We spent all those years talking about stuff we had in common, and the last few months noticing all the ways we were different and it broke both of our hearts.
Nick HornbyLinda seemed to recognize loneliness. Possibly she could see it sitting opposite her, sipping lager and trying not to lose its temper. It was an illness, loneliness-it made you weak, gullible, feebleminded.
Nick HornbyMy own feeling about JJ, without knowing anything about him, was that he might have been a gay person, because he had long hair and spoke American. A lot of Americans are gay people, arenโt they? I know they didnโt invent gayness, because they say that was the Greeks. But they helped bring it back into fashion. Being gay was a bit like the Olympics: it disappeared in ancient times, and then they brought it back in the twentieth century. Anyway, I didnโt know anything about gays, so I just presumed they were all unhappy and wanted to kill themselves.
Nick Hornby