September 13, 2020
Controversial opinion perhaps, looking at the other Goodreads reviews, but I really didn't enjoy this. It was my first Nick Hornby novel, and almost definitely my last.
Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder exactly what was going through Nick Hornby's head when he decided to write it. He's writing from the point of view of a single mother in her forties, and a black man in his 20s, and I don't think he manages to do either particularly well. There's also a lot thrown in about Lucy's making casual comments that could be construed as racist (although I don't think the main one, when she says he must know lots of singers, is a particularly valid one. Surely she just meant because he is supposed to have a love of music?) There's also a lot about Brexit in there, which wasn't fun to read about. It just wasn't interesting! (For a novel that handles Brexit really well, try Summer by Ali Smith).
I think my main problem with this book, and it's a pretty major flaw considering it's supposed to be a romance, is that I just couldn't see how the two MCs worked together. There was nothing leading up to their relationship forming that made me think they particularly liked each other, and when they were in the relationship it wasn't clear what on earth was holding them together.
Probably 1.5 stars, rounded down.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this.
Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder exactly what was going through Nick Hornby's head when he decided to write it. He's writing from the point of view of a single mother in her forties, and a black man in his 20s, and I don't think he manages to do either particularly well. There's also a lot thrown in about Lucy's making casual comments that could be construed as racist (although I don't think the main one, when she says he must know lots of singers, is a particularly valid one. Surely she just meant because he is supposed to have a love of music?) There's also a lot about Brexit in there, which wasn't fun to read about. It just wasn't interesting! (For a novel that handles Brexit really well, try Summer by Ali Smith).
I think my main problem with this book, and it's a pretty major flaw considering it's supposed to be a romance, is that I just couldn't see how the two MCs worked together. There was nothing leading up to their relationship forming that made me think they particularly liked each other, and when they were in the relationship it wasn't clear what on earth was holding them together.
Probably 1.5 stars, rounded down.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this.
July 9, 2020
As someone who has read 'Funny Girl' more times than they can count and adored 'Juliet, Naked', I was really excited to receive the eArc for Nick Hornby's upcoming novel.
The novel starts off strong, giving the reader a clear idea of the two main characters and helping the reader grow fond of them. On the one hand, we have Lucy, a 42 white middle class woman who's head of the English department at a secondary school; she's also a single mom but that has recently come out of an abusive relationship and is keen to start dating again and find a new partner. On the other hand, we have Joseph, a young black 20-something man who lives in Tottenham with his mother and has a 'portfolio lifestyle' to make ends meet while working on his yet-to-develop DJ career.
Considering that Hornby is a white man, I don’t feel that he’s necessarily well suited to write from the perspective of two characters with which he cannot identify, even if starting off with good intentions. The proof is in the pudding as beyond the first quarter of the book, the two key characters remain static: their internal worlds remain simplistic and unexamined, whereas I often got the feeling that the writer relies heavily on existing images and stereotypes from other (if not similar) works of literature, TV or cinema to help the reader picture the characters in action or their interactions with other people. Dialogue sometimes gets stiff and convoluted; in some occasions where it's not clearly stated who's talking, it's tricky to tell if it's Lucy's or Joseph's turn to say something.
Also, no clear answer is given to how this unorthodox but well intentioned relationship works after everything they’ve been through. This is not to suggest that I consider it unlikely, but I was expecting that since the writer chooses to put it in the centre of the narrative, to at least shed some more light into the relationship's inner workings - something more than 'we're taking day by day' for the reader to hold on to.
The question of interracial relationships might seem aligned with the ongoing conversation about Black Lives Matter and structural racism, but with social media and traditional press shedding light to a plethora of fictional reads by black writers who are more likely to give a realistic and accurate accounts of their experience, it’s hard to estimate how well-received Hornby’s story could be.
Some of the other reviewers here suggested that the focus on Brexit is a dated topic, especially considering the BLM movement and COVID-19. As the public conversation will have to come back to it eventually, I disagree but Hornby could have delved a bit deeper and get more specific. Both Lucy and Joseph seem open to hear both sides which is great (and rare!) but the processing of this input feels hastily written.
The novel starts off strong, giving the reader a clear idea of the two main characters and helping the reader grow fond of them. On the one hand, we have Lucy, a 42 white middle class woman who's head of the English department at a secondary school; she's also a single mom but that has recently come out of an abusive relationship and is keen to start dating again and find a new partner. On the other hand, we have Joseph, a young black 20-something man who lives in Tottenham with his mother and has a 'portfolio lifestyle' to make ends meet while working on his yet-to-develop DJ career.
Considering that Hornby is a white man, I don’t feel that he’s necessarily well suited to write from the perspective of two characters with which he cannot identify, even if starting off with good intentions. The proof is in the pudding as beyond the first quarter of the book, the two key characters remain static: their internal worlds remain simplistic and unexamined, whereas I often got the feeling that the writer relies heavily on existing images and stereotypes from other (if not similar) works of literature, TV or cinema to help the reader picture the characters in action or their interactions with other people. Dialogue sometimes gets stiff and convoluted; in some occasions where it's not clearly stated who's talking, it's tricky to tell if it's Lucy's or Joseph's turn to say something.
