20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Literary Memoir, December 5, 2006
I've just finished reading Christopher Isherwood's beautiful little memoir of the years 1929 to 1939, Christopher and His Kind. The personalities that Isherwood surrounded himself with, both little and well-known, provide much of the book's content. Isherwood, with wonderful candor, discusses his meetings and relationships with such luminaries as E.M. Forster, Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden and Rosamond Lehmann. The lesser-known figures, such as the dazzling aesthete Brian Howard, and Gerald Hamilton, a sort of shady internationalist and editor, are just as fascinating. Possessing a gift for anecdote and a deeply sympathetic personality, Isherwood's renderings of his contemporaries are a joy to read and always ring true. The book has occasionally dark themes, especially those surrounding the political milieu of the time and the rising tensions in Europe. As we relive Isherwood's life during these years, we share his sense of impending doom. Isherwood's lover, Heinz, is actually arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo and was later forced to fight on the Russian front (an experience which he miraculously survived). Isherwood's treatment of homosexuality is matter-of-fact; he never seems to have felt guilt or pain over it, but rather early on in his life felt that it was sort of a personal game for he and his friends. During the course of the book, however, he is forced to develop an increasing consciousness of being a member of an unwieldy 'tribe' of gays that extends far beyond his small personal world. At first, it seems like Isherwood is going to write in the third person, but he continually lapses back and forth between the first and the third, an effect which is slightly bewildering but doesn't really effect the book negatively. Christopher and His Kind provides a near perfect picture of literary and gay life of the Europe of the thirties.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How kind of Isherwood, April 8, 2005
To reveal a more candid portrait of his life between 1929 and 1939.
Christopher and His Kind explores the real story behind his travels back and forth from England to Germany, and the people and events that influenced his life during this decade of time.
Having first read 'Down there on a Visit', which draws experiences and people from this time in his life as it's foundation, it was amusing to read the 'real' story behind certain characters and situations described in the former novel.
Isherwood is far more frank about his homosexuality, and his encounters with other males, in this book, which can also be attributed to the time period in which this was written, being the 1970's, which definitely saw a more liberal attitude emerging than in the 50's, and 60's. But at the same time, he never seems 'graphic' or overindulgent in his descriptiveness. A sense of propriety and discretion carries throughout.
The only off-putting aspect of this novel to me, which lists many of Isherwoods contemporaries and friends, including Wystan Auden, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, and more, is that Isherwood in many, many instances refers to himself in the third person, as Christopher, and then immediately switches to first person, 'me'....which is a bit confusing. It reminded me of another book by an 'autobiographical' author, Edmund White (The Married Man) in which White switches from his usual first-person narrative to a third person narrative, leaving me with the impression that he found himself unable to record the events described as anything but an outsider, or observer. I wonder if perhaps the same is true with Isherwood?
Regardless, this book delves deep into his travels, and interactions with his friends and family. Also described are his days with a long-term love and travel companion, and the lengths Isherwood went to for this young man. The book hints at much more to come with the ending words, which is by far my favorite 'line' out of the four Isherwood works I have read...knowing what he is refering to....but I won't give it away.
An excellent read, and entertaining to any fan of this gifted author, to know more about his life and times.
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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Isherwood discovers Berlin and boys, February 10, 1997
By A Customer
Christopher Isherwood makes it clear in his introduction that this book will be candid about his homosexuality. It begins with his move to Berlin and covers the time up to his move to America. There are fascinating anecdotes: the character of Sally Bowles (later made famous by "Cabaret") was named after the then unknown but handsome American Paul Bowles. Isherwood read E.M. Forster's "Maurice" in manuscript, decades before it was published. These are just a few. And note: his "Diaries: Volume 1" begins just *after* this book (the earlier diaries were destroyed)
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