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A review by literarycrushes
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
5.0
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst absolutely WRECKED me and is easily one of my top books of the year. The novel consists of three separate parts describing life in London in the mid-80s. Margaret Thatcher is PM, AIDs is at its height, and cocaine – and everything else- is everywhere.
We enter this world through the eyes of Nick Guest. Nick, a recent Oxford grad, has been invited to move into the spare room of a university friend’s chic, Notting Hill family home. Nick quickly becomes infatuated and entangled with The Fedden’s, a glamorous, upper-class family whose patriarch has recently been elected to parliament. His new life develops a sheen of unreality to it, as though he can’t believe his luck, but doesn’t quite trust it either, which lends a fantastic suspense to the novel.
The subject and style reminded me of another one of my favorites novels, Patrick Melrose, as they were both a kind of satirical commentary on the lives of upper-class British families given from within. Whereas Patrick is born into that life, Nick maintains a constant degree of remove knowing it could all be taken away from him in a moment.
Though it’s the 80s, and it’s London, Nick sort of tiptoes around his gayness. He never hides it, but the Fedden’s, and everyone in their rarified world, becomes uncomfortable whenever it is explicitly referenced (which is of course another form of homophobia). We learn that Nick has only recently come out and has yet to have any reciprocated romantic or sexual relationships. He quickly rectifies this situation by answering a letter in the Gay Times that leads him to Leo, a black clerk whom he falls instantly and desperate in love with. Without spoiling the plot, I will say this novel is decidedly not a traditional love story in any way but maintains the power to absolutely destroy. Highly recommend!
We enter this world through the eyes of Nick Guest. Nick, a recent Oxford grad, has been invited to move into the spare room of a university friend’s chic, Notting Hill family home. Nick quickly becomes infatuated and entangled with The Fedden’s, a glamorous, upper-class family whose patriarch has recently been elected to parliament. His new life develops a sheen of unreality to it, as though he can’t believe his luck, but doesn’t quite trust it either, which lends a fantastic suspense to the novel.
The subject and style reminded me of another one of my favorites novels, Patrick Melrose, as they were both a kind of satirical commentary on the lives of upper-class British families given from within. Whereas Patrick is born into that life, Nick maintains a constant degree of remove knowing it could all be taken away from him in a moment.
Though it’s the 80s, and it’s London, Nick sort of tiptoes around his gayness. He never hides it, but the Fedden’s, and everyone in their rarified world, becomes uncomfortable whenever it is explicitly referenced (which is of course another form of homophobia). We learn that Nick has only recently come out and has yet to have any reciprocated romantic or sexual relationships. He quickly rectifies this situation by answering a letter in the Gay Times that leads him to Leo, a black clerk whom he falls instantly and desperate in love with. Without spoiling the plot, I will say this novel is decidedly not a traditional love story in any way but maintains the power to absolutely destroy. Highly recommend!