Also, no clear answer is given to how this unorthodox but well intentioned relationship works after everything they’ve been through. This is not to suggest that I consider it unlikely, but I was expecting that since the writer chooses to put it in the centre of the narrative, to at least shed some more light into the relationship's inner workings - something more than 'we're taking day by day' for the reader to hold on to.
The question of interracial relationships might seem aligned with the ongoing conversation about Black Lives Matter and structural racism, but with social media and traditional press shedding light to a plethora of fictional reads by black writers who are more likely to give a realistic and accurate accounts of their experience, it’s hard to estimate how well-received Hornby’s story could be.
Some of the other reviewers here suggested that the focus on Brexit is a dated topic, especially considering the BLM movement and COVID-19. As the public conversation will have to come back to it eventually, I disagree but Hornby could have delved a bit deeper and get more specific. Both Lucy and Joseph seem open to hear both sides which is great (and rare!) but the processing of this input feels hastily written.
November 25, 2020
(3.5) I think this is the first novel I’ve read that has explicitly discussed Brexit and tried to understand the motivations of those who voted Leave. I know there have been others (by Jonathan Coe, Ali Smith et al.), but they didn’t appeal. The way Hornby folds the recent history into the romance of an unlikely couple (42-year-old white woman; 22-year-old black man) felt like a more natural way of gazing on the country’s ideological divisions. Lucy, an English teacher and mother of two preteen boys, is separated from her husband after his substance abuse problems. Joseph, an aspiring DJ, lives at home and has various jobs, including as a soccer coach, at a leisure centre, and behind the counter of a North London butcher shop – which is how he and Lucy meet.
Both main characters are mostly believable, though it could be argued that a white male author could only get inside their heads up to a certain point. There are a lot of great scenes (with Hornby’s recent screenplay work, there’s surely television or film potential here), like the dinner party at Lucy’s when Joseph reveals to all her Remain-voting friends that . A lot of witty awkwardness arises from Lucy and Joseph’s separate attempts to date people who are more age-appropriate. I wasn’t sure about the overall message of the book – – or the assertion that of course Joseph .
Sweet and sharp-witted, this is a solid addition to Hornby’s oeuvre. The best passage is the long paragraph 10 pages from the end that begins, “It was a time when everyone was vowing never to forgive people.”
A favorite random line:
“She didn’t know what the sexual equivalent of Bristol Temple Meads was, but she’d somehow fallen asleep and missed the stop.”
Both main characters are mostly believable, though it could be argued that a white male author could only get inside their heads up to a certain point. There are a lot of great scenes (with Hornby’s recent screenplay work, there’s surely television or film potential here), like the dinner party at Lucy’s when Joseph reveals to all her Remain-voting friends that . A lot of witty awkwardness arises from Lucy and Joseph’s separate attempts to date people who are more age-appropriate. I wasn’t sure about the overall message of the book – – or the assertion that of course Joseph .
Sweet and sharp-witted, this is a solid addition to Hornby’s oeuvre. The best passage is the long paragraph 10 pages from the end that begins, “It was a time when everyone was vowing never to forgive people.”
A favorite random line:
“She didn’t know what the sexual equivalent of Bristol Temple Meads was, but she’d somehow fallen asleep and missed the stop.”
April 25, 2022
4.5/5
Ši istorija ne tiems, kuriems nepatinka, kai, rodos, nieko nevyksta. Ne tiems, kuriuos trigerina politinės temos literatūroje. Ne tiems, kuriuos erzina amžiaus skirtumas santykiuose. Visgi, man patiko. Gal nes ėmiau susimažinusi lūkesčius? Pamačiusi tą mažą reitingą Goodreads. Tačiau beskaitant pasidarė aišku, kas čia žmones taip suerzino – turbūt ne veltui sako su draugais į diskusijas apie politiką nesivelti. Bet čia Brexito tema perteikta taip grakščiai, taip reikalingai, taip šviežiai – kiek šviežia gali būti tai, kas visus tiek išvargino. Ir galiausiai, ne apie Brexitą gi čia viskas. Apie žmonių nesutarimus ir nesutapimus, apie požiūrį, aklą pasitikėjimą ir aklą abejingumą, politinį neraštingumą, aplinkos spaudimą, galiausiai tiesiog apie jaunesnių ir vyresnių žmonių priešpriešas. Ir apie meilę. Ne aklą. Ne kvailą. Tiesiog meilę. Netobulą. Dažnai užknisančią. Abejojančią ir grįžtančią prie temų, kurios jau atrodo išsemtos. Nepatiklią. Dėl patirties stokos ar tiesiog patirties.
