The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
Ratings16
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings16
Average rating3.9
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism #1 Book of the Year from Brain Pickings Named a best book of the year by NPR, Newsweek, Slate, Pop Sugar, Marie Claire, Elle, Publishers Weekly, and Lit Hub A dazzling work of biography, memoir, and cultural criticism on the subject of loneliness, told through the lives of iconic artists, by the acclaimed author of The Trip to Echo Spring. When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her midthirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by the most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art. Moving from Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks to Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules, from Henry Darger’s hoarding to David Wojnarowicz’s AIDS activism, Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone, illuminating not only the causes of loneliness but also how it might be resisted and redeemed. Humane, provocative, and moving, The Lonely City is a celebration of a strange and lovely state, adrift from the larger continent of human experience, but intrinsic to the very act of being alive.
Reviews with the most likes.
Updated from three to five stars in January 2023. Had to wait for the right time for this one.
Not exactly what I was expecting, but still a good listen.
It just didn't work for me, it wasn't what I wanted. The book spends a lot of time on four men who symbolize loneliness in different ways. Maybe this would have been interesting if I'd had an interest in any of them, but I didn't. The author did talk about her own encounter with loneliness, which was exactly what I was wanting, but too little of the book was given over to it. I had to concentrate intensely on each sentence to make a connection with it, and by page 75 my eyes were sliding down through the paragraphs, picking up a few sentences and not caring one way or another. This book was not for me.
My review is not indicative of the quality I found the book to be of, but rather my experience reading it. I had this book very very oft suggested to me and others in my demographic, so I really went in hoping to experience some company in the endeavor of loneliness. What I was not expecting, was the book to be about so much other than that. The vast majority of the book was written about the loneliness of several artists throughout the modern era and while those stories were at time captivating and interesting, for a lot of the book I felt like just saying...Okay, go off queen, but what are we saying all this for, again? I found the book lacked a focus that I was expecting from it. Again, while well written and articulated especially I just don't think this book was at all what I was expected and I unfortunately did not leave this feeling any better or relieved about loneliness.
