Lucy Gilmore - The Lonely Hearts Book Club

Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another. Anxious, Sloane tracks the old man down only to discover him all but bedridden...and desperately struggling to hide how happy he is to see her. 

Wanting to bring more cheer into Arthur's gloomy life, Sloane creates an impromptu book club. Slowly, the lonely misfits of their sleepy town begin to find each other and, in their book club, the joy of unlikely friendship, because, as it turns out, everyone has a special book in their heart...and a reason to get lost (and eventually found) within the pages.

Comment: The premise of this book seemed intriguing and something I'd like to read, and since I thought my usual buddy reader would like to too, we've decided to add it to our choices.

Sloane Parker is a librarian with a very predictable life, including a steady but slightly boring fiance. Still, she craves routine and safety since she doesn't have a loving relationship with her parents. Her life changes after meeting Arthur, an older man, patron at the library, a man who is hard to like but with whom she likes to talk. One day, however, he doesn't show up at his usual time, nor the day after, and after a while, Sloane becomes worried. What follows is her attempt to be certain nothing wrong happened to Arthur, even if that means going out of her comfort zones and giving away different parts of herself.... but what will Sloane receive in return?

The idea of this book is very gratifying and I really liked the idea of a librarian helping someone. I mean, this is not such a novelty in books with or featuring librarians, but the fact Sloane went out of her traditional duties to help Arthur was a great premise. Not very realistic in nowadays' world but it was still a great starting point. Sadly, here were a few elements that I think could have been done better.

The story is linear but told from the POV of different characters. First, is Sloane but then there are others, the members of the book club mentioned in the title. They all find each others for their connection with Arthur and we see their POV, and some status of their personal lives, at the same time the general plot continues to develop. There is mention of two or three books the club reads and how those books' message somehow relate to this story, but the focus isn't on actual book reading and what they learn from it.

I liked this going from character to character but it obviously means we don't really delve into any of them that deeply. In fact, thinking about Sloane, since she seems to be the main character, her arc didn't seem to have the necessary depth to justify the quick turn of events closer to the end, when she is at a point in life in which change is key to avoid her from stagnating. Part of her avoidance is how she found a predictable partner but he isn't portrayed as being bad in any form, so we do expect they will not continue a couple in the end, but the way this was done was very careless in my opinion. I think the goal was to give this book a more fictional vibe than a romance one.

The whole cast has some fantastic elements to them, but not everything about them is that fascinating and the road to the realization of what each one needs as an individual isn't always that heartwarming to me. In fact, some passages and situations feel rather forced to match whatever aim the author had for that specific character and how that linked to the book the club was reading.

The issue related to Arthur and his health and how this was the starting point of the whole thing was interesting, but not mind blowing, nor were the discoveries about his family and a special event from the past, which now brings an old friend to their group. It was all a little too superficial, the same way the lesson another character, Matteo, has to understand regarding his mother and his own talents, was a bit obvious, and happened in a very "prepared" manner. This is to say that the story is, overall, heartfelt enough but not really challenging nor distinctive from others.

I still liked reading it because I liked the characters for themselves, I liked some scenes, I liked the fact they read books (one of them I liked too) and that they discussed important subjects in their lives and which mattered for their personalities and life stories. Most books about books and/or with libraries and bookstores usually appeal to me, so that alone is already a positive aspect to appreciate, but the writing style wasn't different from similar authors and if I separate the individual details, these aren't as strong on their own.

Grade: 7/10