coco_lolo 's review for:

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

4.0

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Almost immediately into reading this book, I realized it was one I needed to annotate: from Isherwood's approach to storytelling to the theme of happiness even amid grief, my copy of A Single Man rapidly filled with my observations penciled into the margins. I found so much to admire, even while critiquing the outdated notions of race and misogyny. The way the author uses context to reveal information rather that always blatantly saying it was such a success and is a stylistic choice I'd like to try in my own fiction. The ache of grief associated with Geroge—the loss of his partner, how he performs a role in order to fit into society, the cycle of destruction-reconstruction taking over the city—somehow never felt too heavy, as we see him also experiencing simple moments of joy. If anything, I found the ending too sentimental when compared to the rest of the novel.