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A review by grayjay
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
5.0
Hollinghurst's other novel The Stranger's Child is one of my favourite books, so I was excited to try another.
This novel was very English, in it's style—class and manners, try to overshadow sexuality and politics in the Thatcher era—but in theme, it is about chosen family, trust, and closeness. How far can we trust others and how much can we really know them or fool ourselves into thinking we know them.
The novel is very sexy but furtive. Nick, the middle class student living with an upper class political family is openly gay with them, but keeps all details of his relationships and sexual life secret. He lives in a strange tension of partial closeting. This novel becomes very sad as the 80s roll on and the AIDS crisis takes its toll. The characters are beautifully flawed, and even when they falter, you feel for them.
This novel was very English, in it's style—class and manners, try to overshadow sexuality and politics in the Thatcher era—but in theme, it is about chosen family, trust, and closeness. How far can we trust others and how much can we really know them or fool ourselves into thinking we know them.
The novel is very sexy but furtive. Nick, the middle class student living with an upper class political family is openly gay with them, but keeps all details of his relationships and sexual life secret. He lives in a strange tension of partial closeting. This novel becomes very sad as the 80s roll on and the AIDS crisis takes its toll. The characters are beautifully flawed, and even when they falter, you feel for them.