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manwithanagenda's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
While not literally read so, this came on the heels of 'Dancer from the Dance' for me, and I'm afraid it suffered in comparison. 'The Swimming-Pool Library' is set in a similar time and has a majority of homosexual characters, but by all other standards the two shouldn't be compared so. The style and tone of the two are much different. Likely because Hollinghurst writes of the world not during its zenith but looks back at it wistfully.
The author differs with me, but the hedonistic world William revels in is far too icky for me to be comfortable reading about. The clear, limpid prose only highlights the discomfort. I can set a lot of things aside, and some authors can even get me to see the value of this level of debauchery...but not this one. The plot of the novel eventually brings the aristocratic William Beckwith to a moral dilemma that doesn't deal with who he's fucking at the moment. Hollinghurst seems to point towards a change of character, a discovery of moral fiber, but it seems to me to be a triumph of his laziness. It is very easy to do the right thing when the right thing is doing nothing.
I liked the book enough while reading, but when pressed to say why, I can only say it was elegant.
The author differs with me, but the hedonistic world William revels in is far too icky for me to be comfortable reading about. The clear, limpid prose only highlights the discomfort. I can set a lot of things aside, and some authors can even get me to see the value of this level of debauchery...but not this one. The plot of the novel eventually brings the aristocratic William Beckwith to a moral dilemma that doesn't deal with who he's fucking at the moment. Hollinghurst seems to point towards a change of character, a discovery of moral fiber, but it seems to me to be a triumph of his laziness. It is very easy to do the right thing when the right thing is doing nothing.
I liked the book enough while reading, but when pressed to say why, I can only say it was elegant.
bungaku_shoujo's review
3.0
ძალიან კარგად წერს ეს კაცი, მაგრამ მთავარი გმირი აუტანელია და სიუჟეტი რაღაცნაირი უმიზნო და გამაღიზიანებელი
beam_baum's review against another edition
3.0
there are some good lines here and there, some moments of poignancy, but soon the main character, a moneyed and foppish will beckwith, is back to obsessing over sex with strangers and men's cocks. as much as i too love lurid descriptions of cocks, there's only so much i can take. i suppose hollinghurst might have been demonstrating the very banality and superficiality of the social scene by being so damn repetitive, but structurally speaking the narrative also went absolutely nowhere.
felicity's review
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
3.75
magus_eden's review against another edition
5.0
Review after first reading in January 2016 (***):
Half an hour after finishing this book, I am left completely muddled as to what the point of it was. In terms of plot, not much happens in the way of life-changing events. Given this, one would expect the book to be built on the strength of its character development. Unfortunately, from the beginning I had no liking whatsoever for the main character, Will, and since he did not change in the slightest from the beginning to the end of the book, I was not left feeling that my 300+ page commitment to him had been worth my while for his sake. I found a few of the minor characters (Rupert, Gavin, Bill) likable and grew quite fond of the protagonist's best friend, James (in fact, I would infinitely have rather read a book about him). However, Will's insufferable egotism and laziness made him a highly unappealing hero to me, and I found that I didn't especially care about any of his (honestly fairly trivial) troubles.
Having madly loved the Hollinghurst book I've previously read (The Stranger's Child), I am sorry to only give The Swimming-Pool Library three stars. Still, as far as the wretchedly unattractive Will is concerned, I would happily have assigned the book only one star. The other two are for Hollinghurst's utterly enchanting prose. At least a dozen times during the book I caught myself smiling with pure delight over some breathtakingly fresh or clever turn of phrase ("It was his first unsolicited remark to me, and despite its consummate blandness it had the air of being the final fruit of a long internal quest for something to say." "He sounded like someone trying to sell his sister to a tourist." "But he decided against it, paced back to a darkened corner, leaving me with a faint ache of adulation and inadequacy.") Honestly, Hollinghurst could write a book about the life cycle of the flea and I would still want to read it, just to experience the rich, generous, witty way he has with words.
Ultimately, The Swimming-Pool Library falls short of full marks in terms of offering compelling characters or a powerful story. However, for those who value vibrant, creative prose and can divorce enjoyment of such from concern with the story, The Swimming-Pool Library is well worth reading simply for the sake of Hollinghurst's marvelous writing.