Tiek daug visko man čia patiko – ir nagrinėjama rasės bei rasizmo tema, ir kultūriniai bei amžiaus skirtumai, ir gyvi, tikri dialogai, neabejotinai negalėję va taip va suskambėti, jei ne talentingas Emilijos Visockaitės vertimas. Patiko nedurni, net jei ne visuomet protingai besielgiantys veikėjai – Liusės susitaikymas, gana ramus požiūris į save ir savo santuoką. Jos nepasitikėjimas savimi, ne visuomet pagrįstas, tačiau ypač žmogiškas. Patiko ir Džozefas. Netobulas, jaunatviškai užknisantis, bet labai gerai autoriaus išjaustas. Jo gėdos pojūtis, jo vidinės prieštaros, jo trigeriai – viskas atrodė tobulai subalansuota į tikrą, įdomų veikėją, net jei nebūtinai visuomet simpatišką. Ši knyga neabejotinai nustebino ir nudžiugino. Galėjo būti čiut trumpesnė, bet daugiau priekaištų jai nesurandu ir nenoriu ieškoti. Iš lentynos trauksiu senokai dulkėjusią „High Fidelity“ – atėjo laikas.
Ši istorija ne tiems, kuriems nepatinka, kai, rodos, nieko nevyksta. Ne tiems, kuriuos trigerina politinės temos literatūroje. Ne tiems, kuriuos erzina amžiaus skirtumas santykiuose. Visgi, man patiko. Gal nes ėmiau susimažinusi lūkesčius? Pamačiusi tą mažą reitingą Goodreads. Tačiau beskaitant pasidarė aišku, kas čia žmones taip suerzino – turbūt ne veltui sako su draugais į diskusijas apie politiką nesivelti. Bet čia Brexito tema perteikta taip grakščiai, taip reikalingai, taip šviežiai – kiek šviežia gali būti tai, kas visus tiek išvargino. Ir galiausiai, ne apie Brexitą gi čia viskas. Apie žmonių nesutarimus ir nesutapimus, apie požiūrį, aklą pasitikėjimą ir aklą abejingumą, politinį neraštingumą, aplinkos spaudimą, galiausiai tiesiog apie jaunesnių ir vyresnių žmonių priešpriešas. Ir apie meilę. Ne aklą. Ne kvailą. Tiesiog meilę. Netobulą. Dažnai užknisančią. Abejojančią ir grįžtančią prie temų, kurios jau atrodo išsemtos. Nepatiklią. Dėl patirties stokos ar tiesiog patirties.
Tiek daug visko man čia patiko – ir nagrinėjama rasės bei rasizmo tema, ir kultūriniai bei amžiaus skirtumai, ir gyvi, tikri dialogai, neabejotinai negalėję va taip va suskambėti, jei ne talentingas Emilijos Visockaitės vertimas. Patiko nedurni, net jei ne visuomet protingai besielgiantys veikėjai – Liusės susitaikymas, gana ramus požiūris į save ir savo santuoką. Jos nepasitikėjimas savimi, ne visuomet pagrįstas, tačiau ypač žmogiškas. Patiko ir Džozefas. Netobulas, jaunatviškai užknisantis, bet labai gerai autoriaus išjaustas. Jo gėdos pojūtis, jo vidinės prieštaros, jo trigeriai – viskas atrodė tobulai subalansuota į tikrą, įdomų veikėją, net jei nebūtinai visuomet simpatišką. Ši knyga neabejotinai nustebino ir nudžiugino. Galėjo būti čiut trumpesnė, bet daugiau priekaištų jai nesurandu ir nenoriu ieškoti. Iš lentynos trauksiu senokai dulkėjusią „High Fidelity“ – atėjo laikas.
January 28, 2025
As a teenager, I loved Hornby's books—I liked A Long Way Down and About A Boy especially, but I've read everything he published up to Juliet, Naked, which didn't do much for me at the time, and is when I stopped keeping up with new releases. This is the first of his books that piqued my interest in over ten years, and it seemed like just the right type of light fare I was craving.
The premise is simple, typical Hornby: Boy meets girl, in 2016 London. The boy is Joseph, a 22-year old, single, black, working-class butcher, babysitter, and soccer coach who hopes to make it big as a DJ and still lives at home. The girl is Lucy, a 41-year old, almost-divorced, white, educated, middle-class mother of two kids who works as a teacher. The two fall for each other despite the gulf between them—and if their different circumstances and backgrounds didn't already make for enough of an unlikely, mismatched couple, the backdrop is the run-up to the referendum, and subsequent Brexit aftermath.
This short novel tackles so many things: Race, age, class, stereotypes, alcoholism, politics... it sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it somehow wasn't. Romance novels aren't generally my thing, but Just Like You has so many other things going for it, humor and political commentary not being the least of them, that I'm not sure it's fair to simply describe it as a story about an interracial couple with a twenty-year age gap. For an author who gets put in the hated box of "chick lit", Hornby has a real knack for dealing with big issues in a nuanced way with the help of relatable, tangible, flawed, and thus perfectly believable characters, who discuss these issues quite naturally in masterful dialogues infused with wit. His true gift lies in writing convincing situations and human dynamics, which is why this novel doesn't fall flat on its face as a farcical, heavy-handed parable, which it probably would have, in someone else's hands.
