The central characters of the book are the two friends of the title, both of whom are quiet single men in their 30s. Leonard works as a writer providing text for children's encyclopedias, and has recently lost his mother (as the striking opening line says he has been fatherless almost since birth). Hungry Paul (the Hungry part of the name is never explained, nor are there any behavioural clues to its origin, nor is he ever referred to by name by anyone other than the omniscient narrator, and for me this grated a little) still lives with his parents, and has an occasional job as a casual postman. Leonard regularly visits Paul's house to play board games. But I did read this in the context of the Republic of Consciousness Prize and there it is hard not to conclude that Patience by Toby Litt does something similar, but rather more strikingly. The three of them . had always seen themselves as bumpers along the blowing lane for him to bounce between, saving him from mundane dangers and guiding him towards his achievements, modest though they were.

yazar Rónán Hession'ın ilk romanıymış bu. 30larında iki arkadaş olan Leonard ve Paul'ün süssüz dostluklarını merkeze alıp, ikilinin hayatının bir dönemine göz atıyor yazar ve bence bizi bildiğimiz kategorilerin dışında düşünmeye çağırıyor zarifçe. Hızlıca bazı kalıplara sokabileceğimiz karakterler bunlar aslında, mesela pekala "başarısız" diyebileceğimiz tipler ama o stereotiplerin dışında / ötesinde kim olduklarını görmemizi sağlıyor bu tatlı roman. Though not autobiographical, it is a tribute to the kindness I have experienced all my life and which can sometimes seem absent, largely because it is so often expressed in private.It is also beautifully crafted - I highlighted so many passages in my kindle copy that I struggled to select one or two to include in this review, although as a life insurance actuary I loved this towards the novel's end:

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We have the chance for you to win 10 copies of this fantastic novel for your reading group! Please enter by Friday 22 March. This thought spurs Leonard into action. He starts talking to Shelley, a woman at work, and gains the courage to ask her out. And, feeling inspired, he begins to write a children’s book of his own, and in so doing, gains passion for his work. The quiet, unobtrusive and meaning-filled book is the story of two friends – Leonard and Hungry Paul – both quiet 30-ish year old men living quiet, unobtrusive but still meaning-filled lives, still based in their childhood homes. This is the peace evoked by Ronan Hession’s voice. It’s his voice even more than his story of two single men in their thirties who live their lives as well as they can. This voice comes in at moments when the stillness—of death, of rejection, of nothing at all—takes over.

Kalıplar, etiketler, kurumların ötesinde düşünmek; hayata geç de olsa bir yerinden ve bir biçimde tutunmak, kendi kabuğumuzun içinde iyi hissetmenin yollarını bulmak üzerine pek zarif bir roman bu. Çok tavsiye ediyorum, kimsenin hayatını değiştirmez ama okuyan herkesin kalbini yumuşatır bence. Neither man has ever really learned how to handle social interaction. They’re awkward and often overthink what they should say, resulting in their saying nothing (or, worse, saying the wrong thing). But they slowly come to realize that they do have something to offer to others … if only their quiet and steady presence. Yes this book resonated with me in a big way. It’s not often that one reads such a down to earth novel with a lot of heart in it. Sometimes it is essential to read a book like Leonard and Hungry Paul as it changes your perspective and makes you smile in the process. The unspecified location reinforces the slight detach from reality. There is a rough sketch of an urban landscape, streets, shops, restaurants, mentions of McDonald’s and a Tesco but only blueprints, which alleviates the characters from any major specific socio-geographical struggles. Both men reside in their family homes not (like many of us) because of unprecedented rent prices, but because they are happy in these homes. That said, I came at this book a little late and with certain prejudices from friends who had read it as to what to expect, and the book didn't disappoint those expectations, including the negative.Leonard edits and ghost writes children’s encyclopedias and is set in his ways. His best friend, Hungry Paul is sort of the same; he lives with his parents AND lives off them as he doesn’t really have a 9/5 job. He’s comfortable with his life and has his rituals and routines. Vielen Dank an Frauke Meurer & Torsten Woywod für den Mut zum Gründen des Verlages und dem Publizieren dieser einzigartigen Lektüre. Longlisted for the 2020 Republic of Consciousness Prize, the judges said: Books this charming and gentle are rarely also as engaging; the power Hession wrings out of such ordinary situations is almost subversive. Leonard and Hungry Paul manages to find a voice for many things that are only thought. Bluemoose Books continue to hit their targets with unerring accuracy, and the book is soon to be published by Melville House in the US.All of that is very valid. In particular, this novel is a welcome counterbalance to the usual focus of literature (one I also have a tendency to enforce in my reading) to the unpleasant. When we meet Leonard, he is living alone in his childhood home, his mother having died recently. He has a steady job working for a children’s encyclopaedia; he writes (or rewrites) the text the educated researcher submits to make it more accessible for kids. Hungry Paul is Leonard’s best (and only) friend. He still lives at home with his parents, and his older sister’s wedding is a central focus of the plot. Hungry Paul takes judo lessons (he’s not very good) and works one day a week as a substitute letter carrier. Leonard and Hungry Paul, title characters in Rónán Hession’s debut novel, are like Forrest Gump, Johnsey Cunliffe from The Thing About December, Moss and Roy from The IT Crowd, and Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong from the TV quiz show, Pointless. Lovable dorks, awkward antiheroes, oddballs who are comfortable in their own skin. These are not the pithy millennials of Sally Rooney’s world. Leonard and Hungry Paul don’t attend poetry readings or engage with internet culture. They don’t even read novels, preferring encyclopaedias and scientific journals. They like bird watching, discussing the bleaching of coral reefs and the discovery of dwarf planets, and playing board games.

