The best thing about 'Leonard and Hungry Paul' by Rónán Hession is the fact that we never find out why Hungry Paul is called Hungry Paul. It's a book all about people, my favourite kind. I knew I was going to love it from the opening sentence: "Leonard was raised by his mother alone with cheerfully concealed difficulty, his father having died tragically during childbirth." So Leonard's mother has died but he still has his surrogate family at Hungry Paul's house. Lovely description of Hungry Paul's parent's relationship:"She met Peter after he had stopped one day to give her directions to an art exhibition and then invited himself along. They fell in love effortlessly. Their initial chemistry broadened into physics and then biology, until they were blessed with Hungry Paul's sister Grace as their first child. They then had Hungry Paul after two difficult miscarriages and, understandable in the circumstances, they treasured him. As a couple, Helen and Peter continued to share the closeness of two people who have been through a lot together." (p.6-7)
I think it would be fair, and they would be unlikely to disagree, to use the word nerds about Leonard and Hungry Paul. This is an early example of their conversations, during a game of Yahtzee: " 'Indeed I do. I see you still have the fridge magnet of The Scream you bought afterwards as a momento. It's not just any artist that makes it onto that fridge.'
'Well, I was reading an article about that very painting today and guess what? Do you know what the most fascinating thing about it is?' tantalised Hungry Paul.
'Okay, let me think. The orange background is related to the eruption of Krakatoa isn't it? Is that it?'
'Interesting, but that's not it.' Hungry Paul was rattling his dice in the cup the whole time, adding to the sense of suspense.
'Okay, I give up.'
'The figure in the painting isn't actually screaming!' Hungry Paul spilled his dice on the board as he revealed this; a little too enthusiastically, as one of them had to be retrieved from under the table - a four, which did him no good.
'Really, are you sure?'
'Absolutely. That's the whole thing. The figure is actually closing his ears to block out a scream. Isn't that amazing? A painting can be so misunderstood and still become so famous.' " (p.16)
A few pages later they discuss the meaning of life (as you do):
" '... As you know, I have always been modestly Hippocratic in my instincts: I wish to do no harm. My preference has always been to stand back from the world. Much like the Green Cross Code, I like to stop, look and listen before getting involved in things. It has stood me well and kept me on peaceful terms with my fellow man. It's certainly better than trying to make my mark on the world, only to end up defacing it.' " (p.18-19)
And a few pages after that this lovely quiet sad moment after Helen has phoned Leonard about wedding arrangements (Grace is getting married):
"Leonard hung up and took off the mask of easy conviviality. Standing there in the kitchenette, there was something about the sincerity of Helen's awkwardness that had bought it home to him. The 'plus one' on his invite, received several weeks ago, must have been intended for his poor mother. The thought stunned him gently for a moment as a man in chinos walked in and made disapproving noises at finding mugs left to soak. In a hurry to get back to his noise-cancelling headphones, Leonard put away the tea caddy and finished stirring his own palpable milky loneliness." (p.24-5)
So Leonard forms a low key relationship with Shelley at work and Hungry Paul enters a competition organised by the local Chamber of Commerce, and the arrangements for Grace and Andrew's wedding are both vitally central to the plot and utterly in the background. Significant changes to their quiet lives seem to be afoot.
I just have to put this lovely little bit in, because Hungry Paul has a part time job as an ad-hoc postman and this description is so weirdly out of date (wooden pigeon holes have long since been phased out in favour of frames with individual slots) that I wonder what research the author did to come up with it (love the reference to 'bachelorhood' too as if postmen are young and unmarried, very much not the case):
"When he entered the sorting area where his post bag was waiting for him, the large room was practically empty, the early rising full-timers keen to get their day started - or more specifically finished - as soon as possible. This was a busy place in a state of desertion, with a lingering atmosphere of bachelorhood and strong opinions. Hungry Paul started organising the post into pigeon holes, one for each street on the route, before ordering it by house number. Throwing up and setting in, as it was called. If you didn't know a street you didn't know how to order the letters. Some streets were best done in odds and evens, some in numerical order. In semi-rural areas, where houses had names but no numbers, it was all a question of local knowledge, which was unavailable to the casual postman. In most cases it would have made more sense to just leave the post until the next day when the regular man would be back, as hardly anything urgent went by post anymore, but they never did that. It was said that a clean bench was a clean conscience." (p.52)
So while Helen is gently trying to coax Hungry Paul out into the real world by taking him with her when she goes hospital visiting a random exchange with a mime artist is set to alter the course of his life entirely.
I don't want to spoil it for you. The whole thing is just a delight.
Stay safe. Be kind.
