The End of Loneliness

Starting as a relatively straightforward account of a childhood informed by a traumatic event, this develops into a beautiful tale of memory, ageing, regret, art, unrequited love. But mostly it’s about loss and its impact, whether it be loss of family, friendship or capacity, and coming to terms with it.
Thoroughly recommended.

‘The End of Loneliness’ by Benedict Wells tells the story of Jules, his brother Marty and his sister Liz who were orphaned as children when their parents were killed in a car accident in France. After attending the same boarding school, the siblings go their separate ways in life but are reunited when Jules is seriously injured in a motorcycle accident decades later. During his recuperation, Jules reflects on key events in his life from coming to terms with the death of his parents to his relationship with his mysterious childhood friend Alva years after they leave school.

Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins (who was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Robert Seethaler’s A Quiet Life in 2016) ‘The End of Loneliness’ won the European Prize for Literature and has been a huge success in Germany, something that could be repeated this year among English-speaking readers. Admittedly, there is no shortage of literary novels about loneliness but I found this book particularly affecting. Wells’ fourth novel and first to be translated into English explores loneliness in several forms including bereavement, unrequited love and memory loss. During a conversation with Jules, one of his friends raises the idea of defining loneliness as the absence of emotional security rather than the absence of company. This is particularly relevant to Jules who has no shortage of people around him but still has numerous encounters with loneliness.

‘The End of Loneliness’ is an understated and emotionally intelligent literary novel. While it is melancholic in tone but thankfully avoids becoming overdramatic. I hope that Wells’ back list becomes available in English very soon. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.

I really loved this book. It is Jules' story which he tells in a mixture of current events and flashbacks; with a present event sparking a memory, which makes the telling so real and natural. The relationships between the siblings are well drawn and realistic, and other interesting characters weave in and out of Jules' life, At its heart it is a poignant love story. A book which makes you slow down to savour it instead of rushing to "see what happens" is rare, and this is one of them.

What a book; The End of Loneliness: The Dazzling International Bestseller by Benedict Wells was. You will need some tissues handy for this one. Marty, Liz and Jules' loving parents were killed in a car crash in Munich and their lives suddenly changed. They had to go to a bleak state boarding school. They had to deal with the sudden death of their parents who they loved dearly.
As time went on they become estranged from one another. Jules is becoming a withdrawn teenager, Marty has focussed on his career and Liz is turning to different forms of escapision.
This book is a very strong novel and endless loneliness throughout. I really enjoyed this book and so glad It was translated to english. Don't for get your tissues.
If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. Just Excellent.

Jules wakes in a hospital bed - he’s been in an accident and he’s pretty beaten up. He tries to piece it together: a motorcycle accident, but there’s something before that, something his mind doesn’t want to recall. We’ll find out what that is… but not yet, not for quite some time.

We flashback to his childhood and learn that he lost his parents early in life, the result of a car crash. He, his brother Marty and sister Liz were dispatched to a grim boarding school. The idyllic life they’d led to this point is gone, replaced by something else. At the school, Jules meets the red haired Alva, a similarly introverted being; they strike up a friendship. Marty also finds a friend in Toni, who will eventually become a friend to all three siblings. Liz, on the other hand is a bit of a loner, but wild too: she wants to live life to the full and to experiment. As the book unfolds we see will how the lives of all five of them play out.

The focus, though, is on Jules and it’s through him that we see what happens to each of them. It’s a truly multi-layered tale this: it’s predominantly melancholy in tone, as the siblings follow a hard road to their futures, and we really do witness the peaks and troughs a life can deliver. Not only is there the loss of their parents to deal with but also separation as the three of them are split up for the first time in their lives at the boarding school and again later after they’ve gotten together collectively or sometimes in pairings. There is the agonising over unrequited love and the mistakes they make (that we all make) as they grow up, sometimes leading to longer term problems or regrets that will continue to haunt them. There’s also a pervading sense of time running out, things left undone. And there’s a suspicion that lives can be poisoned from the start (the siblings lost their parents and Alva lost a sister) stunting the ability to find happiness thereafter. But there are good times too, successes and moments of pure unadulterated happiness.

Apart from enjoying the unfolding of the tale itself, one of the great pleasures of this book for me was the way in which the group wrestle with some of the big philosophical questions in life, such as: do people really have free will and if a different path had been taken would some elements still be the same – would something still survive, the immutable part?

For Liz, life is about excitement and stimulation but for Marty and Jules I sense it’s more about finding security and contentment. Different strokes for different folks. Do each of them (or any of them) find what they’re looking for? Well, I’m not going to answer that, you’re going to have to read the book and find out for yourselves!

A five star read, without doubt. This book has been a huge success since it’s release, winning the 2016 European Union Prize for Literature, and I can see why. Now translated into English it’s one that you’ll miss at your peril.

Thanks to Net Galley &Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Translated from German to English this book starts slowly, but I became emerged in the lives of Jules, his brother Marty and sister Liz.
Their parents are killed in a road accident and they are packed off to boarding school by their aunt. Immediately Jules is separated from his older brother and sister and this remains the case for many years.
Jules has one friend at school, Alva, in later years she reveals to Jules why she chose to sit beside him, and why some time later she removes herself again. Their friendship developers though through their years at school, Jules tries several times to tell Alva how he feels, but it never happens. They spend many years apart, Jules Is lonely, drifting from photography to writing and to different jobs. Liz lives life for excitement, drugs alcohol and many different relationships. Marty educates himself and gets married.
Jules emails Alva, they meet up, they exchange nostalgic gifts. It’s sometime after this Alva asks him to come and stay with her and her husband who is a famous author, Jules drops everything in his life to go and be with her, always hoping.
This is the story of a long friendship and so much more, of 3 sibling who are alone even when together, all three of them sharing one friend, Toni. , but love, friendship, family and death join them together.
I loved this book, well deserving of 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this book that traces the life of Jules, the youngest of three children whose lives are thrown off course when their parents die in a car accident. It is a book about pain, loss, and that sense that we might be missing out on the life we are supposed to lead. Beautifully drawn characters and very moving.