All the Lonely People

All the Lonely People, by Mike Gayle

41/60 | Started 08.15.25 • Finished 08.26.25 | 3.5 stars

Very reminiscient of Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove, but with a little twist. Hubert Bird spends his days locked inside his home, absent of almost all human interaction, save that with his daughter. It doesn't take long for the author to force Hubert to come out of his isolation due to an impending visit. What follows is Hubert's stumbles and successes in venturing out to create a life he's only dreamed of having. Gayle steadily introduces a full cast of characters that are fun to get to know, even if only a little bit. I enjoyed this cute story, despite its similarity to a book I loved. The writing doesn't quite measure up to Backman's but it's a feel-good story that read well.