I know it is odd to start a review with a negative, but I want to get it out of the way. I did not like The Lonely Book as much as Meg Grehan’s other titles. This one felt younger than the ones I have read and I was expecting something more mature. With that said, I still enjoyed this addition to their collection of prose poetry novels. Most of Grehan’s books deal with LGBTQ+ issues as well as mental health. This time we are dealing with gender, how we present ourselves not just to our family and friends or the world as a whole, but to ourselves as well, and multiple anxiety issue situations. This is done with the setting as the family bookstore, with the addition of how the books can magically appear when they are needed. But of course, the one book about gender is never claimed and this causes real chaos, not just physically but emotionally as well to the store and the family of four.
The siblings’ interaction is interesting, the mothers relationship is only slightly forced, the real magic elements could have been a smidgen less obvious, but overall it works. There are multiple layers that might not be for everyone. Partly, I think this is because Grehan is an Irish author and that style of writing is different from American authors and partly because I am not the intended audience. But it probably would work best with someone questioning their gender/lack of and maybe not as much for the friends/family of said person. However, having the anxiety issues being also focused on takes away from the gender issue. Perhaps just focusing on one or the other might have made things flow easier for me.
The narrator is the younger sister and the interview at the end with the author explains why she is chosen. It might be interesting to have the older siblings POV as well (another book?) but I do like how we focus on the importance and impact a family member’s journey has on the family as a whole.