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christiek's review
Not enough plot to be good for audio. Not interested enough to pick up in print.
avneetsharma27's review against another edition
4.0
Because The Sparsholt Affair is so fragmented, I'm going to rate its separate parts.
PART ONE: 5/5
PART TWO: 4/5
PART THREE: 3/5
PART FOUR: 4/5
PART FIVE: 3/5
I love stories where a significant portion exists in the subtext; where the reader has to parse through what's been given to them and are curious to do so. Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day and Mariko Tamaki's Skim are masterclasses in this, and the first part of The Sparsholt Affair, the only section of the novel told in first-person perspective, does it so effectively. I wish Hollinghurst carried on telling the rest of the narrative through the perspective of a side character, because I absolutely fell in love with Freddie Green and his outsider's point of view. The rest of the novel didn't quite match that standard, but The Sparsholt Affair was still an enjoyable read overall.
PART ONE: 5/5
PART TWO: 4/5
PART THREE: 3/5
PART FOUR: 4/5
PART FIVE: 3/5
I love stories where a significant portion exists in the subtext; where the reader has to parse through what's been given to them and are curious to do so. Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day and Mariko Tamaki's Skim are masterclasses in this, and the first part of The Sparsholt Affair, the only section of the novel told in first-person perspective, does it so effectively. I wish Hollinghurst carried on telling the rest of the narrative through the perspective of a side character, because I absolutely fell in love with Freddie Green and his outsider's point of view. The rest of the novel didn't quite match that standard, but The Sparsholt Affair was still an enjoyable read overall.
misslezlee's review against another edition
5.0
I know where I heard about this book. NPR’s Morning Edition at the ungodly hour 0f 5:45am as I was feeding the dogs, making coffee, and putting up my lunch box. The author was interviewed by (I think) the velvet voiced David Greene, who is so easy on the ear when you'd really rather be back in your warm, comfortable bed. I immediately pricked up my ears because I’ve been a Hollinghurst fan since his first novel, “The Swimming Pool Library”. I put a hold on it at my library and as soon as they actually had a copy it was delivered to my Kindle. Easy Peasy. And what a wonderful read it was. His writing is delightful, all the more so after the drivel I had just been ploughing through with my last book. The story spans about sixty years and follows the lives of a group of young men who meet at Oxford University during WW2. I wasn’t expecting a story about Art, so that was an added bonus.
lgiegerich's review
3.0
As The NY Times review says, your brain rates this book highly, but your heart isn’t in it as much. Beautifully written, but the jumping through time, from character to character, doesn’t always work as I think he wants it to.
wendoxford's review
3.0
This is an incredibly assured, brilliantly written novel and yet...I just couldn't warm to it.
The plot is oblique, requiring the reader to work hard, a style I normally love but I found it endlessly depressing. Generations of compromise, brutality, unhappiness, unrequited love played out against a homoerotic backdrop. I am neither prudish nor a lover of happy endings, and I find the moments of joy small consolation for the bleak journey through illegal homosexuality to more contemporary "gay abandon"
I was inexplicably unsettled by being put into the role of a backseat driver in a story of carcrash relationships, near misses, operating with undue care and attention alongside established learned habits. My delight in the style and language ended up being submerged.
The plot is oblique, requiring the reader to work hard, a style I normally love but I found it endlessly depressing. Generations of compromise, brutality, unhappiness, unrequited love played out against a homoerotic backdrop. I am neither prudish nor a lover of happy endings, and I find the moments of joy small consolation for the bleak journey through illegal homosexuality to more contemporary "gay abandon"
I was inexplicably unsettled by being put into the role of a backseat driver in a story of carcrash relationships, near misses, operating with undue care and attention alongside established learned habits. My delight in the style and language ended up being submerged.
marycruise93's review against another edition
3.0
Somehow it took me so long to finish this, even though it was an enjoyable and good book. I just couldn't really get into it/focus on it.
eric_roling's review
3.0
The first section of this book was really compelling, and it was somewhat disappointing when the next section jumped forward over a decade. The characters in the first section are mostly background characters the rest of the way, and I didn't enjoy the primary characters in the remainder of the story, especially the son of Sparsholt. The writing was good, but the story was tedious.
jiayuanc's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This was my first Hollinghurst book and I've since been informed this wasn't a great place to start. On GoodReads, I rated this 3 stars, rounded up from 2.5 stars. My thought process is such: loved Part 1 and wished we saw more from Freddie Green's perspective. I was very disappointed to come to the end of Part 1, only to be thrust into an entirely different POV for the remainder of the novel. I felt almost cheated when Part 1 ended and we were then forced into the perspective of 14 year old Johnny. We stay hovering around Johnny's life for the remainder of the book. I kept hoping Freddie Green's POV would return, but we only get glimpses from an outsider view.
The remaining parts follow Jonathan Sparsholt (Johnny) who I found rather dull. Hollinghurst's prose and fusion of speaking on art with his characters is lovely but the titular Sparsholt Affair is never directly confronted and we merely get talked around it. I understand this was the point but it was frustrating and made it an added difficulty with trying to empathize with the characters it impacted. David Sparsholt is only ever talked about by characters who know / knew him and we never get to see from his perspective anything that happens at all. A choice no doubt but one that just didn't work for me and one that definitely made the whole thing less impactful.
The remaining parts follow Jonathan Sparsholt (Johnny) who I found rather dull. Hollinghurst's prose and fusion of speaking on art with his characters is lovely but the titular Sparsholt Affair is never directly confronted and we merely get talked around it. I understand this was the point but it was frustrating and made it an added difficulty with trying to empathize with the characters it impacted. David Sparsholt is only ever talked about by characters who know / knew him and we never get to see from his perspective anything that happens at all. A choice no doubt but one that just didn't work for me and one that definitely made the whole thing less impactful.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Outing, and Sexual assault