The Lonely Hearts Book Club

The Racing in the Rain Book Club is symbolic of community. Before Sloane Parker, Maisey Phillips, and Arthur McLachlan form the group, the characters’ lives are defined by loneliness and isolation. Maisey proposes reading The Remains of the Day with her two new friends after she and Sloane start caring for Arthur. Sloane is immediately inspired by the idea as she’s been trying to “get a club up and running” at the library for years (94). She and Arthur also have an innate appreciation for literature and find it easier to communicate about books than about more vulnerable topics. Maisey doesn’t define herself as a reader, but establishing the group with Sloane and Arthur welcomes her into a new collective. She soon discovers that she not only enjoys reading the books her group has selected, but that discussing these titles with the group helps her to articulate her own complex emotional world.

Over time, the book club expands to include a wider range of unlikely friends. The incorporation of Mateo, Greg, and Nigel into the club offers nuance to the group’s atmosphere and culture. Together, the friends not only relate over books, but discover The Importance of Community Support.