Customer Reviews

The God in Flight

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm going to start this by saying - if the idea of two men kissing, falling in love, and yes, having sex, in any way bothers you, just walk away from this book right now.

Still with me? Good. Because this book is just too good to be ignored.

The editorial review from Publishers Weekly up above there pretty much covers the storyline, so I'll make my description of it brief: young Simion Satterwhite is a precocious, brilliant, and stubborn student at Yale University in the 1880s, who meets and falls in the love with his professor Doriskos Klionarios, a shy, sheltered, almost ethereal man who has loved Simion (or rather, his image) from long before they even met.

Their love story plays out, much more believably than any 'typical' romance novel, throughout the course of the book. And for those who care about those things, sex is described in as much detail as anything else - but if you think sex is a focus of the book then you're missing the point.

The characters in this novel aren't your typical fare, either. Simion is stubborn almost to a fault, proud, self-reliant, and in nearly all ways the 'stronger' of the two men. (A previous review that described him as 'weepy' left me baffled; even when being beaten, Simion rarely ever cries. Righteous anger is much more like him.) Though he is, arguably, still young when he meets Doriskos at the age of sixteen, it should be noted that (the rest of this paragraph is a SPOILER) he and Doriskos do not fully consummate their relationship until after he turns eighteen.

Doriskos himself is a very different character from Simion; he is almost pathologically shy, having spent much of his life in the neglectful hands of a foster father who never could relate to him. Because of his isolated upbringing, Doriskos is innocent almost to the point of being simply dense, and his emotions, when finally roused, are as intense as Simion's but seem even more so from being much closer to his skin.

Side characters, from volatile, obsessive Peter to charming playboy Andy to Simion's wise, ailing tutor Simeon Lincoln, are just as fleshed out as the leads. Two such characters, Moses and Helmut, play a big role in the relationship burgeoning between Simion and Doriskos, and the beautiful interplay between the four very different men is truly a pleasure to read.

In fact, the entirety of this novel is a pleasure - reading it, I found myself thinking (when I was pulled away from it briefly, and thus able to think) that this was what all classics should be like: innovative, original, and so believable that when a character is huddled around himself, freezing, you feel like you should go grab a blanket.

It is truly sad that this is the only novel Miss Laura Argiri has ever written, because her writing truly is prose - her sentences are so lovely, and paint such vivid pictures in one's head, that after reading it I find I have to wait before reading anything else, because nothing else stands up to it.

Long after I finished reading this book for the first time, images and quotes from it remained lodged firmly in my head. And while in lesser hands some plots twists could have been rendered unbelievable, in the hands of this amazing author, it never once occurs to you to stop believing. She is just that good.

I've never before encountered a book that moved me so deeply, that inspired and comforted and pushed me like this one does. Reading a novel this jaw-droppingly compelling and flawlessly executed felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I picked this book up at a secondhand bookstore, and now, stumbling upon it feels like discovering a priceless treasure.

Which is basically what I did.

If you like to stretch, entertain, and pamper your mind, by all means, read this book. If you prefer to live a terribly deprived life, well, then, I can't stop you. ... Weirdo. ^_~

Eighteen years is a long time to labor on a novel. Possibly too long; by its completion, two different people will have worked on it. Which might explain some of the odd lapses in narrative, and emotional disconnects in Argiri's magnum opus.

Yet what a beautiful, beautiful book! Written in sumptuous Victorian style, reminiscent of Wharton or James, Argiri tells the tale of a 19th Century illicit love affair between Klionarios, an ascetic Yale art professor, and Simion Satterwhite, a precocious scholarship student who embodies Klionarios's artistic vision.

THE GOD IN FLIGHT is filled with lovely, long sensuous passages, such as when the traumatized Simion wakens in the professor's house: "The table by his bed held a tray, upon which there were an ice bucket filled with melting snow around a pitcher of what proved to be orange juice, a glass, a bell, and a silver plate of grapes. He took two grapes and savored their sweet-tart astringency. This room was like some chamber of temptation in a fairy tale, so apt it was, so suited; it was as if someone who knew everything about colors and fabrics and furniture had climbed inside his head and found out what he would like best, even before he knew himself."

