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rmtbray 's review for:
The Charioteer
by Mary Renault
Quite simply amazing! I really liked the fact that this wasn't about Laurie discovering he was gay, although that is occasionally hinted about, but just what his life is like as a gay man- at times you could forget that the love triangle was about three men at all, but then there is the constant worrying that someone has caught on to remind you. It was really interesting to have a very different spin from [b:Maurice|3103|Maurice|E.M. Forster|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361934128l/3103._SX50_.jpg|2394184] on the relative merits of chaste/innocent love vs. physical/experienced love- which is the 'truer' of the two? The answer is far less clear than in Maurice, and ultimately up to the reader...
The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the very beginning chapter, when Laurie's father leaving was made a big deal of, pretty obviously as an "explanation" of his homosexuality- I think [a:Christopher Isherwood|10229|Christopher Isherwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366029450p2/10229.jpg] has the perfect reply to this, in [b:A Single Man|16842|A Single Man|Christopher Isherwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380688373l/16842._SX50_.jpg|1802690]: “But your book is wrong, Mrs. Strunk, says George, when it tells you that Jim is the substitute I found for a real son, a real kid brother, a real husband, a real wife. Jim wasn't a substitute for anything. And there is no substitute for Jim, if you'll forgive my saying so, anywhere.” However, as this was written in the 50s, and Renault wasn't gay herself (I think?) (okay I just read that she was), I suppose she was writing according to contemporary medical ideas about homosexuality..?
ETA 09/12/13: I just listened to this book as BBC4's book at bedtime and it's as wonderful as I remembered, makes me want to read it again!
The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the very beginning chapter, when Laurie's father leaving was made a big deal of, pretty obviously as an "explanation" of his homosexuality- I think [a:Christopher Isherwood|10229|Christopher Isherwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366029450p2/10229.jpg] has the perfect reply to this, in [b:A Single Man|16842|A Single Man|Christopher Isherwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380688373l/16842._SX50_.jpg|1802690]: “But your book is wrong, Mrs. Strunk, says George, when it tells you that Jim is the substitute I found for a real son, a real kid brother, a real husband, a real wife. Jim wasn't a substitute for anything. And there is no substitute for Jim, if you'll forgive my saying so, anywhere.” However, as this was written in the 50s,
ETA 09/12/13: I just listened to this book as BBC4's book at bedtime and it's as wonderful as I remembered, makes me want to read it again!