I’ve long been a proponent of stories that fall more firmly into the New Adult category. This kind of book examines a very different experience to that of teenagers, instead it looks at characters navigating that uncertain space where you’re technically an adult because you’ve left school, you’re over eighteen, and you have all the legal rights of an adult when it comes to managing your life, but you don’t really feel like an adult at all; you have no idea what you’re doing or where you’re going. (If I’m being honest, my own books are actually closer to NA than YA, if you’re interested in the distinction, I wrote an article on NA/YA here.
As a result, Loner, the Text Prize winning debut manuscript from Melbourne-based Georgina Young, is a pleasant change in that it directly fills that space, telling the story of nineteen-year-old Lona who is drifting through life; painfully shy, and stuck in a holding pattern after dropping out of studying fine art at university.
Certainly, this was an interesting text. I was genuinely uncertain as to how the storyline would unfold, and I enjoyed Young’s crisp, clean style that captured Lona’s semi-detached observations of the world around her.
Moreover, the way Young structures the novel—not in chapters, but in sections that are delineated by a small heading—worked unexpectedly well. Playing with conventions of storytelling is important, because that’s how we push the limits of the stories we tell. However, books are stylised piece of narrative and they need to conform to some conventions and norms. There were parts of the story where I was intensely curious as to how things would unfold and the bite-sized way Young has structured it means the book easily slips by, but it just felt as though so many of the story’s key elements still needed clear resolutions at the book’s end. Sure, the coming-of-age novel’s trope of grand revelations and take-home messages can be a little on the nose, but their importance is driven home by their absence here in Loner. It felt as though, while there were clear wrap-ups and progressions, the story did end with a level of abruptness, and there were some key narrative threads that simply didn’t have any clear explanation offered. For example, the sudden departure of Tab, Lona’s best friend, across the middle of the novel, while obviously serving a function to encourage Lona to establish her own sense of independence, was never adequately explained.
This was further complicated by a few odd inconsistencies in style. The book is set in Melbourne, but there’s intermittent use of vagaries in describing certain locations; sometimes a suburb or landmark or institution will be referred to by its name, and then sometimes it’s vaguely referred to by a characteristic that places a gauzy strip over it that does little to obscure what it is to a local reader. It was a strange decision, which I hope was edited out of the ARC which I received.
At times, I also struggled to connect with Lona. While many of her struggles are well depicted, and far too commonly experienced by people—and it’s really important that we read characters whose aimlessness and inertia is near-crippling—I personally didn’t like how Lona behaved or viewed certain things. Young does a good job, though, of creating a complex character whose internal monologue has moments of genuine wit, humour, and intelligence, but who also behaves in ways that are frustratingly self-defeating and at times is self-absorbed. In other words, Young’s characterisation of her central character is unflinching. It’s admirably handled.
While I was a little let down by the end’s lack of several resolutions to many of the narrative threads I found most interesting, I thought Loner a commendable debut story, and a beautiful engagement with something that is all too often not discussed.
Loner is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Loner? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Lona, a cynical, introverted artist and part-time roller-DJ, traverses life’s sorrows and joys in this heartfelt look at new adulthood.
Set in Melbourne, Loner is a humorous and heartfelt exploration of new adulthood. Lona kills her days by sneaking into the dark room at her old art school to develop photographs. She kills her nights DJ-ing the roller disco at Planet Skate. She is in inexplicably, debilitatingly love with a bespectacled Doctor Who-obsessed former classmate, and in comfortable, platonic love with her best friend Tab. Lona works hard to portray a permanent attitude of cynicism and ennui but will her carefully constructed persona be enough to protect her from the inevitable sorrows and unexpected joys of adult life? Loner re-examines notions of social isolation experienced by young people, suggesting sometimes our own company can be a choice and not a failing.