It's not the sort of book I turn to often, but I enjoyed it immensely—it was endearing and engaging, and reminded me of what I used to love about his books, even though it may ultimately be a touch too hopeful and optimistic for my cynical little heart? Despite being fun and light, it asks some big questions: How alike must two people be to love each other and make it work in the long run? And inversely (and perhaps more importantly), can two people love each other and make it work despite not negligible differences? Hornby doesn't give clear-cut answers, but his message for our partisan times is loud and clear: The important thing is cultivating open and honest conversations, and listening to others with empathy and understanding.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The premise is simple, typical Hornby: Boy meets girl, in 2016 London. The boy is Joseph, a 22-year old, single, black, working-class butcher, babysitter, and soccer coach who hopes to make it big as a DJ and still lives at home. The girl is Lucy, a 41-year old, almost-divorced, white, educated, middle-class mother of two kids who works as a teacher. The two fall for each other despite the gulf between them—and if their different circumstances and backgrounds didn't already make for enough of an unlikely, mismatched couple, the backdrop is the run-up to the referendum, and subsequent Brexit aftermath.
This short novel tackles so many things: Race, age, class, stereotypes, alcoholism, politics... it sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it somehow wasn't. Romance novels aren't generally my thing, but Just Like You has so many other things going for it, humor and political commentary not being the least of them, that I'm not sure it's fair to simply describe it as a story about an interracial couple with a twenty-year age gap. For an author who gets put in the hated box of "chick lit", Hornby has a real knack for dealing with big issues in a nuanced way with the help of relatable, tangible, flawed, and thus perfectly believable characters, who discuss these issues quite naturally in masterful dialogues infused with wit. His true gift lies in writing convincing situations and human dynamics, which is why this novel doesn't fall flat on its face as a farcical, heavy-handed parable, which it probably would have, in someone else's hands.
It's not the sort of book I turn to often, but I enjoyed it immensely—it was endearing and engaging, and reminded me of what I used to love about his books, even though it may ultimately be a touch too hopeful and optimistic for my cynical little heart? Despite being fun and light, it asks some big questions: How alike must two people be to love each other and make it work in the long run? And inversely (and perhaps more importantly), can two people love each other and make it work despite not negligible differences? Hornby doesn't give clear-cut answers, but his message for our partisan times is loud and clear: The important thing is cultivating open and honest conversations, and listening to others with empathy and understanding.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 12, 2021
Excruciating middle-class hand-wringing about race and Brexit.
60 year old white man Nick Hornby’s attempted portrayal of a young black man is too dull, clunky and hampered by a terror of sounding unwoke to even be offensive, and instead falls down squarely on the side of cringe, with Hornby dropping in squirmingly outdated urban slang and awkwardly shoe-horning in countless instances of everyday racism like he’s trying to get a full house on his woke bingo card.
The 42 year old middle-class white woman who makes up the other half of the on again/off again couple is somehow even more unbearable, like if the Guardian could talk.
The couple have exactly the chemistry you’d expect from two people with negligible personalities. Their charisma vacuum was only magnified by the unlovely backdrop of Brexit, making the novel a real reverse Sophie’s Choice of which storyline gave you the most visceral urge to walk away from it and never look back. Take them both, please!
60 year old white man Nick Hornby’s attempted portrayal of a young black man is too dull, clunky and hampered by a terror of sounding unwoke to even be offensive, and instead falls down squarely on the side of cringe, with Hornby dropping in squirmingly outdated urban slang and awkwardly shoe-horning in countless instances of everyday racism like he’s trying to get a full house on his woke bingo card.
The 42 year old middle-class white woman who makes up the other half of the on again/off again couple is somehow even more unbearable, like if the Guardian could talk.
The couple have exactly the chemistry you’d expect from two people with negligible personalities. Their charisma vacuum was only magnified by the unlovely backdrop of Brexit, making the novel a real reverse Sophie’s Choice of which storyline gave you the most visceral urge to walk away from it and never look back. Take them both, please!
January 24, 2022
Le doy las cinco estrellas, a pesar de que el final de la novela me dejó un poco fría y decepcionada (solo un poco). Y eso es lo único "malo" que puedo decir sobre esta historia, que me ha encantado, entretenido y enamorado un poco más de la narrativa de Hornby. Es una historia de diferencias, de una mujer blanca y culta de 42 años que se enamora de un hombre negro sin estudios de 22 en el Londres de las eras pre y post Brexit. Interesantísimas las reflexiones sobre los prejuicios ajenos y propios, sobre la influencia del entorno en nuestras relaciones, etc. Es un libro corto y, a pesar de que reflexiona bastante, lo hace de forma amena, en boca de los protagonistas, por lo que se lee rapidísimo. Lo recomiendo al 1000%.
February 10, 2021
Nick Hornby is a lovely writer, and he doesn't disappoint with Just Like You. It's a delightful novel about an unusual relationship between an older woman and her much younger lover. We see the POVs of both characters as they come to terms not only with the differences in their ages but also with the differences in their races. I sped right through it, enjoying every bit of it. For something diverting, this is the book for you.
February 2, 2021
A szokatlannak mondható kapcsolat az, ami miatt elolvastam ezt a könyvet: foglalkoztat a téma, amikor a nagy korkülönbség nem a férfi "javára" áll fenn. Szerettem volna egy ilyen szerelemről olvasni, ami ugyanakkor nem jár egyoldalú függőséggel vagy alárendeltséggel, elbujdosni se kell hozzá a világ másik végébe, holtig tartó kitagadás sem jár érte, a barátok se köpnek szembe, és még el is hiszem, amit olvasok.
Nagyjából meg is kaptam, amire vártam, és amikor megszoktam és elhittem a párt, elkezdtem kicsit unni a regényt. Igazából a Brexit vonal mentette meg a sztorit: jó volt a brit utcák embere szemszögéből átélni ezt az egészet és némi elégtétellel konstatálni, hogy a mindennapi politika abszurditása országfüggetlen jelenség.
Nagyjából meg is kaptam, amire vártam, és amikor megszoktam és elhittem a párt, elkezdtem kicsit unni a regényt. Igazából a Brexit vonal mentette meg a sztorit: jó volt a brit utcák embere szemszögéből átélni ezt az egészet és némi elégtétellel konstatálni, hogy a mindennapi politika abszurditása országfüggetlen jelenség.
October 19, 2020
Just Like You is the eighth novel by award-winning British author, Nick Hornby. When Lucy Fairfax and Joseph Campbell embark on their relationship, neither is looking too closely at the reasons, or the likely outcome: they are acting on mutual attraction, and find that they enjoy each other’s company.
Lucy, a separated mother of two, is Head of the English Department at the local high school, forty-two years old and white. Joseph does various part-time jobs including, football coaching, baby-sitting and working in the local butcher’s, is twenty-two years old, and black. When they are together, they are happy. Despite their quite disparate backgrounds, they are interested in each other’s lives, enjoy their conversations (the coming Brexit vote is on everyone’s lips), and have great sex.
Lucy’s young sons love spending time with Joseph, although there’s less of that now that he comes to spend time with Lucy instead of baby-sitting them. Because this is a covert relationship: they don’t go out. It is when the result of the Brexit vote is announced that they realise just how closeted their lives have become, and how different they really are. The relationship ebbs fairly swiftly if amicably. Joseph still babysits. They both date others. But is it really over?
The insecurities that need to be soothed with reassurances in any relationship are a little different here, taking in race, age gap and level of education: “He was just a kid. He could see that now. It was because everything was new that he was embarrassed and raw. He wasn’t established in any field, really. He’d be bringing her stuff, like a puppy, for a long time to come, and she could only rub his belly and call him a good boy until he was an old dog with no new tricks.”
The Brexit referendum backdrop allows Hornby to explore the effect of such an issue on everyday life: “Lucy understood it now. The referendum was giving groups of people who didn’t like each other, or at least failed to comprehend each other, an opportunity to fight. The government might just as well be asking a yes/no question about public nudity, or vegetarianism, or religion, or modern art, some other question that divided people into two groups, each suspicious of the other. There had to be something riding on it, otherwise people wouldn’t get so upset.”
There are plenty of (sometimes darkly) funny moments in this tale, including kids who are much more aware than their mother thinks, a mother who twigs to her son’s activities via Find My Phone, and a confession by text. As well as heading in an unpredictable direction, Hornby’s latest is entertaining and thought-provoking.
Lucy, a separated mother of two, is Head of the English Department at the local high school, forty-two years old and white. Joseph does various part-time jobs including, football coaching, baby-sitting and working in the local butcher’s, is twenty-two years old, and black. When they are together, they are happy. Despite their quite disparate backgrounds, they are interested in each other’s lives, enjoy their conversations (the coming Brexit vote is on everyone’s lips), and have great sex.
Lucy’s young sons love spending time with Joseph, although there’s less of that now that he comes to spend time with Lucy instead of baby-sitting them. Because this is a covert relationship: they don’t go out. It is when the result of the Brexit vote is announced that they realise just how closeted their lives have become, and how different they really are. The relationship ebbs fairly swiftly if amicably. Joseph still babysits. They both date others. But is it really over?
The insecurities that need to be soothed with reassurances in any relationship are a little different here, taking in race, age gap and level of education: “He was just a kid. He could see that now. It was because everything was new that he was embarrassed and raw. He wasn’t established in any field, really. He’d be bringing her stuff, like a puppy, for a long time to come, and she could only rub his belly and call him a good boy until he was an old dog with no new tricks.”
