A review by tomhill
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst

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.