Light reading, enjoyable characters. ( )

Romance novels aren't my usual fare, but I decided to step out and try something different. I really enjoyed this novel! I liked the characters and the romance, but it is so much more. "Just Like You" explores age, race, class, and how those are experienced and perceived by individuals and how that can affect interactions and relationships. Complex relationship with a satisfying end. ( )

I liked it. Wasn't sure at first, but the characters and the writing and the situation of the story in a broader context of Brexit quickly drew me in.

Lucy is a 42-year-old white, divorced mother of two boys. Joseph is a 22-year-old Black man still living at home and getting by in the "gig" economy with a portfolio of jobs. When they first meet, Lucy is looking for a babysitter (one of Joseph's jobs). But there is a spark. How far can two people of such different backgrounds go? Add in the societal views of inter-racial relationships and May-December relationships where the woman is the older partner and it seems there are so many reasons why this just won't work.

Nick Hornby is a master of writing about everyday life and his characters are like people you might actually know. This is a funny (at times), frustrating (at times) story that left me thinking about love. ( )

A cross-cultural age-gap romance between a divorced mother who is Head of English at the local high school, and a 22 year old black guy who works various jobs, including as a butcher and babysitter, set against the backdrop of the Brexit vote.

I read this after rereading High Fidelity but it doesn’t really share the latter’s witty, insightful and intensely personal prose -- perhaps because this time Hornby is writing about people and experiences he’s less intimately acquainted with? I agree with this Guardian review: Lucy and Joseph are likeable, and “The simple fact of their love is convincing; what is less effectively conveyed is just how this relationship works, neither the glue nor the chemistry truly apparent.” ( )

2016, kur vor der Abstimmung über den Brexit: Lucy ist knapp über vierzig, weiß, Mutter von zwei Jungs, Lehrerin, kürzlich von ihrem weißen alkoholkranken Mann geschieden, Nord-Londonerin und mit Joseph in einer komplizierten Beziehung. Er ist 22 Jahre alt, schwarz und "Portfolio-Jobber". (Wie) kann das funktionieren? Welche Perspektive hat ein in vielen Hinsichten ungleiches Paar, vor allem in Zeiten des Brexit?

Nick Hornby hat für solche Konstellationen ein Auge und ein gutes Gespür. Wie immer unaufgeregt, nett und sehr britisch-humorig erzählt. Die Verbindung mit dem Brexit finde ich sehr klug, weil die vermeintlichen Abgründe, die Lucies und Joseph's Beziehung angeblich unmöglich machen sollten, von ganz anderen Kluften quer durch die britische Gesellschaft gekreuzt werden. Stark finde ich, wie gut Hornby die Sichtweise von Brexit--Befürworter:innen in ihrem sozialen Kontext verständlich macht, ohne sich diese zu eigen zu machen. Man merkt den Sozialpädagogen, der er glaube ich im Ursprungsberuf einmal war und im Herzen wohl immer noch ist.

Schönes Buch, gern gelesen. ( )