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A review by alexisreading23
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
3.0
Nick Guest finds himself staying at the affluent Feddens’ grand Kensington townhouse for the summer by virtue of his friendship with their young and affable son, Toby, a fellow undergraduate at Worcester College, Oxford. Nick becomes a pseudo-custodian and lodger in their house, watching over their flighty and cavalier daughter, Catherine. Alongside his slightly delicate existence in the Feddens world, Nick, a gay man, begins his foray into the world of cruising and casual sex.
Nick is a bit of a Richard Papen - a bit oblivious, very self-absorbed, and enamoured with beauty, wealth and power. Nick, apart from his covert yearning for the very heterosexual Toby, has a rather strange and disconcerting fetish for black men. It probably goes without saying that the circles Nick finds himself moving in betray some rather sickeningly backward attitudes which are as shocking to the reader as they are casual to the speaker. It is Thatcher’s Britain and the AIDS crisis is creeping into the gay communities that Nick frequents. A time of astounding political action narrated by an enormously apolitical and disinterested figure. This makes for an uneasy but psychologically interesting read. This is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s only partially mine - but an intriguing approach to narrative and a societal moment that captures the creeping AIDS deaths, the odd cult of Maggie, and the perspective of the hanger-on in upper-class circles.
Nick is a bit of a Richard Papen - a bit oblivious, very self-absorbed, and enamoured with beauty, wealth and power. Nick, apart from his covert yearning for the very heterosexual Toby, has a rather strange and disconcerting fetish for black men. It probably goes without saying that the circles Nick finds himself moving in betray some rather sickeningly backward attitudes which are as shocking to the reader as they are casual to the speaker. It is Thatcher’s Britain and the AIDS crisis is creeping into the gay communities that Nick frequents. A time of astounding political action narrated by an enormously apolitical and disinterested figure. This makes for an uneasy but psychologically interesting read. This is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s only partially mine - but an intriguing approach to narrative and a societal moment that captures the creeping AIDS deaths, the odd cult of Maggie, and the perspective of the hanger-on in upper-class circles.