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A review by hernamewaslily
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
4.0
A Single Man is a tale of loss and the loneliness that comes with it. The novel follows a day in the life of George, a middle-aged university professor from England living in California, who has recently lost his long-term partner, Jim.
Not only is George mourning the loss of his one true love, but he is also mourning the loss of his future and his past, and finds himself stuck somewhere between the two, unable to resolve them into anything that makes sense. Throughout the novel he visits a number of people – his dead lovers’ former lover, his best friend and fellow ex-pat, Charlotte, one of his male students – in order to find an answer as how to move on. But just as he seems to be coming to grips with this, the universe plays a cruel trick…
This was my second Isherwood – I’d previously read ‘Goodbye to Berlin’ for my masters – and it won’t be my last. His prose is captivating and his penchant for the melancholy is beautifully alluring.
Not only is George mourning the loss of his one true love, but he is also mourning the loss of his future and his past, and finds himself stuck somewhere between the two, unable to resolve them into anything that makes sense. Throughout the novel he visits a number of people – his dead lovers’ former lover, his best friend and fellow ex-pat, Charlotte, one of his male students – in order to find an answer as how to move on. But just as he seems to be coming to grips with this, the universe plays a cruel trick…
This was my second Isherwood – I’d previously read ‘Goodbye to Berlin’ for my masters – and it won’t be my last. His prose is captivating and his penchant for the melancholy is beautifully alluring.