Review: “The Opposite of Loneliness”

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]uring the holidays I try to read as much as I can. After the trauma of exams and essays, I need a little light relief and steer clear of course related books due to the fear that they would entirely stamp out my love of reading forever.

I have to admit, I think I was pretty successful this year. During the summer, I was intrigued by The Secret History, amused by The Rosie Project, and melancholy because of the final pages of The Remains of the Day, I thought I had exhausted all reactions.

Then, at my local library sale, I came across Marina Keegan’s The Opposite of Loneliness. The cover, a young smiling woman in a yellow coat, meant my curiosity got the better of me and I got stuck into this universally lauded book.

Within the first few lines of her eponymous essay, I felt so homesick for university. She perfectly describes that feeling of belonging in a place that contrasts to everything you’ve known so far. To go from having your hand held, to being thrown in the deep end, and yet not feel scared.

Within the first few lines of her eponymous essay, I felt so homesick for university.

Marina Keegan died very shortly after her graduation, so her university years were the only tastes of independence she ever had. Being at university for her was to live the opposite of loneliness, to be surrounded by like-minded people.

Unlike travelling on the tube or waiting at an airport, to roam campus gives one a warm sense of community you’d struggle to find elsewhere. The rest of her stories and essays were heartfelt and absorbing, but the opening made me feel very profoundly about the last year of my life and the upcoming two.

Her thoughtful words reinvigorated me just in time.

Image Credits: Header (Cher VernalEQ/Flickr)