There are some gorgeous scenes in this novel. The one that sees Leonard practising conversations in preparation for his first date, are reminiscent of those in Martin Amis’s The Rachel Papers, (Though Amis’s protagonist is a teenager, whereas Leonard is in his thirties.) Overall, this début examines the people who, through living quiet lives, generally escape our notice. If there’s a message here, it’s that people generally have hidden depths, and that whilst there’s a lot of kindness in the world, much of it is expressed in private. There have been some admirable debuts published in 2019, but this one, for me, towers over the rest of them. Rónán Hession has a three-book deal; I can’t wait to see what he produces next.It’s all a bit smug, isn’t it? Who even plays board games? Okay, I know some people do. I’m partial to some Scrabble myself, but only occasionally, when I can spare a minute, which is usually over Christmas, or never. Why would I spare the time when I could use it to finally watch The Wire, start my own blog, learn how to make hummus, amass one of the fiscal or cultural currencies in which we all trade? Board games might be fun, but who has time for fun? He’s very conscious, he says, that those who have made the most difference in his own life are self-effacing people who often go unchampioned. “I’m not naturally like that. My wife is a naturally kind person and she’s had a very good influence on me. One of the nice things about One Dublin One Book is that friends of my mother have got in touch and said, ‘I didn’t know you were a writer,’ and I’m able to send them a copy and say, ‘This is inspired by kind people like you were to me.’” Some time ago I went to a family function and I was approached by the new boyfriend of one of my relatives. He leaned into me and whispered, “Tell me all the gossip!” It was clear he was expecting me to confide in him about secret scandals, simmering resentments and falling outs between my family members. But there weren't any. So when I shrugged and replied that we were all just having a nice visit he turned and walked away with a look of disappointment. The truth is that much of our ordinary lives and many family relations are made up of mundane details rather than high drama. But since this doesn't usually inspire riveting plots, it's not often represented in fiction. Therefore, it was refreshing to read Rónán Hession's novel “Leonard and Hungry Paul” which follows the low-key stories of two quiet friends whose interactions chiefly involve games of Scrabble or Connect Four. As with many novels, one of the main drives of this narrative is the lead up to a marriage – in this case that of Hungry Paul's sister Grace. Rather than being a high drama of anxious tension or calamitous mishaps surrounding the big day, the entire affair is summarized by one character as simply “Nice.” It's not that nothing happens; all of the main characters experience subtle life changes and shifts in perspective by the book's conclusion. But, by disallowing a story of scandalous intrigue, what I think Hession captures so beautifully and poignantly is the more realistic pulse and rhythm of life. Leonard and Hungry Paul is almost deceptively well written. It’s clever, and insightful; the kind of book that makes you nod in recognition, and marvel at a writer’s ability to voice something you, yourself have thought, yet never articulated. The culmination of the book is Hungry Paul’s sister grace’s wedding. This action is the catalyst for Leonard and Hungry Paul’s change. Although it’s done unconventionally. Especially in Hungry Paul’s case.