Didn't really know what to expect from this but I enjoyed it a lot. Very meaningful and one that will stick with me.

“The gambler is the one who goes on with no peace, no release, till he has annihilated himself…”

Harryboy Boas is that gambler.

Determined to assuage his guilt from a past love affair, Harryboy Boas spends his days as a bachelor in Hackney, London gambling with his prospects, his life, and the lives of others. What he has curated as the perfect emotionally-repressed and self-gratifying life suits him just fine: he spends his days gambling on dogs at the track, reading, and philosophizing, and his sordid nights with women.

Then one day, a couple moves into the shared boarding house, beginning the emotional and financial unravelling that forces him to come to terms with his psychological state and his treatment of others.

Self-annihilation is a prominent theme in this novel. Harryboy Boas is plagued by guilt over a past affair that may or may not have yielded him a Jewish child during the height of the Second World War, which fuels his hatred of himself and others. He is determined not to form bonds, and any relationships he has with his sister and her husband he merely uses to his advantage. Yet you can feel in his internal dialogue a deep sense of loss and longing--for human connection, to be freed from his past, and to be given a future. One where he is able to come to terms with himself and be truly cared for.

What I love so much about this novel is how self-aware Harryboy is, even as he is determined to repress all of his own thoughts, memories, and emotions. He is raw and unflinching in his dialogue, consistently acknowledging his own role as the story's protagonist and antagonist--while still refusing to change in any way that doesn't serve his own selfish desires.

And I love this about him.

There is nothing better than a self-aware, flawed main character who is in a self-imposed cycle of destruction, yet still can't break it. It's human. I saw myself so many times in his internal conflicts, and it made him all the more magnetic.

Baron's "The Lowlife" is one of my favorite reads from NetGalley, capturing the essence of what it means to be human, and to wrestle with the pain, guilt, and desires of our own hearts--even as we actively go against them.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-arc, and to Sinclair's immersive introduction into Baron's world of Hackney, London.

THE LOWLIFE: 4.25 stars.