Review after second reading in February 2019 (*****):
Wow, it's amazing the difference a couple of years of reading other texts can make to one's second impressions of a book! Returning to The Swimming-Pool Library after having read not only all of Hollinghurst's other novels, but a wealth of other works that have important intertextual relevance to this novel (Billy Budd, Death in Venice, The Flower Beneath the Foot, to name just a few), I have infinitely more appreciation for this book's incredibly nuanced and thoughtful mediation between the secret queer histories of the early twentieth century and the utterly transformed world of its present (that present being the 1980s, a fact that means this book is over thirty years old and has in a way taken its place in the realm of "history" itself!) Given that I wholeheartedly retract the sentiments of my 2016 review (except for my intense dislike of Will, which I now realize is essential to the novel's success, and my praise for Hollinghurst's style, which I still adore), I was tempted to remove it from GR, but have decided against it in favor of retaining it as a personal reminder of the frequent fallibility of literary first impressions.
Half an hour after finishing this book, I am left completely muddled as to what the point of it was. In terms of plot, not much happens in the way of life-changing events. Given this, one would expect the book to be built on the strength of its character development. Unfortunately, from the beginning I had no liking whatsoever for the main character, Will, and since he did not change in the slightest from the beginning to the end of the book, I was not left feeling that my 300+ page commitment to him had been worth my while for his sake. I found a few of the minor characters (Rupert, Gavin, Bill) likable and grew quite fond of the protagonist's best friend, James (in fact, I would infinitely have rather read a book about him). However, Will's insufferable egotism and laziness made him a highly unappealing hero to me, and I found that I didn't especially care about any of his (honestly fairly trivial) troubles.
Having madly loved the Hollinghurst book I've previously read (The Stranger's Child), I am sorry to only give The Swimming-Pool Library three stars. Still, as far as the wretchedly unattractive Will is concerned, I would happily have assigned the book only one star. The other two are for Hollinghurst's utterly enchanting prose. At least a dozen times during the book I caught myself smiling with pure delight over some breathtakingly fresh or clever turn of phrase ("It was his first unsolicited remark to me, and despite its consummate blandness it had the air of being the final fruit of a long internal quest for something to say." "He sounded like someone trying to sell his sister to a tourist." "But he decided against it, paced back to a darkened corner, leaving me with a faint ache of adulation and inadequacy.") Honestly, Hollinghurst could write a book about the life cycle of the flea and I would still want to read it, just to experience the rich, generous, witty way he has with words.
Ultimately, The Swimming-Pool Library falls short of full marks in terms of offering compelling characters or a powerful story. However, for those who value vibrant, creative prose and can divorce enjoyment of such from concern with the story, The Swimming-Pool Library is well worth reading simply for the sake of Hollinghurst's marvelous writing.
Review after second reading in February 2019 (*****):
Wow, it's amazing the difference a couple of years of reading other texts can make to one's second impressions of a book! Returning to The Swimming-Pool Library after having read not only all of Hollinghurst's other novels, but a wealth of other works that have important intertextual relevance to this novel (Billy Budd, Death in Venice, The Flower Beneath the Foot, to name just a few), I have infinitely more appreciation for this book's incredibly nuanced and thoughtful mediation between the secret queer histories of the early twentieth century and the utterly transformed world of its present (that present being the 1980s, a fact that means this book is over thirty years old and has in a way taken its place in the realm of "history" itself!) Given that I wholeheartedly retract the sentiments of my 2016 review (except for my intense dislike of Will, which I now realize is essential to the novel's success, and my praise for Hollinghurst's style, which I still adore), I was tempted to remove it from GR, but have decided against it in favor of retaining it as a personal reminder of the frequent fallibility of literary first impressions.
lisa_setepenre's review against another edition
4.0
About five years ago, I went through a phase of trying to read all the Man Booker winners because I thought it was time I became a "serious" reader. Alan Hollinghurst’s [b:The Line of Beauty|139087|The Line of Beauty|Alan Hollinghurst|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1172099924s/139087.jpg|918312] was one of those titles I picked up and seemed like a good bet – it was a winner, it focused on queer characters, it was $8 at the remaindered bookshop.
It wasn’t the worst Man Booker Prize winner I read in that phase, but it wasn’t the most memorable. My best recollection is that I found the prose rather dense and difficult to get through. Then, a few weeks ago, I was hankering for some queer literary fiction and Hollinghurst was the only option I could easily find and I gambled on The Swimming Pool Library.
I really enjoyed this. I don’t know if I have much to say about it, in terms of depth and meaning – it’s one of those novels that feels like it’s focusing on a protagonist that just ambles along in their life, briefly involved with deeper issues and themes and ultimately remains relatively untouched by them. I don’t feel like there’s a moment of denouncement, of devastating realisation, as such and my one criticism would be that I would’ve liked more from the ending – things seem to trail off rather than reaching a point.
