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A review by abroadwell
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
3.0
Hollinghurst writes beautifully, but this book was difficult. It is set in a number of different eras in England (WWI, the 40's, the late 60's, now). The eras are all connected by gay (or bi) men, and in particular by a celebrated WWI poet Cecil Valance.
But it is hard for the reader to have the characters constantly shifting from part to part. Just as you understand the new cast of characters and gain some sympathy for them, this part is over, and you are now twenty years later.
There is something interesting about the way in which the first parts tells us very frankly about the sex life of Cecil from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator, while the later parts involve biographers and book collectors trying to figure out what actually happened.
But it is hard for the reader to have the characters constantly shifting from part to part. Just as you understand the new cast of characters and gain some sympathy for them, this part is over, and you are now twenty years later.
There is something interesting about the way in which the first parts tells us very frankly about the sex life of Cecil from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator, while the later parts involve biographers and book collectors trying to figure out what actually happened.