It doesn’t help that they are both are from the ‘slacker’ generation so their way of thinking does differ.

Who remind us that silence can be healing, and that a steady friend supports just by being a friend. Maybe because real life these days seems to be a mine field, filled with stress and anxiety, a book like this is a balm for the soul. Despite knowing that probably nothing awful was going to happen, I kept worrying that something awful was going to crash down on these lovely people. It was clear he was expecting me to confide in him about secret scandals, simmering resentments and falling outs between my family members. It’s not long, at 240 pages exactly, but there is so much crammed in there you can’t finish it quickly.Though his life had been largely quiet and uneventful, his choices had turned out to be wise ones: he had already lived longer than Alexander The Great, and had fewer enemies too. It was unclear whether this was a mild form of tinnitus from years of listening to headphones in his room or whether it was just the sound of nothing happening.

It is funny throughout, though in a much gentler way than this suggests, and engaging; I enjoyed the read and cared about the characters. I really liked the sound of this book; a celebration of nice gentle introverted souls, two loyal friends, more familiar with the contents of an encyclopedia, than societal norms. Having lived with his mother all his life, her death leaves Leonard dealing with silence and loneliness in a way he hadn’t before, having been content with their friendship and their coexistence.I think there was the potential for a really good book here and I think it would have been a lot better if it wasn't for all the really silly unbelievable events. On the positive side, it is hard not to sympathise with Hession for wanting to create a kinder, gentler world, and characters like his two leads are pretty rare in literature, if all too common in real life - many of the situations they face were very familiar. Leonard and Hungry Paul is a gentle, touching story and I reckon it can be classed as uplit, a literary genre which has become popular in recent times.

Wenn der "Club der Stille" das erste Mal stattfindet wird beispielsweise 4'33" von John Cage gespielt. The limited plot is mercifully free of coincidence or twists – if I had a criticism it would be that some scenes (an out-of-date chocolates incident and a IT-helpdesk colleague) seem to be lifted from a sit-com. Leonard knows what children that he was like would want to read, and this is what he sets out to create. I have a long standing interest in meditation and there’s something zen like about this, particular in the monk-like Leonard.

You’ll laugh and feel for the two main protagonists but all the characters in this book exude some sort of charm. If I'm honest, I am probably closest to Grace, who spends her days being super-efficient at work but needs a boyfriend she can trust enough to be a flake with at home. This voice comes in at moments when the stillness—of death, of rejection, of nothing at all—takes over. Leonard and Hungry Paul may appear socially awkward but they offer a deeper understanding of relationships than many who remain unaware that their confidence in a crowd is shallow and blinkered.

If you're looking for a soul-soothing warm-bath reading experience that says it's okay to be quiet and to set your own values for what matters in your life, this may be it.

Leonard and Hungry Paul are good friends, in their mid-thirties, two quiet and unassuming men who live with their parents and meet once a week to play board games. When the drip was done, I carried her to the park, put her down, and not even the amplified bass rehearsing on the Great Lawn for tonight’s concert could jar our peace. I have been saving it since then because all reports suggested that it was such a gentle, calm book that I wanted to find a time where things were quiet enough for me to savour it – where my outer circumstances would match my reading material. Today’s choice certainly fits that picture, with every man, woman, child and dog having tried it already, and I’m not sure I’ll be adding anything to the chorus of approval out there. Grace’s wish for her brother to be more independent provides a gently poignant yet masterfully rendered understanding of family dynamics.