OrangutansLibrary reviewed The swimming-pool library by Alan Hollinghurst (Vintage international)
Review of 'The swimming-pool library' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A semi-interesting story in parts, but ultimately it boils down to the vanity and shallow life of a gay man, William Beckwith, living in 1980s Britain. It's a book about not much happening to an unlikeable sex-crazed man. It is very unclear whether the author is extoling the virtues of this man's life or criticising them; to be honest it reads like he is doing neither and just reporting the tedious antics of this promiscuous man over one summer. The attempts to contrast this with the diary of the elderly Lord Charles' antics in the 1920s and 30s fall flat, as he too is ultimately unlikeable. This is all on the background of a bizarre landscape where seemingly every man William meets is gay and impulsively interested in sex.
Hollinghursts best novel, The Line of Beauty, features a similary empty protagonist but features such a strong plot and a more …
A semi-interesting story in parts, but ultimately it boils down to the vanity and shallow life of a gay man, William Beckwith, living in 1980s Britain. It's a book about not much happening to an unlikeable sex-crazed man. It is very unclear whether the author is extoling the virtues of this man's life or criticising them; to be honest it reads like he is doing neither and just reporting the tedious antics of this promiscuous man over one summer. The attempts to contrast this with the diary of the elderly Lord Charles' antics in the 1920s and 30s fall flat, as he too is ultimately unlikeable. This is all on the background of a bizarre landscape where seemingly every man William meets is gay and impulsively interested in sex.
Hollinghursts best novel, The Line of Beauty, features a similary empty protagonist but features such a strong plot and a more interesting character progression. The Swimming-Pool Library's plot on the other hand does not make up for the central characters deficiencies and I found myself glad whenever something bad happened to him, so vain and unlikeable he became. Sadly I have a strong suspicion that elements of this book may be semi-autobiographical, and so it makes me think less of Hollinghurst.
Ultimately it's an average book, which follows the unsavoury and oversexed adventures of a very shallow gay man in 1980s london.
