These flashes of wit and poignancy make something exceptional out of what might easily have been humdrum, vindicating WH Auden’s assertion that the novelist must learn “how to be / One after whom none think it worth to turn”. Die titelgebenden Protagonisten dieses Romans Leonard und Paul sind so sympathisch, dass ich dem Autor literarische Mängel wie das gelegentliche Überschreiten der Kitschgrenze verzeihe. Rónán Hession greift in seinem Debütroman Menschen und Charaktere auf, die in unserer hektischen Gesellschaft schnell untergehen und eher übersehen werden.

It’s this strand that comes closest to nineties lad-lit (à la Nick Hornby or Mike Gayle), with the focus on Leonard and the woman who will change his life.It’s a cheerful, meandering affair in which the reader spends a few months in the lives of two friends, men in their thirties who are more than happy with a quiet life. The central characters of the book are the two friends of the title, both of whom are quiet single men in their 30s.

Because both of these men are happy with their lives just the way they are, and how many of us can say that?Leonard knows what children that he was like would want to read, and this is what he sets out to create. This is a gentle yet penetrating tale of the many guises of love and friendship that pierces the too often impenetrable veneer most will apply to protect themselves from others perceived judgement. It finds a value and specialness in them that is not immediately apparent and prompts the idea that maybe we could learn from the people that we overlook in life.

It is the story of two quiet, socially insecure men, their friendship, and their paths to create meaningful lives for themselves without pretending to be other than who they are. But I did read this in the context of the Republic of Consciousness Prize and there it is hard not to conclude that Patience by Toby Litt does something similar, but rather more strikingly. Ich werde zwar in dieses Genre nicht tiefer einsteigen, aber die sympathischen Einzelgänger Leonard und Paul bekommen auf jeden Fall einen guten Platz in meinem Bücherregal.His occasional work as a postman leaves him financially dependent and his acceptance of this frustrates Grace. His mind became effervescent with pictures and stories of overlooked people who had simply lived their lives as best they could during the Roman Empire. I liked how Hession showed us these two men slowly and gently, revealing their strengths and flaws, as we got to know them. Although Leonard feels lonely after the death of his mother, Hungry Paul’s family are there to ensure he isn’t alone. Birbirinizi yeniden bulmanız gerekecek -işte işin sırrı- eskiyi canlandırmaya çalışmak yerine ilişkinizi ve kendinizi yeniden oluşturmanız gerekecek.

It’s his voice even more than his story of two single men in their thirties who live their lives as well as they can. This voice comes in at moments when the stillness—of death, of rejection, of nothing at all—takes over. I also felt that Paul’s parents were a little too perfect, even though I realised the author was deliberately creating characters who cared for one another.This morning, as every morning, when I gave Maya her IV drip, both of us went into a peaceful trance; we became one with the saline as it coursed down the line into Maya and I imagined it gently spreading, bathing all her organs with love, leaving happy kidneys before exiting out and back into the earth. I mention that by way of contrast with this novel, where the two title characters would never intentionally hurt someone else, although they might do so unintentionally, as they struggle with the nuances of human relationships.