Customer Reviews
Structure narrative vs. poetic pros - By: Mr. Rm Hawkins, 04 Jan 2009 
The first thing that struck me when reading The Line Of Beauty was how carefully it trod the line between a structured narrative story & descriptive, sometimes poetic pros. Hollinghurst relies heavily on long descriptions of both the environment & characters, often using both to compare & contrast each other. While there is little doubtin my mind that the styling within his writing is phenomenal, his use of language to create images & evoke emotion is arguable the best explanation for his Booker Prize win, I did find that it was at the expense of moving the story along. I found, particularlyin the first few chapters, that while a lot had been said,in terms of the story, little had been achieved. I felt his depiction of Thatcher England from the perspective of the upper classes was interesting as so much is written from the perspective or with sympathy for lower social class groups. However, this may have resultedin a lack of sympathy for the principal characters. Contrasting conservative values with the life of a homosexual young man should have lead to sympathy & yet with so many advantagesin life the key characters plight seemed somewhat self indulgent considering what history reminds others were suffering, the HIV aspects being an exception to the rule, which was dealt with frankly while still sensitively. While certainly covering its key themesin detail, particularly class conflicts, Thatcherism & heterosexual hypocrisy, I found the story to be disengaging at times & found the mass amount of descriptive writing to flood the story itself. While I am pleased I continued to read until the end, as the final chapters brought the story to an interesting climax, I found the start hard work & as a result the book less enjoyable.
A literary prizewinner maybe but I found the story rather boring. - By: LindyLouMac, 18 Oct 2008 
This book is obviously a great literary achievement, must be as it won the Booker prize. Although I found this very well written from a purely literary viewpoint I just could not get into the story & just found it boring! I almost feel guilty admitting this as it seems that the majority of reviewers consider it brilliant. I however struggled to keep reading & it took me so long to do so, for me a sign that it lacked appeal.
It is an exploration of the 1980's through the eyes of the protagonist Nicholas Guest, a young graduate from Oxford, exploring his homosexuality. He lodges with the family of a friend from Oxford, Toby whose address just happens to be one of the bestin London as his father is Tory MP Gerald Fedden. We therefore gain an insight into the lifestyle of a wealthy MP & his family including his manic depressive daughter Catherine, Nick seems to be one of the only people she trusts.
In reading this you will certainly get an insight into the unpleasant excesses of the Thatcher years & Nick's desire to be part of the wealthy world of greed & politics that he is mixing in. He never quite fitsin though &in the end even gets the blame for the failures of others as scandal & death overwhelm him.
Without a doubt this a beautifully written novel but it just did not appeal to me.
An excellent cure for insomnia - By: Jl Adcock, 13 Oct 2008 Goodness me - a racy novel about gay love & freeloadingin the 80's that won the Booker Prize. Does it deserve to have won? Well, yes, based on the fact that it's well-written, doesn't actually go anywherein terms of storytelling, & nearly all of the characters are unlikeable people you'd probably cross the road to avoid.
As for the tosh about capturing the essence of Britain during these times - don't believe a bit of it. Authors like Jonathan Coe do that much better than The Line of Beauty - & achieve it with humour at the same time. Another Booker winner that shows the prize is out of touch with what most of us want from a book.
But - ideal if you like pretentious writing that will certainly put you to sleep. What on earth was the fuss all about? This is well-written drivel, but nothing more.
A massive achievement - By: Phil Shanklin, 04 Jul 2008 
Alan Hollinghurst's fourth novel is his most feted, winning the Booker Prize. It is further proof that Hollinghurst is one of our greatest living writers & this novel makes three great works. (I'm afraid "The Spell" didn't do it for me). This is a tale of Tory Britainin the 80s, of wealth, class, greed & excess. Nick Guest livesin London with the family of his Oxford University friend, the Feddens,in a household dominated by the larger than life presence of Gerald, a Tory MP. The beautiful first section charts Nick's relationship with Leo, a working-class black guy who fears his religious mother uncovering his sexuality. The less successful second section sees Nick with Wani, a son of a multi-millionaire whose life is even more closeted than Nick's & Leo's & who leads Nick into an inevitably disastrous would of drugs & cocaine-fuelled sex. The third section moves the story on another couple of years where the shadow of AIDS is looming large & beginning to stalk the gay characters & the "golden era" of the early Thatcher years experienced by most of the characters is beginning to become severely tarnished.
This book is superbly written & impressive. However, I do feel that the enjoyment factor is a little lacking compared to "The Swimming Pool Library", maybe the wealthy classesin Londonin the mid 80's just threw up too many noxious characters. This does tend to distance the reader, it can be hard to feel sympathetically towards any of them at times, but nevertheless this book is a massive achievement.
On the Outside, Looking In - By: Donald Mitchell, 19 Apr 2008 One of the biggest challenges of any novelist is to provide a perspective that's accessible to us & helpfulin understanding what's being portrayed. Alan Hollinghurst has achieved remarkable results by stationing his narrator, Nick Guest, outside of all the worlds he inhabits. Guest is like a spirit rising amused over the action that can draw us a picture while recording every sound that's created or uttered.
Here are the worlds that Guest helps us explore:
-Tory MP life during the Thatcher years
-Young Oxford graduates looking for a place
-A young man exploring his homosexuality
-Wealthy British on the make for more
-Middle-aged married life
-Inner life of a young manic-depressive
The book's overall theme is about everyday hypocrisy & the large price that has to be paid by those who pretend to be other than what they are & believe.
The story evolvesin three time periods: 1983, 1986, & 1987. In all three years, Nick Guest resides with the family of an Oxford friend where the father is a rising conservative MP. Nick has an unofficial role as low-cost lodger to keep on eye on the friend's troubled sister. The family knows that Nick is looking for a boy friend & is open about accepting his sexuality. The three years give us a chance to learn more about the characters & to see how their relationships change. The 1987 period brings all that had been knownin private into public with large consequences for all.
The book is filled with great scenes where nuances of knowledge, awareness, perception, accent, & perspective separate & unite the characters. Often, contrasting scenes occur back-to-back so that the contrasts are even more obvious. You'll gain a deeper insight into British society than you could on your own.
Ultimately, I feel that a work of fiction must be judged by how successfully it takes you into a world you have never beenin before & allows you to understand that world much better. Any novel that can help me understand what it's like to be gay during the AIDS epidemic while giving me a strong sense of Thatcher's leadership has to be pretty terrific because those dimensions are outside my experience & normal reading.
As a person who enjoys art, I was most impressed by the way that the ogee was worked into the story to provide a connecting metaphor for our common humanity.
Bravo!
