3.5-4 stars. I finished my first book of 2019! So thankful to @penguinpress for sharing The End of Loneliness with me. I really enjoyed this book and the past few days I found myself looking forward to evening reading even more than usual! It’s always a good sign when you end up really prioritizing a book, and that’s what happens with this one. I’m also excited that my first read of the year was a translated book!

The End of Loneliness is about a boy, Jules, his sister, Liz, and his brother, Marty, who were growing up in Munich in the 70s, when they tragically lose their parents. They’re sent to live at a state-run boarding school, and the book follows their lives, through the perspective of Jules.

The years at the boarding school were my favorite part of the book, but I always love a book set at a school. Maybe it’s the Harry Potter nostalgia that sort of defines my reading life, ha. Jules makes a good friend at school, Alva, who he is really in love with. They end up drifting apart for many years after they graduate. The siblings are also well developed characters, and I enjoyed their stories too. All the characters felt like they could be real people.

The pace of the book sort of picks up at the end. The reading experience reminded me a bit of The Heart’s Invisible Furies in that way, although the characters were completely different. There were some melodramatic times, for sure, which knocked off a star for me, but overall I really loved this one! Definitely recommend giving it a try if you like books that follow characters over the span of their lives.