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A review by andrew61
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
3.0
This felt like a book that even at about 500 pages needed longer to explore the themes which the writer was exploring as he looked at the changes in society and individuals lives over a 60 year period from the gay perspective.
So at the outset of world war 2 we are introduced , in what I felt was the strongest part of the book, to a group of students at Oxford. This is an extract from the journal of one of the group Freddie Green who recounts a short period when his friends including Evert Dax become obsessed with David Sparsholt who they observe half naked in his bedroom.
The book then moves into the early 1960's when we meet David's son Johnny on a family holiday in Cornwall with a French exchange student and we discover more about the family dynamics particularly David's relationship with both his wife but also a male politician and work colleague (the ominous drawing of curtains).
Then we jump forward to see Johnny in the 1970's as he discovers himself sexually and also fathers a child who we then meet in the next section before finally finding Johnny bereaved but rediscovering his own sexuality. All these experiences are under the shadow of his father's notorious exposure pre 1968 in a sexual scandal for which despite being a war hero he suffers disgrace and public humiliation.
Some of the characters were well drawn and interesting although again I felt by limiting them to small sections in time they were not done full justice. I felt that there were so many more fascinating stories and characters to explore particularly the women who take a peripheral role such a Connie (Davids's wife) and jill (discovered on death to be a kleptomaniac ). I also wondered why there was no reference to losses through aids , this may be deliberate in that the author wanted to move the narrative of gay life beyond the aids tragedy but it still felt odd in what was essentially a history of the gay experience .
Overall a very readable book but at the end I felt it could have been much more satisfying.
So at the outset of world war 2 we are introduced , in what I felt was the strongest part of the book, to a group of students at Oxford. This is an extract from the journal of one of the group Freddie Green who recounts a short period when his friends including Evert Dax become obsessed with David Sparsholt who they observe half naked in his bedroom.
The book then moves into the early 1960's when we meet David's son Johnny on a family holiday in Cornwall with a French exchange student and we discover more about the family dynamics particularly David's relationship with both his wife but also a male politician and work colleague (the ominous drawing of curtains).
Then we jump forward to see Johnny in the 1970's as he discovers himself sexually and also fathers a child who we then meet in the next section before finally finding Johnny bereaved but rediscovering his own sexuality. All these experiences are under the shadow of his father's notorious exposure pre 1968 in a sexual scandal for which despite being a war hero he suffers disgrace and public humiliation.
Some of the characters were well drawn and interesting although again I felt by limiting them to small sections in time they were not done full justice. I felt that there were so many more fascinating stories and characters to explore particularly the women who take a peripheral role such a Connie (Davids's wife) and jill (discovered on death to be a kleptomaniac ). I also wondered why there was no reference to losses through aids , this may be deliberate in that the author wanted to move the narrative of gay life beyond the aids tragedy but it still felt odd in what was essentially a history of the gay experience .
Overall a very readable book but at the end I felt it could have been much more satisfying.