A review by vishalancyrus
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

5.0

Reading this feels like wandering through a gallery at 2 a.m., where every painting watches you back. It’s about loneliness, sure, but Laing turns it into something achingly beautiful, almost seductive. You dive into the lives of Warhol, Hopper, and Wojnarowicz, and she’s peeling back layers of their work to reveal how solitude seeps into every brushstroke and photograph. There’s this strange intimacy to the way Laing writes—like she’s cracking open the core of being human while pretending not to look. Her prose is sharp, the kind that gets under your skin and stays there, making you rethink the way cities breathe and how we exist inside them. Even if nonfiction isn’t your thing, this book is an undeniable force, drawing you in with its mix of art, emotion, and the quiet terror and the melancholic beauty of being alone.