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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one has been on my TBR for a while and I picked it up now anticipating it to be on the Booker Longlist. Alas it was not to be.
Dave Win, the narrator reflects his life from boarding school through Brexit and his chosen career as an actor. For Dave, the evenings mark a turning point. His evenings at school, evenings spent with his mother, Avril; later, the long evenings backstage or in rehearsal rooms during his acting years; and finally, in the solitude of his older years, evenings filled with reflection.
It’s a bit of a long character study and we read about Dave’s reflections on aging, his loves, his loneliness and his disappointments.
Overall, this is a good read, but it is long and there isn’t a lot of plot. I am sorry not to see it on the longlist.
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A drink and good company wipe out the worries of the morning and afternoon, hard fact gives way to a happy feeling.
We follow David Win - a queer, half-Burmese man, as he recounts his life from early childhood days at a private school in rural England to old age. What comes next is a wonderful examination of his love for the theatre, of the connections he manages to find throughout the decades and the slights and micro-aggressions that at times constrained him. It's not always you come across a novel like that and - by the time THAT ending rolled around - i was bawling. AND YET, despite the flowing prose and the subtelty, i found myself at times wishing for a more sprawling introspective look at Dave's inner workings. often it was glossed over, and often rightly so. also, for a novel about a queer character, it was rather sexless. even the passages that did mention lust and love felt dampened. maybe the author didn't want to fall into modern trappings of over-explaining and over-indulging, and i mostly applaud him for that, but it would have enriched my experience with the novel.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hollinghurst really does a remarkable job of fully immersing you in the life of David Win… His writing is so beautiful and so detailed, though, that the overwhelming minutia of recollecting David’s decades feels very slow and without much purpose. There were only a handful of very memorable passages that really kept me going, but so many things that left me wondering what happened to XYZ… Idk!!! I just was left wanting more plot, more… something…
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
emotional
reflective
challenging
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:
No
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A slow and thoughtful story, quietly told through writing of such depth and subtlety. And the audio version was equally superb. Spanning 7 decades we first meet bi-racial David Win, son of an English mother and Burmese father whom he has never met, as a 14 year old boarder at a prestigious school in the 1960s. He’s a scholarship holder sponsored by the philanthropic Hadlow family, avid arts supporters. We follow David’s life as he progresses to Oxford, eventually leaving to chance his hand at an acting career, which, after many years of struggle, he eventually makes a success of. So many themes as his life unfolds, one of which being his coming-of-age as a gay man. Totally character driven, the book explores in depth his relationship with his beloved seamstress mother, as well as his various, intense love affairs. The Hadlows also continue to be major influences in his life and good friends. However, their son, Giles, a merciless bully to David when they are at school together, remains a nemesis to him throughout their adult lives. A wonderful study of prejudice - racial, sexual and class, as David experiences them all as a sensitive and insightful man. The story of his life culminates in the Covid pandemic, having covered many other British societal and political events that see David into his 70s. Such a beautifully written but incredibly sad ending.