Book Review – The Lonely Young and the Lonely Old by Tim Miller

Tim’s blog: Human Pages

The Amazon link

I read this book via my e-reader. This is an unsolicited review.

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What I Loved:

Here we have a collection of short stories all about loneliness. Whether the young child or the widower. The loneliness found in mental illness, age, intelligence, loss, or feeling misunderstood.

Each piece from the first half of the book reads like the inner monologue of the individual. The second half is the musings of the human condition through an unnamed narrator.

Every story was unique and I could feel the loneliness in every line. The length of the book felt just right and the title perfectly sums up what you’ll find inside.

What I Didn’t:

My only real complaint, which is really quite minor, is that the formatting of the e-book was a little off. It didn’t make it unreadable, simply that it detracted (or distracted) from moving the stories along with inconsistent spacing.

My Favorite Bits:

Holy Dread – a delusional man tries to make sense of his confusing life

Flew Away For Number Three – a very young child processes the loss of their father

Games Old Men Play – an older gentleman declines after the loss of his wife but develops a crush on another woman he’s never met

Adult Conversation – a young child listens carefully to the conversation his parents have during his birthday dinner, he decides some secrets are best not shared

Truthfully I liked every story but here were just four of them.

My Overall Score:

4.75/5 stars

(1/4 loss for odd e-book formatting)

My Final Thoughts:

I really appreciated Mr. Miller’s thoughtful take on loneliness. While not providing any answers, he still manages to help one feel a little less alone. Highly recommended to those who enjoy short stories which feel a bit autobiographical and very real.

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