May 14, 2012

three-bullet book review

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (2011)

  • Follows fictional First World War poet Cecil Valance through juvenilia, initial fame, early death, canonization, standardization, neglect and revival.
  • Casts aspersions on the intent, utility and reliability of literary history, especially biographical criticism and literary memoir.
  • Hollinghurst's fictional reconstructions of English queer history neatly maps the closet's shifting borders, though I find I still prefer Sarah Waters. 

Recommended?

Yes, if the basic premise intrigues you. I liked it much better than his previous books which, though well written, failed to make me care about affluent white gay young men in Thatcherite England. In addition to being more up my alley -- war literature! memory! cameos by poets and critics I've studied! -- this has a richer cast of characters, more complex structure, broader scope than his previous books. Even if you don't read it, please enjoy this rather perfect bit: "after quite a lot of drinks you didn't care so much about good manners" (165). True enough.

6 comments:

  1. Maude, I love these 3-bullet reviews. Also, probably I will give this text a miss. Good to know what I'm missing, though!

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    1. Yeah, I don't think this one needs to be on your summer reading list. Thanks for the 3-bullet love!

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  2. Yay! The Stranger's Child 3-bullet review! I'm SO with you on preferring this to his books on Thatcherite England (which I find troubling in the way they depict black men as exotic objects of desire, and women as vapid and shallow with, I found, very little reflexivity. There's some of that here but not as egregious. The women characters here mark the greatest improvement to me).

    And, indeed, that is a rather perfect bit!

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    1. YES on how his previous books position black men, particularly because it was such blatantly sexualized othering rather than, say, some sort of clever framing of race relations in 80s Britain. I also agree that his female characters in this book are far more complex. More like actual women, almost.

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  3. This one does not sound like me, so much, but man, oh man, I love the three bullet book reviews! Also, I loved the quote.

    AftK

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    1. Thanks for the three-bullet love! I will keep them coming. Here's to a long weekend of drinks and no manners!

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