Just Like You

June 22, 2020
Hornby (State of the Union) lives up to his reputation as bard of the everyday in this thoughtful romance that crosses lines of race, age, and class. Lucy, a white, not-quite-divorced schoolteacher, first notices Joseph, a part-time butcher, soccer coach, and aspiring DJ who is black and 20 years her junior, while listening to her friend flirt with him across the counter at the butcher shop. Lucy hires Joseph to babysit her two precocious boys, who adore him, and soon Lucy and Joseph’s relationship becomes romantic. Each takes a turn trying to end the affair (“you and me are like something between brackets,” she tells him), but their connection persists as Lucy juggles parenting and teaching and Joseph determines to expand his DJ career. Hornby is good company on the page and offers insights on his characters with aplomb, demonstrating an investment in each of their voices and an interest in the forces that draw people to one another. This is great fun. Georgia Garrett, RCW Literary.

Ben Bailey Smith and Hattie Ladbury's exemplary performances engage the listener from the start of Hornby's latest audiobook, set in the UK during the pending Brexit vote. Lucy, a white woman in her 40s, is going through a difficult separation. She starts a relationship with Joseph, a Black man two decades her junior, who agrees to babysit for her children. While this premise suggests a story merely about generational and racial misunderstandings, Hornby imbues the empathetic characters with depth while weaving in issues relating to politics, race, class, and education. Smith's performance focuses on Joseph's youthful impulsiveness; Ladbury's performance captures the contemplative older woman who connects with Joseph but also considers the implications beyond their immediate intimate relationship. S.P.C. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine