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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Dear Alan Hollinghurst must be slowing down or at least his narrative pacing is. I was here for the languid slow tempo of this book, I luxuriated in it for the most part. In a novel that examines a life in an episodic way it makes sense for the youth section to be leisurely. But thank god he picked up the pace in the second half. I never knew what was important to the story and what was story because he treated all of Dave’s life events and moments the same way. I didn’t mind this but I imagine it will annoy some readers. And I don’t love the way this book was marketed. They wanted to make it seem like a book about a boy and his teen bully and how their lives intertwine over the years but for me this is a book about a son and his mother grappling with sexuality, race and class. And for that I loved it. At the end of the day it’s Alan Hollinghurst and he’s earned the right to do whatever he wants but for the love of literature if he’s new to you DO NOT START HERE. Read any other of his books. Seriously, any other book.
emotional
reflective
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:
No
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Our Evenings has a lot of things going for it, in terms of being a winner for me: It follows a character across their entire life, it depicts that life with tenderness and care, it has a strong first-person voice. And while it didn’t land with me 100%, I netted out on liking it.
Our Evenings follows a gay, half-Burmese actor in England from his childhood as a schoolboy with a scholarship sponsored by a wealthy family through old age. It’s the story of a beautiful life with excellent character work. There is much to love here about queerness, and otherness, and Xenophobia particularly in England, and living a joyful life filled with love anyway.
That said, I personally felt like this book was too long. And I don’t usually say that! I love long books, and I love the story of a full life. But I was ready for the book to end. I also really didn’t like the ending very much — I won’t say more because I’m not one for spoilers, but it made me go, “ugh…really???”
If you’re an especially big fan of queer historical literary fiction, I think this could have enough of what you love to outweigh the parts I didn’t. You may have to see for yourself!
Our Evenings has a lot of things going for it, in terms of being a winner for me: It follows a character across their entire life, it depicts that life with tenderness and care, it has a strong first-person voice. And while it didn’t land with me 100%, I netted out on liking it.
Our Evenings follows a gay, half-Burmese actor in England from his childhood as a schoolboy with a scholarship sponsored by a wealthy family through old age. It’s the story of a beautiful life with excellent character work. There is much to love here about queerness, and otherness, and Xenophobia particularly in England, and living a joyful life filled with love anyway.
That said, I personally felt like this book was too long. And I don’t usually say that! I love long books, and I love the story of a full life. But I was ready for the book to end. I also really didn’t like the ending very much — I won’t say more because I’m not one for spoilers, but it made me go, “ugh…really???”
If you’re an especially big fan of queer historical literary fiction, I think this could have enough of what you love to outweigh the parts I didn’t. You may have to see for yourself!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Bullying
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Our Evenings is a deep character study. We learn that David is a good actor and that he comes from a mixed race family which in the 50’s onwards in the UK is often hard and relentless for him. His mother is a white English woman and his father is Burmese. And just like Hollinghurst’s previous books it gives us a character that is in the middle of race, class and money. The way the racism towards David is written is often sly yet horrific.
Because the book consists of chapters looking into David's life in just small fractions it is both infuriating that we get too little and sometimes too much. It feels literally like a man's life has been stuffed inside the pages of a book, when it really cannot be done. I don’t know if the whole structure ties back to the chapters we get at the end of the book where aging David is collecting memories for his own memoirs: choppy thoughts of an aging man from a life lived. Especially the relationship between David and his mother is one of the things that I felt needed more time and pages.
I went through my notes and realised I’ve read most of Hollinghurst’s previous books but I don’t actually have any strong memories of them. I feel this falls to the same category: intensive and excellent writing which however leaves the reader only a hint of the overall theme of being an outsider and queer.
The word languid must have been created to describe this novel. Exquisitely and sensually written, the narrator takes a long, slow look back on his life. Coming of age in England at the time when being gay became legal, Dave is an avant garde theater actor who is of mixed Burmese and English birth. He struggles to find his place in a world that often condescends to his racial, sexual, and class origins, but he is not beaten back by it. He accepts his circumstances with a graceful imperturbability and takes comfort where he can.
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:
Complicated
The writing in the book was fantastic, character descriptions well written, but if felt like there was no real climax to the book.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes