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cartoonmicah 's review for:
A Single Man
by Christopher Isherwood
George is an Englishmen self-exiled to L.A., an aging college professor quietly grieving his lost love. He and Jim had managed to quietly create a life together for years, mostly away from any sort of harassments or prying. But with Jim gone, George cannot grieve in any outward facing way. In the short span of a day or so, we see inside the mind of George, experiencing the many masks he puts on to perform for himself, for his friends, for the faculty and his students, and for society in general.
It is hard to believe that Isherwood published this novel about the inner life of a grieving, aging gay man in the 1960’s. While literature of that kind was being published, it tended to be dehumanizing, even when published by the likes of Patricia Highsmith. This is the most humanizing work I have ever read that grapples openly with a homosexual perspective in the context of wider human conditions like grief, social performance, aging, mortality, etc. The sexuality is always there but it does not feel either downplayed or sensationalized. It comes up naturally and the perspective in female and male relationships is nuanced.
Isherwood’s prose is wonderful. He does such a good job of creating nuanced perspectives, especially at the beginning and end of the book. As a sort of snapshots of life, it covers so much ground, so many of George’s perspectives and his questions about his own behaviors. A good read regardless of it’s groundbreaking nature.
It is hard to believe that Isherwood published this novel about the inner life of a grieving, aging gay man in the 1960’s. While literature of that kind was being published, it tended to be dehumanizing, even when published by the likes of Patricia Highsmith. This is the most humanizing work I have ever read that grapples openly with a homosexual perspective in the context of wider human conditions like grief, social performance, aging, mortality, etc. The sexuality is always there but it does not feel either downplayed or sensationalized. It comes up naturally and the perspective in female and male relationships is nuanced.
Isherwood’s prose is wonderful. He does such a good job of creating nuanced perspectives, especially at the beginning and end of the book. As a sort of snapshots of life, it covers so much ground, so many of George’s perspectives and his questions about his own behaviors. A good read regardless of it’s groundbreaking nature.