The Brexit referendum backdrop allows Hornby to explore the effect of such an issue on everyday life: “Lucy understood it now. The referendum was giving groups of people who didn’t like each other, or at least failed to comprehend each other, an opportunity to fight. The government might just as well be asking a yes/no question about public nudity, or vegetarianism, or religion, or modern art, some other question that divided people into two groups, each suspicious of the other. There had to be something riding on it, otherwise people wouldn’t get so upset.”
There are plenty of (sometimes darkly) funny moments in this tale, including kids who are much more aware than their mother thinks, a mother who twigs to her son’s activities via Find My Phone, and a confession by text. As well as heading in an unpredictable direction, Hornby’s latest is entertaining and thought-provoking.
December 21, 2021
Having never read any of Nick Hornby's books, I accidentally read two. I had just finished reading High Fidelity and decided to read Just Like You without giving any notice that the author was the same. In time, I realized the writing style and the thought processes were very similar. Hornby writes with authenticity and integrity. People are flawed and so too can the characters in books.
Lucy is a 40-year-old English professor, divorced with two children, and simply trying to navigate her life as a single mother. Things change after she meets Joseph a butcher who works part-time as a babysitter in his 20's.
This isn't just a silly rom-com. It's much more than that. This is a story that hits upon very complex issues. The discussion of Brexit, an interracial relationship, and of course ageism.
The inner dialogues of Lucy and Joseph are intimate, moving, and mind-bending with honest anxiety. What happens when race, age, and voting for what is right all come together to try and make a relationship worth the commitment? A complex relationship.
The story of a younger man or woman in a relationship seems to always drop jaws for many. Just Like You explores this with tact and a promise to understand.
What happens to Lucy when she needs to spend time with Joseph's much younger friends at a club, or when Joseph is put to the test while hosting his first adult dinner?
You can't really control who you fall in love with, but you can figure out a way to make it work.
I really enjoyed this book for its stylistic writing and overall story. 4.5 stars.
Lucy is a 40-year-old English professor, divorced with two children, and simply trying to navigate her life as a single mother. Things change after she meets Joseph a butcher who works part-time as a babysitter in his 20's.
This isn't just a silly rom-com. It's much more than that. This is a story that hits upon very complex issues. The discussion of Brexit, an interracial relationship, and of course ageism.
The inner dialogues of Lucy and Joseph are intimate, moving, and mind-bending with honest anxiety. What happens when race, age, and voting for what is right all come together to try and make a relationship worth the commitment? A complex relationship.
The story of a younger man or woman in a relationship seems to always drop jaws for many. Just Like You explores this with tact and a promise to understand.
What happens to Lucy when she needs to spend time with Joseph's much younger friends at a club, or when Joseph is put to the test while hosting his first adult dinner?
You can't really control who you fall in love with, but you can figure out a way to make it work.
I really enjoyed this book for its stylistic writing and overall story. 4.5 stars.
July 6, 2021
yaaa nick hornby yine çok şeker bir roman yazmış. ilişkileri ve insanın duygu durumlarını, geçirdiği değişimleri bu kadar komik, edebi tavırlardan, pozlardan uzak ve doğal anlatan ingiliz yazarları diye bir şey var bu hayatta.
bir devlet okulunda ortaokul öğretmeni beyaz ve 40'larının başındaki lucy'le hayatta daha ne yapacağını bilememiş ama düzgün ve iyi, 20'lerinin başındaki siyahi joseph'in ilişkileri ön planda. lucy'nin oğulları için bebek bakıcılığı olarak başlayan ilişki önce seks partnerliğine sonra da ciddi bir ilişkiye evriliyor.
e tabii bu kolay olmuyor. gerçi bu memlekette olacağından bin kat kolay, orası ayrı. renk farkı, yaş farkı ve aslında en önemlisi kuşak farkı var. hornby o kadar doğru bir y ve z kuşağı profili çizmiş ki. lucy tam benim kuşağım, ciddiliği, politikliği ve doğallığı joseph'in kuşağından farklı. joseph ise tam z. brexit umrunda değil, zorla kiliseye gitmesi umrunda değil, üni'ye gitmemesi umrunda değil ama aynı zamanda diğer kuşakların çalışıp da olabilecekleri bir biçimde ayrımcılık bilmeyen, rahat biri.
oğlan ve öğrenciler sebebiyle kesinlike tanık olduğum ve onaylayacağım bir z kuşağı profili çünkü emin olun onların lgbti+'ya, siyasete ve dinlere yaklaşımı bizden epey ilerde. z kuşağı boklayanlara bunu hep söylüyorum. öyle dışardan görüldüğü gibi değil o iş.
