Reviews

The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst

tomhill's review against another edition

3.0

After finishing The Line of Beauty, I ran to the library and checked out The Stranger's Child. I wanted to read anything and everything Hollinghurst had written. The opening chapters of that novel are so atmospheric and transport the reader instantly and effortlessly to the English countryside during the months before the first world war. Beautiful. But then phase two of the book begins; we jump forward a decade, never to return to 1913 and it just begins to meander. The Sparsholt Affair is structured in much the same way. Part one takes place at Oxford College during the early days of the second world war. Everything is atmospheric and beautifully written, and just as we are settling into this well-built world and getting to know the engaging characters, Hollinghurst flings us even farther into the future, again never to return to Oxford or WWII. Both books are worth reading, Sparsholt in particular, but for me, Hollingurst is too focused on telling too many characters' stories over far too many years. As a result, every character ends up underdeveloped, stretched too thin. He is a wonderful writer though, his prose is consistently beautiful/beautifully consistent.

kbrand04's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

vinsoo03's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Death of parent

Moderate: War and Homophobia

Minor: Terminal illness

nett's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sweddy65's review

4.0

I loved this multi-generational story that spanned most of the 20th century.

I was sad when I moved from the first book to the second that we left Oxford and the war behind, and I never quite got over the loss of Freddie Green as a narrator, but I loved the entrance of Johnny Sparsholt as a boy and to then see him as a young man and as a parent with an adult daughter.

Sex, sexuality, secrets (what were all the dimensions of the Sparsholt affair? - inquiring minds want to know...), art, music, and so much more.

ombudsman's review against another edition

4.0

hollinghurst is surely the best living prose stylist - the way he makes a grindr meeting, a club night, a funeral *sparkle* is testament to his utter skill in the realm of prose

gcdelcoure's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

foggy_rosamund's review against another edition

2.0

In five sections, this book spans from 1940 to the modern day. David "Drum" Sparsholt attends Oxford for one term before joining the army. During this term, several young men fall in love with him, as he is a rower and very fit and attractive. The first section of the book would work independently of the rest of the novel, and is a keenly observed description of the effect Sparsholt has on the people around him, as well as the disruption and social confusion of WW2. The rest of the book focuses on Sparsholt's son, Johnny, and is an exploration of the changes in how society has regarded gay men from 1952 to now. These sections are not so successful -- the themes and moods seem to wander, the characters are not always clear, and there is little narrative drive. Hollinghurst constructs prose beautifully and this keeps the novel afloat, but the story itself feel adrift and often dull.

daniellesalwaysreading's review

2.0

I was very confused by this book. There were so many characters that I couldn't keep track of them. Sometimes they were referred to by their first names, sometimes their last names, sometimes by nicknames. There were multiple characters who had the same last names (fathers and sons) so it was very hard to tell who Hollinghurst was talking about. Is that my own fault? I don't know, but either way it had the same effect.
The title of the book, the Sparsholt Affair, was about several thing I think, but one of the events that it refers to is a scandal that no one ever talks about. I kept going back farther and farther to see if I just had missed it and I never found that it was actually talked about.
I feel like I missed everything; maybe that is the feeling that Hollinghurst wanted us to come away with-the feeling that things happened but are secret even from the people who did them. Was that the point?
At least it wasn't as bad as Less, but I don't feel inclined to read stories about well-to-do white gay men as much as I used to (which used to be all I wanted to read, but of course there was almost nothing to be had).

quinndm's review against another edition

2.0

Reading this was a struggle. Too much of the scandal, all of the affair, happens off the page, and it is left to the reader to fill in those pieces. Which is great, except there is so much “non-story” that it left me desperate—and frustrated—that I was not allowed to hear, or witness, more of the love affair but, instead, and to read so much about their TV watch, boating, reading... I wanted to love this book, but the structure left me gasping for a connection.