No matter that the effects of Reconstruction and Emancipation are not addressed here. This is romance with a capital "R." A passionate and lyrical novel (though a bit silly), every winter I turn to its comforting literary conventions, just as surely as I return to flannel sheets and schnapps in my cocoa. But it is a strange novel, brushing over what should surely have been pivotal moments in the developing relationship of its protagonists, yet lingering lovingly on the thoughts of side characters. For me, there is really not enough plot, and the novel fails to adequately explore the central characters--and Argiri's characters are most definitely book people and not real people--but they are appealing and memorable nevertheless.

The most dismaying aspect of THE GOD IN FLIGHT is the realization that if it took Argiri nearly twenty years to write this, how long will it take for her next novel?

A few years I ago I saw this book in a dutch bookstore. It looked beautiful with that magnificent cover and I started to read the first words, and it took me off right away. Ever since that time a few things happened: 1) it changed my life 2) it lies beside my bed, so that I sometimes can read passages of the book again 3) I haven't read a better book ever since this one. It's really very very good!

I live in Australia and purchased this book in a hurry at a secondhand bookstore store on my way to the beach early one morning, because it looked different, and I thought the cover was nice. I dont read books much so didn't no anything about the story or the author. I went for a swim had a surf and started reading it and the next thing it was late afternoon nearly dark, I couldn't put it down, it is the best book I have ever read, it is a type of book that comes around only 1 or 2 a life time. It also is so real, so well written it is if you are in the midst of the drama. It is so true to life an incredible masterpiece I feel they should make a movie from it. I found it original and very interesting, it reflects keen insight into how much dark and dangerous psychic terrain two complex individuals and gay people must traverse to become truly one....An elegant paean to idealized love. The whole world the author creates seems absolutely real, it is a page-turning gay romance, a masterpiece....THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ. One that I will remember for the rest of my life.

All I can say about this book is, that it is possibly the greatest book of the decade. I have never been moved by a book so much since; and I do reaqd quite a bit. Please Please Please read this book. Don't let it dissappear from shelves.let your local bookstore know you want it in stock, and then buy it for all of your friends and family for Christmas. For anyone who likes real romance. this is the book for you.

This is simply one of the best novels I've read in years...totally rivetting and emotionally true, it resonates long after you finish reading it. The writing is beautiful and sweeps you up in the narrative. The characters come alive with the turn of each page. The romance fills you with hope. This should be required reading for every gay literature class because of the way it deals so perfectly with love between men without the constraints of more current social issues, and should be on the reading list for everyone who loves great writing and a great story.

I just want to live in this book.

It seems to be making some readers uncomfortable that Argiri's main characters aren't butch Yalie types, but that's what's so wonderful and so unusual. To dismiss them as mirror images of hysterical women from Harlequin novels sounds like not wanting to look at what's really going on. This is another world. This is an author who colors outside the lines!

