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writtenontheflyleaves's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Desire: A Memoir by Jonathan Dollimore 🏍
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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❤️🔥 The concept: Cultural critic Jonathan Dollimore meditates on the nature of desire, from his teenage years racing motorbikes in Luton, to cruising in the gay subcultures of New York, Brighton and Sydney. He sheds light on diverse experiences from bisexuality to depression to the unfolding of the AIDS crisis, with a distinctive voice that balances poignancy with humour.
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This was a really surprising read for me! I didn’t expect how light the tone of voice would be, or how wide-ranging the topics discussed would be either. Desire here is not just one thing: it’s not just sexual or romantic, it’s connected deeply with loss and pain, and Dollimore shows that ultimately what we desire, what we are magnetised to, is what makes us who we are.
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There’s a lot of history in this book, but you almost don’t notice because it’s so full of life. The writing is frequently beautiful and vivid, and is often interspersed with excerpts from Dollimore’s old diary entries, which lend a real feeling of immediacy. The result is the sense of a past that feels vibrantly real, and yet also extremely remote from the 2020s - not just life pre-pandemic, but life pre-AIDS, a childhood being raised by adults still scarred from the Second World War. It was fascinating and I really recommend it to anyone interested in queer history, or late 20th century UK history in general!
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❤️🔥 Read it if you like A.A. Gill’s writing as the matter-of-fact tone is very similar, and if you like a memoir that has a unifying theme to keep it moving.
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🚫 Avoid it if academic writing is not your bag - at a few points it felt like I was reading an academic article - and check TWs carefully before reading.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
-
❤️🔥 The concept: Cultural critic Jonathan Dollimore meditates on the nature of desire, from his teenage years racing motorbikes in Luton, to cruising in the gay subcultures of New York, Brighton and Sydney. He sheds light on diverse experiences from bisexuality to depression to the unfolding of the AIDS crisis, with a distinctive voice that balances poignancy with humour.
-
This was a really surprising read for me! I didn’t expect how light the tone of voice would be, or how wide-ranging the topics discussed would be either. Desire here is not just one thing: it’s not just sexual or romantic, it’s connected deeply with loss and pain, and Dollimore shows that ultimately what we desire, what we are magnetised to, is what makes us who we are.
-
There’s a lot of history in this book, but you almost don’t notice because it’s so full of life. The writing is frequently beautiful and vivid, and is often interspersed with excerpts from Dollimore’s old diary entries, which lend a real feeling of immediacy. The result is the sense of a past that feels vibrantly real, and yet also extremely remote from the 2020s - not just life pre-pandemic, but life pre-AIDS, a childhood being raised by adults still scarred from the Second World War. It was fascinating and I really recommend it to anyone interested in queer history, or late 20th century UK history in general!
-
❤️🔥 Read it if you like A.A. Gill’s writing as the matter-of-fact tone is very similar, and if you like a memoir that has a unifying theme to keep it moving.
-
🚫 Avoid it if academic writing is not your bag - at a few points it felt like I was reading an academic article - and check TWs carefully before reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Car accident, Homophobia, Violence, and Terminal illness
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