One of the books on my spinster book list is Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, by Eric Klinenberg. If you’ve wondered whether or not it’s worth adding to your own library, here’s my take on it.
{Because I enjoyed and recommend this book, this post contains affiliate links. Please read my affiliate links disclosure here.}
What’s Going Solo by Eric Klinenberg About?
Going Solo is a nonfiction book that examines, as the subtitle suggests, the fact that more people are living by themselves these days than they ever did in the past. Klinenberg uses statistics and anecdotes to take a pretty deep look at the issue.
Going Sadly Single?
Overall, this is a well-balanced, well-written book about the trend toward living singly. In my opinion, despite the largely positive introduction, the book takes a relatively neutral–if not slightly pessimistic–view on the issue.
At certain times the author seems to conflate living s solo life with living a life of severe social isolation. Klinenberg does recognize the distinction between the two in the book. Still, he devotes a lot of time to stories of people who either ‘went solo’ without really wanting to or who simply isolated themselves.
My Take-Away from Going Solo
In the end, it’s a pretty balanced book. The introduction made me think it might be more of a champion for living solo, or offer some practical steps to living alone in a healthy way, but that’s really not what this book is about. Klinenberg saw this trend and decided to explore it, and he does so very well. He doesn’t shy away from the fact that a lot of people are living alone not because they want to but because they’ve found themselves in that situation.
But he does also examine things from the pro-solo community. He also glances at the fact that in some cases the compulsion to be isolated–rather than the choice to live singly–may be the cause of much of the unhappiness about living alone.
Should You Check It Out?
I’d recommend reading this book if you’re interested in:
- The difference between living solo and living in isolation
- Learning more about living singly
- The surprising trend toward solo living and what might be causing it
- How living alone affects people and society
Even though it wasn’t quite what I expected when I picked up the book, it was well worth the read. A few of Klinenberg’s writing quirks stood out to me, but nothing that seriously distracted me from the overall message. This is by far the most comprehensive book on the topic of single living I’ve found.
Where to Buy Going Solo by Eric Klinenberg
If you’re not ready to put down the cash, support your local library by borrowing this book. If you’d rather underline, dog ear, or highlight the pages, you can order a copy through this nifty affiliate link. Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
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Have you read Going Solo? What did you think about it? Let the solo community know in the comments.
