Customer Reviews

Line of Beauty

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

 

 

I thought the writing was excellent, pure literature. The story and characters were a little hard to get into in the beginning; but then it pulls you in, holds you, and defies you to put it down as you get to the end.

The main characters were beautifully nuanced. The dialog was excellent and the descriptions were amazing. Not only do I know these characters, I feel I was there with them and wish I had them as friends. I would categorize the story as a drama with a strong emphasis on character study, though I laughed out loud a few times at the wit.

To be critical, I thought parts of the plot were a bit choppy, some characters weren't as fully developed as others, and the timeline jump was a bit jarring. But this are all minor complaints.

The measure of a book to me comes down to would I recommend it to others and would I read more from the same author. Due to a little explicit sexual content, I would recommend this to open-minded friends interested in top-notch literature. And, I'm writing this little review because I'm on Amazon checking out Alan Hollinghurst's other books.

Very readable, and it gets the feel of the 80s absolutely right - as money becomes fashionable again, the new right is ascendant and the threat of nuclear obliteration declines, leading to a new hedonism.

Hollinghurst describes the sexual and social, but alas not political, awakening of the aptly named Nick Guest - apt because Nick flits through various worlds without really belonging to any, something which becomes very clear at the end of the book - brilliantly, and in a resoundingly British style. But the central premise of the book is ultimately not credible. Would a rising politician, of any denomination, let alone a Conservative, really take the risk of an openly gay man living in his home? Even the Tories aren't that dumb. And I wasn't convinced either by the very quick demise of several characters from AIDS - 6 months from the peak of health to shambling invalid seems a bit unrealistic for a man in his 20s, but perhaps I'm wrong.

So enjoyable but flawed IMO. Hollinghurst seems to leave plenty of room to follow up on Guest later. I sort of hope he does.

If you manage to get through two-thirds of the book, as I painfully did, you'll be rewarded at the end. The writing is amazing but it never prevented me from feeling bored with the story.

I was amazed how this novel was able to pack such psychological complexity, sheer beautiful language, and tense conflict into what are essentially 10 or so major scenes. If you are into "action" movies, then perhaps this book is not for you, but if you are at all interested in the ways in which we deceive ourselves--and how we even beg to be deceived--then this book is most certainly for you. It is about hypocrisy, and greed and classism, but mostly it is about beauty and deception and idealism, and how the three are a dangerous combination.

Yes, there is gay sex. But mostly it is longing, desire, love: everything we pine for in romances, but never get because most romances are drivel. Well this is the exact opposite of drivel. It is literature with a capital "L." A total wonder. I just finished it, but will, in a week's time, probably find myself reading it again just for the sheer poetry and observational energy of the sentences.

Then this book isn't for you. I gave it an extra star because it really is well-written but, my God, how boring! I'll never understand why books like this win prizes. I finished the book with a hope and a prayer that something would happen. Please someone get killed or pregnant or arrested or something! The only time things actually moved along were the last 30 pages. It seemed liked it was about the family throwing jabs at each other and everyone else. The family on vacation; the father running for office; the daughter and her manic-depression. I was constantly wondering "what did they mean by that?". Since the book is set in London and the author is a Brit. there were references and some slang that I simply could not understand being an American. I might even try to rent the movie -- maybe that was more interesting?
I don't see myself going out and trying to find another Hollinghurst novel.

It is an undramatic visage of what should be a dramatic era of Margaret Thatcher. An example paragraph of the endless descriptions that mar the book (if i'm breaking copyrights laws, let me know):

Nick wasn't sure how it started. Sam Zeman was laughing so much he lay back on the floor, but then choked and had to sit up. One of the girls pointed at him mockingly, but it wasn't mockery, she was laughing uncontrollably herself. Nat was red in the face, pinching the tears out of his eyes and pulling down the corners of his mouth to try to stop it. Nick could only stop giggling by glaring at the floor, and as soon as he looked up he was giggling again convulsively, it was like hiccups, it was hiccups, all mixed up together with the whooping, inexplicable funniness of the brandy bottle, the Renoir lady, the gilded plaster crown above the bed, all of them with their ideas and bow ties and plans and objections.