The Lovely Hearts Club

by Brenda Janowitz

[Leah]

When Brenda Janowitz sent me an emailing, eniquiring whether I would like to review her new book The Lonely Hearts Club, I was quite thrilled. I’ve not read any of Janowitz’s previous books (a big error, I now admit, as she’s a super talented writer – I think I may have to buy her other three novels) so this was to be the first taste of her writing I would get, and I loved the sound of the book. I love books set around the music-industry. I’m not a mega music fan, I listen to music on the bus journey to and from work, sometimes when I shower, and I sing along at work (I work at a supermarket, without the music it would be deathly dull as I can prove from the few times the radio has cut out) but I tend to stick to bands I know, singers I know, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all for me as it is for Jo. But I can understand passion – I have a passion for books, and Jo has a passion for music so it seemed like a match made in heaven.

At first I was a little bit wary of The Lonely Hearts Club. The opening chapter is great – especially when it turns out Jo is being fired by her DAD of all people. That’s quite hilarious, and a bit sad, too, but for the next couple of chapters not a lot happens and it mainly focuses on Jo and her relationship with Jesse, her boyfriend of two years. As soon as he was out of the picture, the novel really ramps up the pace, and I found myself completely ensconced in the novel. Jesse set off my bad-guy alarm, and he totes didn’t deserve Jo. Even though it was devastating to Jo that he left, it was for the best, really. Especially since it creates probably one of my absolute-favourite scenes in book history: a Valentine’s night spent drinking vodka where you wake up the next morning and find you have spilled your guts to everyone on the Internet, via way of social media and the lure of a mailing list, courtesy of Jo’s old band website The Lonely Hearts Club Band. Those sorts of scenes are always the best, and I loved how it was on everyone’s radar immediately and the phone conversation that occurs soon afterward with Jo and her friend Chloe was amazing. Perfectly timed, perfectly set out, just perfect. That whole run of pages was just immense beauty. Even the awful Italian restaurant trying to charge Jo double for her usual, on Valentine’s Day!

I found that that simple passage of time really did wonders for the novel and turned it from an okay read into a fantastic read. All of a sudden, Jo’s life was this big whirlwind of telling the world about how awful love is, and because not a lot of time is spent focusing on the bad parts of love, everybody wanted to have their say, and I enjoyed all the fun comments and Tweets and messages from those reading Jo’s blogs. It literally felt like Jo was a friend and I was part of her movement, even though I wasn’t, and it was just a book. Janowitz has that unique knack of really knowing how to write a young twenty-something and she captured Jo perfectly. I could imagine her sitting in her loft (until she had to move out) working away at her blog, or on her best friend Chloe’s couch, it all seemed so real to me. Even better, of course, was the irony of just when Jo was on the verge of giving up love for good…. In walked the delectable, geeky Max, who helps Jo fix up the website, and the two soon start a pretty intense, super enjoyable to read about, relationship. I love how Max and Jo just went at it, and weren’t worried about whether the other liked them, or how to ask them out, or any of that other stuff that complicates relationships that should be super easy. They liked each other, they kissed, they were in a relationship. BOOM.

The Lonely Hearts Club wasn’t all roses though – Jo got sacked (and considering it was by her Dad, too, that’s rough), her dad took away her car, told her she had to start paying rent, she got dumped, and it really was a tale of picking yourself up when you’re down. I could quite easily be in Jo’s situation if my parents weren’t so cool about me living at home. Trying to be a grown up in this day and age and pay your way when jobs are scarce is tough. This is a tough economy to try and live in, and the way Jo pulls herself out of the metaphorical gutter is very impressive. And thankfully Janowitz does it in a way that’s not depressing or dark, it’s a very light, fun read, that touches on some dark subjects in a very real and very well written way. I enjoyed every page – even when it all inevitably went wrong again for poor Jo and was very sad when it came to an end! Jo is a very real twenty-two-year-old and I empathised with her massively, and loved her and just wanted to give her a hug (and perhaps move into her Dad’s loft with her – how cool to say you live in a loft…). I will definitely have to go and discover more of Janowitz’s writing, she has that easy, enjoyable writing style I love and I adored the music refrences, and song titles for the chapter names, it was a fantastic read.