Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jackieeh 's review for:
The Charioteer
by Mary Renault
1/22/2019:
Oof. Now more than ever I am Team Laurie Should Get Himself Sorted Out First Before He Rushes Into Anything With Either Of These Messes. Every word of my original review stands. The Charioteer definitely rewards reencountering. (And the audiobook is good! I never listen to audiobooks but this may have marked a shift.)
1/10/2015:
I stand by my original effusions: "Team Ralph vs. Team Andrew is immaterial. Does this belong on the unrequited love shelf? OH GOD I DON'T KNOW I DON'T KNOW THIS BOOK HAS TURNED ME INTO GLUE." Regard this review as an attempt to unstick myself.
There's the above quote, which speaks to the stabilizing effect of being a member of a community, and then there's Laurie's disappointing interactions with the nascent gay community at Oxford. He describes his emotions thusly.
But enough about that. The Charioteer was one of the most enjoyable, immersive reads I've had in a while. For someone who likes everything to be character-driven, this was a goldmine. And what characters! Alec, who does not have time for this shit. Sandy, who (in my opinion) gets a raw deal. Bunny--BUNNY--who is Bunny. (Bunny ex machina. Bunny, Bunny, Bunny. Oh lord.) Reg "A pal's a pal the same all the world over" Barker, whose limitations don't preclude my absolute sorrow when his thread gets tied up and he disappears from view. The very cute Mervyn. The horrifying Aunt Olive, whose snooping takes the exact form I most fear.
And I haven't even gotten to the Axis of Angst. If you've been lurking around GoodReads long enough, you know how I generally feel about love triangles (short version: I hate them). The thing is, Ralph-Laurie-Andrew is done exceedingly well. The stakes were right, the conflict was believable, both candidates were wholly unsuitable in their own special ways, both candidates were absolutely perfect. Reader, I swooned. This is not a book primarily about romance and is all the more romantic for it. That meeting at Dunkirk! Those strolls through the woods! That kiss in the kitchen! The hospital transfer! RALPH SHOWING UP AT THE WEDDING LIKE THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR HE SO CLEARLY THINKS HE IS.
And then there's Team Laurie Should Get Himself Sorted Out First Before He Rushes Into Anything With Either Of These Messes.
I mean,
Oof. Now more than ever I am Team Laurie Should Get Himself Sorted Out First Before He Rushes Into Anything With Either Of These Messes. Every word of my original review stands. The Charioteer definitely rewards reencountering. (And the audiobook is good! I never listen to audiobooks but this may have marked a shift.)
1/10/2015:
I wanted someone to follow, I wanted him to be brave. But he wants to be brave for me too; and no one can do that.So I said I would edit/(re)write this review once my head was in a better place, i.e. not jet lagged, stuffed-up, or perched on top of a body sitting in an airport. Well, only one of those conditions has changed, but the book and its dogeared pages have been coyly sitting next to me on my couch for days now and I've finally given in.
I stand by my original effusions: "Team Ralph vs. Team Andrew is immaterial. Does this belong on the unrequited love shelf? OH GOD I DON'T KNOW I DON'T KNOW THIS BOOK HAS TURNED ME INTO GLUE." Regard this review as an attempt to unstick myself.
"Some instinct of his recognized, in this cautious and discreet person, one who had escaped from solitude, whose private shifts had given place to a traditional defense-system. Somewhere behind him was the comforting solidarity of a group."In a lot of ways, The Charioteer--before it's a romance or a historical novel or a war story or any of that--is the novelization of that anachronistic (and tonally inappropriate) ditty by (the aptly named) Friend & Lover, "Reach Out Of The Darkness" ("and you might find a friend"). One of the novel's preoccupations (and they are legion, and range from insanely successful to dated) is community, and it is safe to say that Renault's take on community here is nuanced.
There's the above quote, which speaks to the stabilizing effect of being a member of a community, and then there's Laurie's disappointing interactions with the nascent gay community at Oxford. He describes his emotions thusly.
"Shutting yourself away, somehow; roping you off with a lot of people you don't feel much in common with, half of whom hate the other half anyway, and just keep together so that they can lean up against each other for support."The context for this quote is problematic (and fuel for a thousand dissertations, so I won't go into it), but I will admit that this part, at least, spoke to me as someone who has had the experience of being expected to get along with a random assortment of alumni from my alma mater, just because circumstances had drawn us to the same place at the same time, when in fact the people who were offering me the most friendship and support and solidarity were the ones least like me. And that, too, was a community.
But enough about that. The Charioteer was one of the most enjoyable, immersive reads I've had in a while. For someone who likes everything to be character-driven, this was a goldmine. And what characters! Alec, who does not have time for this shit. Sandy, who (in my opinion) gets a raw deal. Bunny--BUNNY--who is Bunny. (Bunny ex machina. Bunny, Bunny, Bunny. Oh lord.) Reg "A pal's a pal the same all the world over" Barker, whose limitations don't preclude my absolute sorrow when his thread gets tied up and he disappears from view. The very cute Mervyn. The horrifying Aunt Olive, whose snooping takes the exact form I most fear.
And I haven't even gotten to the Axis of Angst. If you've been lurking around GoodReads long enough, you know how I generally feel about love triangles (short version: I hate them). The thing is, Ralph-Laurie-Andrew is done exceedingly well. The stakes were right, the conflict was believable, both candidates were wholly unsuitable in their own special ways, both candidates were absolutely perfect. Reader, I swooned. This is not a book primarily about romance and is all the more romantic for it. That meeting at Dunkirk! Those strolls through the woods! That kiss in the kitchen! The hospital transfer! RALPH SHOWING UP AT THE WEDDING LIKE THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR HE SO CLEARLY THINKS HE IS.
For the first time in months, he had remembered the dirty little parcel done up in newspaper at the back of his locker. It had contained the things saved from his pockets after Dunkirk, when the clothes had been cut away. A pocket-knife; a pipe he had been trying to get used to; a lighter; and the book Lanyon had given him seven years ago, with a brown patch of blood across the cover, and the edges of the pages stuck at the top. At different times he had tried the knife, the pipe, and the lighter, found them ruined, and thrown them away. The book had looked done for too; but it was still there.So I am obviously Team Ralph, but I get the appeal of Team Andrew, I really do. (And if I had read this book at fifteen, who knows. Who knows.)
And then there's Team Laurie Should Get Himself Sorted Out First Before He Rushes Into Anything With Either Of These Messes.
"If you knew all about me, you wouldn't be good to me like you are."I know all about you, Laurie, and you're judgmental and indecisive but you're also kind, sensitive, and loyal and it's the tragedy of my life right now that this novel will never have a sequel, and that it hasn't been made into a movie. Let's get this adapted pronto. The nigh-on impenetrable Britishness (and I have a lifetime of experience, not to mention an undergraduate degree, in deciphering this stuff) and the extremely guarded speech of the characters will make it a difficult task, but a rewarding one.
I mean,
This, thought Laurie, is what he doesn't tell everyone. The practiced inflection had held many chapters of inadvertent autobiography.LET'S DO IT.