I struggle to say what I loved about this book – the prose is beautiful, but there was no passage or sentence that made me sit up and draw (imaginary, invisible) love hearts around it. The world was enthralling, though perhaps not realistic – but I rather think it reflects the privileged bubble that the protagonist lives in. he rarely experiences ‘the real world’ and his brushes with its brutality feel sort of the point. The protagonist was distasteful – self-centred, fetishes black men, shallow, unbelievably privileged – and yet I felt neither expected to like him or loathe him – he just was who he was, and the reader was left judge him on their own.
4.5 stars.
It wasn’t the worst Man Booker Prize winner I read in that phase, but it wasn’t the most memorable. My best recollection is that I found the prose rather dense and difficult to get through. Then, a few weeks ago, I was hankering for some queer literary fiction and Hollinghurst was the only option I could easily find and I gambled on The Swimming Pool Library.
I really enjoyed this. I don’t know if I have much to say about it, in terms of depth and meaning – it’s one of those novels that feels like it’s focusing on a protagonist that just ambles along in their life, briefly involved with deeper issues and themes and ultimately remains relatively untouched by them. I don’t feel like there’s a moment of denouncement, of devastating realisation, as such and my one criticism would be that I would’ve liked more from the ending – things seem to trail off rather than reaching a point.
I struggle to say what I loved about this book – the prose is beautiful, but there was no passage or sentence that made me sit up and draw (imaginary, invisible) love hearts around it. The world was enthralling, though perhaps not realistic – but I rather think it reflects the privileged bubble that the protagonist lives in. he rarely experiences ‘the real world’ and his brushes with its brutality feel sort of the point. The protagonist was distasteful – self-centred, fetishes black men, shallow, unbelievably privileged – and yet I felt neither expected to like him or loathe him – he just was who he was, and the reader was left judge him on their own.
4.5 stars.
sashanotwillsmith's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Oh I hated this so much I had to throw it at the wall when I was done.
eleanormaxwell's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
3.0
I am of two minds about this book. I truly dislike the protagonist, but I like the concept.
A young, vain, uber frivolous and privileged man, reading the diaries of the old Lord Nantwich who, feeling that his death is close, wants someone to write his memories.
I liked the juxtaposition between the lives of these two men, living in such different times; and I liked how, at the end, we discover the link that brings their lives together.
I like the writing style, too. But when I don't like the protagonist... it's hard for me to love a book :/
A young, vain, uber frivolous and privileged man, reading the diaries of the old Lord Nantwich who, feeling that his death is close, wants someone to write his memories.
I liked the juxtaposition between the lives of these two men, living in such different times; and I liked how, at the end, we discover the link that brings their lives together.
I like the writing style, too. But when I don't like the protagonist... it's hard for me to love a book :/
itspatri's review against another edition
1.0
In all fairness, I stopped reading this.
But it wasn't that I lost interest or just didn't have the time to finish this. Reading this wasn't a chore, either. No, I stopped reading this in disgust. A terrible story for terrible people.
Content Warnings for this book: racial fetishization, everyone is gay and wants to sleep with you, the job of the rich is to be rich and interesting, you have sex with everyone all the time and the rest of the plot (and your life) is just there to support you having more sex with everyone, you sleep with people just because your loved ones want them, you take accessible seating to watch a man you want to sleep with... The list of badness goes on and on.
To elaborate on a few of the aforementioned points: the unlikable protagonist, in his never ending quest for all the gay sex with everyone, takes up the handicapped seat on the tram, and suggests he would pretend to be handicapped if asked to move. This is done for the sole purpose of ogling a guy from the gym he wants to sleep with. Actually, worse: he only wants to sleep with him because his friend likes the guy. God help me.
I also own The Line of Beauty. When the disgust for this book is a few years in the past, I might give it a go.
But it wasn't that I lost interest or just didn't have the time to finish this. Reading this wasn't a chore, either. No, I stopped reading this in disgust. A terrible story for terrible people.
Content Warnings for this book: racial fetishization, everyone is gay and wants to sleep with you, the job of the rich is to be rich and interesting, you have sex with everyone all the time and the rest of the plot (and your life) is just there to support you having more sex with everyone, you sleep with people just because your loved ones want them, you take accessible seating to watch a man you want to sleep with... The list of badness goes on and on.
To elaborate on a few of the aforementioned points: the unlikable protagonist, in his never ending quest for all the gay sex with everyone, takes up the handicapped seat on the tram, and suggests he would pretend to be handicapped if asked to move. This is done for the sole purpose of ogling a guy from the gym he wants to sleep with. Actually, worse: he only wants to sleep with him because his friend likes the guy. God help me.
I also own The Line of Beauty. When the disgust for this book is a few years in the past, I might give it a go.