In the mid nineteenth century, in the village of Haliburton set high in the Alleghenies, arrives Simeon Lincoln, newly appointed schoolmaster. Simeon, a graduate of Yale, suffers with consumption and has taken the post in the rarefied mountain air to help relieve his condition. His employer is the local priest and mayor, Reverend John Ezra Satterwhite. Satterwhite proves to be a monster of a man, a zealot of the worst kind, a drunkard, totally lacking in compassion, who it turns out violently abuses his six year old son Simion. Simion is as fragile as he is precocious, a scrawny and slight, pale eyed fair haired lad.
Simeon is immediately taken with Simion, who proves to be remarkably intelligent and an avid student, and determines that Simion should eventually apply to Yale, contrary to John Ezra's wishes. The reverend intends his son should remain in Haliburton to take over the teaching at the local school. Simeon and Simion develop a remarkable close relationship of love and trust, the former eventually proves to be the latter's saviour, and in more than just securing him a place at Yale.
Previously, Lord Stratton-Truro, a bachelor travelling in Athens comes upon a neglected but beautiful baby boy and taken by the infant, purchases him from his mother. While adopting the baby he keeps the child's given name, Doriskos Hyakinthos Kilionarios. Doriskos grows to be a handsome young man, an artist strangely beset by a recurring vision of a beautiful fair haired youth of his imagination. Following an unfortunate incident involving one of his students at Oxford, Doriskios ends up a Professor at Yale.
Also teaching at Yale is the quick tempered Moses Karseth, Professor of Surgery. Moses lives with Helmut Knitel, ostensibly his valet but in fact his lover. The couple will prove to play a crucial role in the lives of Simion and Doriskios.
At Yale Doriskios recognises Simion as soon as he stands before him for his interview as the youth in his dreams. Eventually the two do get together, and the major part of the novel is concerned with their relationship. It proves to be a troubled relationship, and not surprisingly so with Simion, a seventeen year old youth and Doriskios a Professor in his thirties, but that seems the least of their problems. As their relationship progresses they have to deal with, among other things, yobbish and wealthy students who make life hell for the impoverished Simion, a vicious and vengeful student Peter who has a crush on Doriskios, a flamboyant student Andy who is also in love with Simion, an unsympathetic narrow-minded Yale Principal Noah Porter, and an initially aggressively accusatory Moses Karseth. All come to a head when Porter gets wind of the "God in Flight", Doriskios' scandalous nude sculpture of himself and Simion.
This is a beautiful story that develops at an unhurried pace, with each of the main characters well developed. Simeon, under different circumstances perhaps Simion's lover, proves a true father to him. Simion is as physically adorable and vulnerable as he is strong willed and difficult. Doriskios remains utterly faithful from the moment of his first enigmatic vision that is eventually revealed in the flesh in Simion. The whole builds to a fitting and rewarding conclusion, including a riotous hearing convened by the Yale authorities. In all, a very moving story of the enduring strength of true love and devotion.

Rationally speaking this novel should be a mess. Not only it is most formulaic and cliché but Ms Argiri makes every single possible mistake, especially in the first part.

Her main characters are introduced by longish flashbacks and attitude descriptions: they have endured every possible mishandling coming out of it emotionally hurt but morally unscathed in the best tradition of impossibly perfect xix century heroines; the two main heroes are geniuses, both of them, and, it goes without saying, unbelievably beautiful.
Plot twists do sound contrived and over the top and there are several inconsistencies.

All above notwithstanding her romance, set in a grim xix century Yale University dominated by judgemental clergymen is an emotion-packed page turner.

The fiery passion of the gorgeous young Anglo-Greek art professor for a 17 year-old freshman is bigger than life, astonishingly moving and keeps the reader eager to turn page after page to discover what will happen next.

Ms Argiri's writing is proficient, even luscious at times: she dives with her reader in a sensually overwhelming atmosphere full of tiny details.

There is explicit sex, always tastefully handled so that it should disturb no reader except perhaps the most homophobic ones.

A pity such an emotion wreaking novel should be out of print: if you happen to find it in a second-hand book shop do not miss it.

Note across reviews that readers invariably acknowledge the quality of Laura Argiri's writing regardless of their views on the book. For me, quality writing tops everything else and it is delivered here in spades. Ms. Argiri paints vivid pictures in prose so rich I had to taste it twice (as in, read the book, finish, and start reading again). Yes, the main characters are men, and yes, the book is highly romantic. If you don't like those things, you might still want to read it just for the words.

What I do NOT understand is the reviewers who complain that the book is unrealistic and/or overly dramatic. Perhaps these folks have led charmed lives because, for me, the author deals in gritty, everyday hardships (abuse, bullying, illness and death). Argiri's exploration of the unique and exceptional person within this context is literary indeed, not to mention heart-rending.