Just like You

A Novel

By: Nick Hornby

Narrated by: Ben Bailey Smith, Hattie Ladbury

”[A] charming, funny, touching, and relevant comedy.” —The Boston Globe

“A provocative yet sweet romantic comedy.” —People, Best of Fall 2020

From the beloved author of Dickens and Prince, About A Boy, and High Fidelity, this warm, wise, highly entertaining twenty-first century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected

Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she’d been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable. Now, two decades later, she’s a nearly divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn’t exactly looking for love—she’s more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet. It’s not a match anyone one could have predicted. He’s of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.

Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person—someone you didn’t see coming.

©2020 Nick Hornby (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Effervescent with chemistry and quick dialogue.” (Booklist)

"A hopeful balm for our unsettled postpandemic times.” (Library Journal, starred review)

"Hornby lives up to his reputation as bard of the everyday in this thoughtful romance that crosses lines of race, age, and class.... 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.” (Publishers Weekly)

Good, despite Hornby mailing it in

I've been checking for new work by Nick Hornby for years, having read all of his prior works of fiction, including listening to books that I originally read in print. Yet somehow I missed this one when it was first released. I feel, now that I've read it, that it came in under the radar because Hornby basically just mailed it in, rehashing familiar themes without breaking new ground.

Despite that, despite a deflating opening hour that seemed trite and dated, it does come together with good characters and interesting situations -- a 42 year old divorcee dating a 22 year old black man on the eve of the Brexit vote and its immediate aftermath. Hornby doesn't break any new ground, as already mentioned, perhaps even purposely avoiding it.

But it's decent enough fare for fans of his type of storytelling.

Marvelous!

I truly enjoyed the story. I laughed, shed a tear or two, got angry and disgusted. And loved every minute.
I am a Black man in the US who married a White woman who is almost 6 years older from a rural family. We’ve been married for 35 years
Years before that I dated a White woman 15 years older in Houston,TX in the early 80’s. We met with much resistance mostly from her sister and ended up separating.
Though this takes place in the UK, it seems that the same issues remain constant no matter the time or place.
Bottom line, this book deserves a good read or a good listen!

Love Nick Hornby

... but I'm not as much of a fan of this book in particular. His books, About a Boy, How to be Good, and High Fidelity, are among my all-time favorite books. This one was only good. I just wasn't as engaged in the story as I was his previous books. I did enjoy the narration by Ben Bailey Smith and Hattie Ladbury.

Thought provoking.well read and written.

Researched very well, very now in brexit/ trump era ,very funny too at times .
Narrator nailed the 2 small kids whey better than if I read book in print

I love anything Nick Hornby writes

And this book is a winner. Topical, funny, engaging, beautifully mastered for audio. Love, love, love.

Brilliant social commentary

I’ve read all of Nick Hornby‘s books and some are brilliant and some are entertaining but Just Like You is both.

Good but not great

Hornby is an amazing writer, the subject matter was interesting but I think it needed to be longer to really get to the subject matter’s full potential. Still glad I listened

A Wonderful Surprise

What a lovely story! I couldn’t put it down. Lucy was such a down to earth character that I could relate to. The story was calming in this crazy world we live in while touching on and at times delving into hot topics. A fun and terrific read.

Very much enjoyed

I read some bad reviews and people who said they couldn’t figure out why an older white woman and a younger black man would ever be together so it was unrealistic. That’s a really unfair review, people are complex and you never know what two people will be drawn to each other. The narration was fantastic and I quite enjoyed all aspects of the book. Perhaps I am biased though. It mirrored my real life freakily close. I’m a 40 something divorced white woman whose husband was an alcoholic and I was being pursued by a 20 something African-American man.

Meh!!

The book was a slow start, picked up in the middle but died at the end. Definitely not what I was expecting.