A review by ladamic
Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone by Eric Klinenberg

4.0

The book reports a mix of overall stats (how many people in each life stage in each country or city are living alone) and in depth interviews with thise living solo in the US or those advocating for these groups. This is glued together a bit with how the world could be designed more around those living alone, and also a bit of philosophy about independence. It was eyeopening in the acceptance and celebration of solo living as a deliberate choice that works for people. The book covers a lot of ground thoroughly. Still, I was disappointed that there was no discussion about how people could be brought together. Sure living alone beats living with an incompatible romantic partner, bad roommate, troubled grown children or substandard nursing home, and many people do just prefer it, but might there be solutions, e.g. co-op housing, roommate matching sites, something completely different that would bring people together who wouldn't mind more togetherness. And like some other reviewers, I found the introductory physical descriptions of everybody in the book a bit jarring.