neyse araya giren ayrılıklar, aldatmalar, az biraz mahalle baskısı (iki farklı çevreye tanıtılan sevgililerin kabul görmesi de tamamen kuşakla ilgili), lucy'nin joseph'in annesiyle aynı yaşta olması filan derken 3 yıllık bir süreç anlatılıyor romanda.
arka planda brexit ve ingilizlerin kamplaşması uzun uzun aktarılıyor. ve bize, son yıllarda her şeye dair kavga edip ikiye ayrılan bize o kadar benziyor ki, demek ki dünya hâli bu dedim aslında rahatlayarak.
nick'ciğim yine lucy'nin iki oğlunun diyaloglarında harikalar yaratmış, yani 8 ve 10 yaşlarında oğlan çocuğu nasıl olur? böyle olur. üst sınıf ve yazar çizer sıkıcılığı ve lucy'nin patavatsızlığı da beni çok güldürdü.
kahkaha atarak okuduğum kitapları ayrı seviyorum. ve evet, ingilizler beni çok güldürüyor.
ya ayrıca joseph'in son yıllardaki kaşlar konusunda yorum yaptığı bir bölüm var ki "ahahaha bu da mı aynı" dedim resmen :)))
deniz keskin sinkaflı küfürleri, z kuşağı jargonunu, sosyal medya dilini acayip iyi çevirmiş, sağ olsun. nick hornby bildiğimiz tatlişliğinden asla taviz vermiyor.
bir devlet okulunda ortaokul öğretmeni beyaz ve 40'larının başındaki lucy'le hayatta daha ne yapacağını bilememiş ama düzgün ve iyi, 20'lerinin başındaki siyahi joseph'in ilişkileri ön planda. lucy'nin oğulları için bebek bakıcılığı olarak başlayan ilişki önce seks partnerliğine sonra da ciddi bir ilişkiye evriliyor.
e tabii bu kolay olmuyor. gerçi bu memlekette olacağından bin kat kolay, orası ayrı. renk farkı, yaş farkı ve aslında en önemlisi kuşak farkı var. hornby o kadar doğru bir y ve z kuşağı profili çizmiş ki. lucy tam benim kuşağım, ciddiliği, politikliği ve doğallığı joseph'in kuşağından farklı. joseph ise tam z. brexit umrunda değil, zorla kiliseye gitmesi umrunda değil, üni'ye gitmemesi umrunda değil ama aynı zamanda diğer kuşakların çalışıp da olabilecekleri bir biçimde ayrımcılık bilmeyen, rahat biri.
oğlan ve öğrenciler sebebiyle kesinlike tanık olduğum ve onaylayacağım bir z kuşağı profili çünkü emin olun onların lgbti+'ya, siyasete ve dinlere yaklaşımı bizden epey ilerde. z kuşağı boklayanlara bunu hep söylüyorum. öyle dışardan görüldüğü gibi değil o iş.
neyse araya giren ayrılıklar, aldatmalar, az biraz mahalle baskısı (iki farklı çevreye tanıtılan sevgililerin kabul görmesi de tamamen kuşakla ilgili), lucy'nin joseph'in annesiyle aynı yaşta olması filan derken 3 yıllık bir süreç anlatılıyor romanda.
arka planda brexit ve ingilizlerin kamplaşması uzun uzun aktarılıyor. ve bize, son yıllarda her şeye dair kavga edip ikiye ayrılan bize o kadar benziyor ki, demek ki dünya hâli bu dedim aslında rahatlayarak.
nick'ciğim yine lucy'nin iki oğlunun diyaloglarında harikalar yaratmış, yani 8 ve 10 yaşlarında oğlan çocuğu nasıl olur? böyle olur. üst sınıf ve yazar çizer sıkıcılığı ve lucy'nin patavatsızlığı da beni çok güldürdü.
kahkaha atarak okuduğum kitapları ayrı seviyorum. ve evet, ingilizler beni çok güldürüyor.
ya ayrıca joseph'in son yıllardaki kaşlar konusunda yorum yaptığı bir bölüm var ki "ahahaha bu da mı aynı" dedim resmen :)))
deniz keskin sinkaflı küfürleri, z kuşağı jargonunu, sosyal medya dilini acayip iyi çevirmiş, sağ olsun. nick hornby bildiğimiz tatlişliğinden asla taviz vermiyor.
February 24, 2021
This was a (frankly not very romantic) love story about an older white woman dating a much younger Black man, with a lot of focus on racism and Brexit. There really was no plot, but I like Hornby’s writing enough for that to work. I appreciated the commentary about Trump and Boris Johnson, the police and various political statements. Joseph calls out Trump being supported by white supremacists and how hopeless to be a person of color with leadership and a landscape like this and ohh how correct that ended up being, immediately.
