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A review by lola425
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
4.0
Sprawling and intimate at the same time. At first you think you are going to be reading a Brideshead Revisited-type tale of repressed English private school suexulaity and then Hollinghurst takes you on a journey that starts there, but finishes somewhere completely different. The repression and very real danger of mid-century homosexuality is there throughout the novel, The Sparsholt Affair of the title its embodiment, but the narrative does not rest there. The story takes you from repression to open expression from youthful exuberant confusion to middle-aged "what do I do with this aging body" confusion, from fear and hidden desires to gay lives and loves fully lived. Hollinghurst plays with
atmospheric light and dark, and stretches and compresses time throughout, as the characters find their way. Recommend for all book groups and for readers who liked Yanagihara's A Little Life, but prefer their novels English and far less grim. I loved it.
atmospheric light and dark, and stretches and compresses time throughout, as the characters find their way. Recommend for all book groups and for readers who liked Yanagihara's A Little Life, but prefer their novels English and far less grim. I loved it.