The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle

I really expected to like this book more than I did, but Albert is a curmudgeon who isn't the least bit curious about the world and holds on to his naivet?? like an emergency blanket. I just don't really understand or have the patience for the type of people who haven't been more than 50 miles from their place of birth until they're old - especially someone who lives 100 miles from one of the greatest cities in the world.
He's worked for the same Royal Mail post office in the same town since he was of working age and shies away from anything, especially if it's even close to being “gay”. Now, I understand that he had trauma from his asshole cop dad and his equally (but in different ways) abusive mother but there's a point where you cross from being traumatized to full blown mental illness. He has no friends, he doesn't like anyone he's around, he doesn't have any hobbies, he's never even been on the internet... it's just really sad and bizarre.
The thing that kicks Albert out of his 55+ year slump is the death of his cat. He seems to have this revelation that life is short and he's been wasting what he has of his. The story kind of shifts from him to a young mother on his route, even with whole chapters devoted to her POV, which I was uninterested in. If your title says “Life of” and then a character's name, I don't want it to be about other people. Her pushing her boyfriend into a relationship and talking to her shitty friend about her life didn't progress the story in any way.
The latter half of the book is Albert and this young mom going on tiny adventures looking for the love of his life - a kid he was in a relationship with when they were both still in high school. While this may be charming to some people, I found it kind of obsessive. Of course this old man who has never experienced the world and has denied himself even the simplest of pleasures his entire life is going to be fixated on the single thing that made him happy, but it felt obsessive and weird. At least it got him out of the house.
Overall, the story itself could be cute and it does have decent character progression, but you have to really identify with these characters to really appreciate it and I just didn't.