I can see why this one got some pretty low reviews, and honestly my main issue was with the fact that Lucy wanted to be with Joseph, of all 22 year olds. Their relationship really made no sense to me and just never felt organic. I can’t imagine being the head of the English department at a school, having 2 sons and dating someone who lived at home, has no real ambition, throws his vote away and doesn’t have any interest in reading (or even know extremely well-known plays or writers), and basically just likes sports, playing on his phone, and making beats for tracks once in a while. He’s good looking but if you’re in your 40s don’t you want more in common? And we never really get any sense of him being interesting or articulate. He’s often monosyllabic and makes some questionable decisions. Unless he was supposed to be disconnected because he represented leaving the EU (with Lucy representing staying) and was disillusioned from being surrounded by a bunch of white people who tend to either be blatantly racist or cringeworthy in their efforts to prove they aren’t. I couldn’t tell so at the end of the day I just thought he was kind of a bland bro. Anyway whatever, I’m still glad I read this but would have liked it better if it wasn’t a love story.
I can see why this one got some pretty low reviews, and honestly my main issue was with the fact that Lucy wanted to be with Joseph, of all 22 year olds. Their relationship really made no sense to me and just never felt organic. I can’t imagine being the head of the English department at a school, having 2 sons and dating someone who lived at home, has no real ambition, throws his vote away and doesn’t have any interest in reading (or even know extremely well-known plays or writers), and basically just likes sports, playing on his phone, and making beats for tracks once in a while. He’s good looking but if you’re in your 40s don’t you want more in common? And we never really get any sense of him being interesting or articulate. He’s often monosyllabic and makes some questionable decisions. Unless he was supposed to be disconnected because he represented leaving the EU (with Lucy representing staying) and was disillusioned from being surrounded by a bunch of white people who tend to either be blatantly racist or cringeworthy in their efforts to prove they aren’t. I couldn’t tell so at the end of the day I just thought he was kind of a bland bro. Anyway whatever, I’m still glad I read this but would have liked it better if it wasn’t a love story.
February 9, 2021
Nick Hornby is, of course, the author of many a classic, like About a Boy and High Fidelity. He’s pretty much an expert at creating clever, endearing, down-to-earth, observant, and just slightly damaged characters who you can’t help but love.
Lucy and Joseph are no different. The interesting thing about this book, though, is that the relationship between Lucy and Joseph is more of a main character than either of them individually. This book is about a Them. It considers what makes relationships work, what’s important, what’s sustaining. I loved the exploration of connection, humor, race, communication, sex, and friendship. All of it felt believable to me, and sympathetic. And while neither Lucy nor Joseph is perfect, I had no trouble rooting for both of them. The ending took me by surprise, too, which is always a plus.
This ended up being a fun, thoughtful read for me. I blew through it in a couple days. Also, can we just talk about how pretty this cover is? I have always loved pink and orange together. Reminds me of the sherbet ice cream I used to eat as a kid waaaaay back in the day. I’M OLD.
Lucy and Joseph are no different. The interesting thing about this book, though, is that the relationship between Lucy and Joseph is more of a main character than either of them individually. This book is about a Them. It considers what makes relationships work, what’s important, what’s sustaining. I loved the exploration of connection, humor, race, communication, sex, and friendship. All of it felt believable to me, and sympathetic. And while neither Lucy nor Joseph is perfect, I had no trouble rooting for both of them. The ending took me by surprise, too, which is always a plus.
This ended up being a fun, thoughtful read for me. I blew through it in a couple days. Also, can we just talk about how pretty this cover is? I have always loved pink and orange together. Reminds me of the sherbet ice cream I used to eat as a kid waaaaay back in the day. I’M OLD.
November 17, 2020
3.5 stars. For years, Nick Hornby was one of my favourite authors. Then, a few novels back, I stopped finding the delight and comfort I used to find in his books such as "A Long Way Down" and "About a Boy". So I approached "Just Like You" with a bit of trepidation. I'm relieved to say the author I knew and loved is back. I so enjoyed this tale of a mismatched couple (she: mid-40s, divorced, white, university educated, middle-class, anti-Brexit; he: early 20s; single, black, working-class, pro-Brexit) who fall in love in spite of themselves. But with all their differences, does love stand a chance?
All the characters in this book were so relatable, so real. The situations, also relatable and real. In these politically and culturally fractured times, I found hope in the question Hornby asks his readers: How much alike do we need to be in order to love each other?
All the characters in this book were so relatable, so real. The situations, also relatable and real. In these politically and culturally fractured times, I found hope in the question Hornby asks his readers: How much alike do we need to be in order to love each other?
September 19, 2021
The characters did not interest me and I found this on the whole dull, bland and similar to a million other stories: two people get together and have to face the judgements and opinions of others around some issue that doesn't fit into 'conventional' society. Yawn. On top of that, parts of it were extremely cringey and perpetuated traditional societal stereotypes. For example, towards the end the 22-year-old cheats on his 42-year-old girlfriend and there is the sentence: 'Now she had to decide whether she could forgive a young man for being a young man' - removing all responsibility of the event from the man and furthering the trope that young men have no control over their own harmful actions simply because they 'are young men'. What a load of bollocks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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