Reviews - The Charioteer | The StoryGraph

344 reviews for:

The Charioteer

Mary Renault

4.13 AVERAGE

vodzak's review against another edition

2.75

challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

bootrat's review

I persevered until I was about halfway through, but this was just too boring and didn't grip me at all.
I assume this was going to evolve into being a love triangle between Laurie and the other two characters, but I didn't care about any of the three characters and didn't see any sparks or chemistry between Laurie and them.

I wanted to like this book, as it's obviously historically important as a portrayal of queer happiness in a time when it was illegal, but I really did not.

elm's review against another edition

5.0

not to be overdramatic but this is one of the best books i have ever read in my entire life.. ever.. wow.

obscuredbyclouds's review against another edition

4.0

So far my favourite Mary Renault novel (and I really liked the Persian Boy a lot, too!). There's just something about the 'contemporary' setting - contemporary for her time - that works even better for me then the historic settings. You can really tell she knew what she was writing about, working as a nurse post world war II herself. I really felt like getting a glimpse into lives I'd otherwise never have read about.

On the surface, this could be seen as a classical love triangle: Laurie Odell, a young corporal wounded at Dunkirk, is recovering at a veterans' hospital where he meets Andrew, a conchie (conscientious objector to the war) and quaker. They form a friendship. It is clear that both of them desire it to be more than that, but it's difficult for a number of societal and personal reasons, and their relationship doesn't get further than one chaste kiss. During all of this, Laurie meets Ralph, someone he already had a bond with at school, and they get close too. I honestly didn't know where this novel was heading, and at the end of this the book really become a page-turner. I was surprised by how dramatic it became, as it moved quite slowly in the beginning - but I really liked the varying of pacing.

This book is superbly written. I marveled at the author's "show don't tell" mastering, although at times I had difficulty following the conversations when there seemed to be much more said between the lines, some of which I didn't get because of the 40s language. To say this is "merely" a love story wouldn't do it justice. It's also about the war, friendship, societal norms, and most of all, it's a study of characters.