Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just couldn't get into it. Might have a better chance with Renault's other work.
A classic novel, so I listened to it despite it being less fluffy than my usual book choices. And it was beautifully written with great characters. It focussed mostly on being gay in the 1940s in England so it was a bit somber. Narration was good.
Follow my reviews at http://HemmelM.blogspot.com
Follow my reviews at http://HemmelM.blogspot.com
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a book that is definitely well-suited to my emerging library; published in 1953, it was the first English novel to headline a gay romance with, and this spoiler may as well be promotional material, a happy ending. Though Mary Renault makes the reader work for it, there is a lot of joy to be found in here.
So, I feel the need to frontline with some notes of caution. The prose here is dense and often indirect, making allusions to many things including the titular Analogy of the Chariot used by Plato (which I only appreciated the full meaning of afterwards in conversation with Mac, tysm) to illustrate its emotional points. However, I enjoyed this book as much for what I was able to read around it, talk about it with others, and engage in paratext as I did the book itself, particularly in the key areas where ideas are being introduced by a sort of innuendo. This innuendo seems to persist in a playful way until a character will state something that would, in a different book, be a moment of clarifying reveal, where the veil is dropped and it is affirmed that your suspicions are indeed correct. This moment often feels like it’s missing, or that I miss it, where there’s not a sense of transition between suspicion and understanding that might prompt some introspection or at least a moment to keep the reader on the same track as Laurie.
In addition, this story takes a while to get going. We start in hospital, meet characters, but there is very little sense of the escalating conflict of sexuality that will come to define the book until a party a solid 40% of the way in, and even then the escalation to what makes this book the classic it is only fully sets in in the final act. You need to be patient, as the table is set for a fascinating exploration of queer life.
So. The gist. This is the story of a young gay man in hospital after returning from Dunkirk in WW2, and how he navigates three key aspects of his life. First, his family, who he has never had reason to doubt and who have given his life purpose. Second, the hospital, and his budding relationship with the innocent, earnest objector Andrew. Then, finally, third is the queer subculture of London to which he is inducted and which he begins to explore in his free time. Much of the drama of this book involves balancing these three elements, and how attempting to segregate parts of your life in this way becomes eventually untenable as they collapse into each other.
The Charioteers doesn’t address its point head on in the same way as Maurice, there isn’t as much introspection on the implications of being gay as such. Your existence and desires are taken as given, and there is much focus on the fact that for as marginalised an identity as it is, queerness exists everywhere under the surface. Many people are revealed to secretly be gay and engaging privately with their sexuality through what feels like a parallel society, speaking its own language and holding its own events. The feeling of culture and belonging is tossed back and forth, with at first Laurie feeling alienated by people who identify themselves with their “condition.” It’s a fascinating look into history.
The side characters are what really elevate this story. The queer community of London is populated by Bim, Sandy, Bunny, Alec, who all are just people out their with this thread in common binding then, they’re messy but human and the thing that kept coming to prominence was the sense that I know them. Not just in the sense that they’re vivid, but that these are almost exact descriptions of people I’ve known in the queer community and their various forms of messiness and social pathology and ways of dealing with their problems. They fill out what could easily be a drab story beat that facilitates the romance, but instead it makes the community feel like it’s always been there, Laurie is just the newest member.
I shan’t spoil the ending too much. It’s happy, obviously, but I don’t think that’s a spoiler because the way it arrives at the answer to what happiness means is much more interesting, and what it says about what queer happiness is is much more insightful to today than limply being willing to accept an anodyne, mundane “happy ending” in the fashion of a conformist, heteronormative tale of a young protagonist choosing to settle down and live ordinarily. The choice Laurie makes, and specifically what he rejects, is so incredibly powerful.
Overall, I can’t go higher than this on grade, the writing just wasn’t doing enough for me (much to my frustration, because I want to be good enough to enjoy this book fully) even if it had many an incisively phrased paragraph or three amidst the thick prose which feel like they’ve been ripped from lost poetry describing timeless queer ideas. However, for the ideas it has, the story it tells, the things it has caused me to think upon, I love this book.
EDIT: Score changed 08/06/25 from 4 to 4.25.
So, I feel the need to frontline with some notes of caution. The prose here is dense and often indirect, making allusions to many things including the titular Analogy of the Chariot used by Plato (which I only appreciated the full meaning of afterwards in conversation with Mac, tysm) to illustrate its emotional points. However, I enjoyed this book as much for what I was able to read around it, talk about it with others, and engage in paratext as I did the book itself, particularly in the key areas where ideas are being introduced by a sort of innuendo. This innuendo seems to persist in a playful way until a character will state something that would, in a different book, be a moment of clarifying reveal, where the veil is dropped and it is affirmed that your suspicions are indeed correct. This moment often feels like it’s missing, or that I miss it, where there’s not a sense of transition between suspicion and understanding that might prompt some introspection or at least a moment to keep the reader on the same track as Laurie.
