Lona is nineteen. She’s dropped out of uni but still sneaks in to use the photo lab. Lona longs for life to be bigger than the collection of mundane events that her friends and family keep drawing her back into. She’s constantly bemoaning social niceties but also longing for her friends to provide the momentum she needs to not just disappear.

Do you remember that feeling in life before you had everything figured out. That feeling of unlimited potential and absolutely soul-shattering uncertainty because everyone’s telling you that they know the right thing better than you do. Lona’s moving through life insubstantial “...she’s barely touching it, barely any place long enough to make an impact.”

And that’s it… Lona is pretty aimless and she’s not sure what to do about it…

If this were in black & white (ok, all books are technically in black & white) with a cool grunge soundtrack I would be riffing on the nineties vibe. As it goes Georgina Young may have written the best worst book for our socially locked in times.

Ok Lona gets to go out and she gets to date (in crowds). Her share house situation is definitely not what you want to be locked down in. But despite all this Lona has a lot to say about being there for yourself.

Lona struggles to be herself around others but that’s because she hasn’t quite figured out how to be herself around herself. She’s selfish and I vacillated in my feelings for her. In prioritising herself though she firmly acknowledges that there’s nothing else she can give until she looks out for her.

Lona is also about art in its many forms and what art could mean in our world. For starters Lona wants art to be about something and she isn’t into all the navel gazing. The book strikes its own visual style (again, remarkable for black type on white page) which lent it that feel of being indie and of a time and place.

I really enjoyed Georgina Young’s Loner for what it said about searching, even if it just says it’s ok to do it...