In addition, this story takes a while to get going. We start in hospital, meet characters, but there is very little sense of the escalating conflict of sexuality that will come to define the book until a party a solid 40% of the way in, and even then the escalation to what makes this book the classic it is only fully sets in in the final act. You need to be patient, as the table is set for a fascinating exploration of queer life.
So. The gist. This is the story of a young gay man in hospital after returning from Dunkirk in WW2, and how he navigates three key aspects of his life. First, his family, who he has never had reason to doubt and who have given his life purpose. Second, the hospital, and his budding relationship with the innocent, earnest objector Andrew. Then, finally, third is the queer subculture of London to which he is inducted and which he begins to explore in his free time. Much of the drama of this book involves balancing these three elements, and how attempting to segregate parts of your life in this way becomes eventually untenable as they collapse into each other.
The Charioteers doesn’t address its point head on in the same way as Maurice, there isn’t as much introspection on the implications of being gay as such. Your existence and desires are taken as given, and there is much focus on the fact that for as marginalised an identity as it is, queerness exists everywhere under the surface. Many people are revealed to secretly be gay and engaging privately with their sexuality through what feels like a parallel society, speaking its own language and holding its own events. The feeling of culture and belonging is tossed back and forth, with at first Laurie feeling alienated by people who identify themselves with their “condition.” It’s a fascinating look into history.
The side characters are what really elevate this story. The queer community of London is populated by Bim, Sandy, Bunny, Alec, who all are just people out their with this thread in common binding then, they’re messy but human and the thing that kept coming to prominence was the sense that I know them. Not just in the sense that they’re vivid, but that these are almost exact descriptions of people I’ve known in the queer community and their various forms of messiness and social pathology and ways of dealing with their problems. They fill out what could easily be a drab story beat that facilitates the romance, but instead it makes the community feel like it’s always been there, Laurie is just the newest member.
I shan’t spoil the ending too much. It’s happy, obviously, but I don’t think that’s a spoiler because the way it arrives at the answer to what happiness means is much more interesting, and what it says about what queer happiness is is much more insightful to today than limply being willing to accept an anodyne, mundane “happy ending” in the fashion of a conformist, heteronormative tale of a young protagonist choosing to settle down and live ordinarily. The choice Laurie makes, and specifically what he rejects, is so incredibly powerful.
Overall, I can’t go higher than this on grade, the writing just wasn’t doing enough for me (much to my frustration, because I want to be good enough to enjoy this book fully) even if it had many an incisively phrased paragraph or three amidst the thick prose which feel like they’ve been ripped from lost poetry describing timeless queer ideas. However, for the ideas it has, the story it tells, the things it has caused me to think upon, I love this book.
EDIT: Score changed 08/06/25 from 4 to 4.25.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well, I sure did love this very dramatic book about very dramatic and messy gays.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, War
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Will get back to this soon, but I haven’t read a page in like a month so it’s getting DNFed for the time being.
Wow FINALLY finished with this monstrosity. This was incredibly bland and while Renault writes beautifully, it has taken more more than 2 years to get through this book. Heck, I didn't even remember what happened in the first half of the book. So much unnecessary, long-winding dialogue and the drama was so incredibly boring lol I felt no emotions towards any of the characters. Laurie is a somewhat unreliable narrator, I can't really pinpoint what it is about him that makes me think this way.
I sorta liked the scenes with Andrew but after reading the ending I'm not so much any more lol. I'm still a little confused as to what on earth happened between their circle + Andrew + Laurie but I don't think i want to revisit this book anytime soon lol other than to reread a few passages that I've bookmarked as they were so eloquent, so picturesque and so atmospheric, truly beautiful combinations of words.
Highlight scenes include Laurie chilling out in that hidden grove, interactions Ralph in Laurie's home post-Laurie's-mother's-wedding (I actually felt the tension and the soft love between them)
I sorta liked the scenes with Andrew but after reading the ending I'm not so much any more lol. I'm still a little confused as to what on earth happened between their circle + Andrew + Laurie but I don't think i want to revisit this book anytime soon lol other than to reread a few passages that I've bookmarked as they were so eloquent, so picturesque and so atmospheric, truly beautiful combinations of words.
Highlight scenes include Laurie chilling out in that hidden grove, interactions Ralph in Laurie's home post-Laurie's-mother's-wedding (I actually felt the tension and the soft love between them)