I look divine

109 pages

English language

Published Nov. 24, 1989 by Vintage Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-394-75995-1

(2 reviews)

From Goodreads:

Like Dorian Gray, the exquisite Nicholas limned in this sleek and troubling novella may become a cult figure.

The self-absorbed, narcissistic young man feels he has been exceptional from the moment of his birth by Caesarian section; he was thus unmarked and more perfect than other babies. "There is no such thing as more perfect," corrects his mother. "Of course there is," says Nicholas. To avoid unsightly lines, he never smiles when photographed; to avoid even a trace of fat, he eats little: the obi of the kimono in which he often poses winds twice around his waist. The men he fancies bestow upon him rare enamels, ivory carvings, jewels because, he explains with apparent guilelessness to his older brother, who narrates the novel, it pleases them to do so.

But ointments and finery are helpless against the years. At 30 Nicholas the odalisque begins to resemble a …

From Goodreads:

Like Dorian Gray, the exquisite Nicholas limned in this sleek and troubling novella may become a cult figure.

The self-absorbed, narcissistic young man feels he has been exceptional from the moment of his birth by Caesarian section; he was thus unmarked and more perfect than other babies. "There is no such thing as more perfect," corrects his mother. "Of course there is," says Nicholas. To avoid unsightly lines, he never smiles when photographed; to avoid even a trace of fat, he eats little: the obi of the kimono in which he often poses winds twice around his waist. The men he fancies bestow upon him rare enamels, ivory carvings, jewels because, he explains with apparent guilelessness to his older brother, who narrates the novel, it pleases them to do so.

But ointments and finery are helpless against the years. At 30 Nicholas the odalisque begins to resemble a tart; at 37 he is dead. His brother, summoned by Nicholas's landlady to collect the lapsed body and now-scarred valuables, looks back fondly, objectively and suggestively upon a life no longer valid once physical beauty is flawed.

Sensual, mocking and deadly serious, this first novel casts a long shadow.

5 editions

Bridgman reviewed I look divine by Christopher Coe (Vintage contemporaries)

Review of 'I look divine' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Excellent of its kind, [a:Christopher Coe|218034|Christopher Coe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s [b:I Look Divine|13275863|I Look Divine|Christopher Coe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|372794] is one brother's remembrance of another. Coe, who died of AIDS in 1994, writes at times like Hemingway, I thought, though it's an odd comparison. I doubt the two would've gotten along well. It was the way Coe captured what it's like to be at a cafe in a foreign country at a certain time of your life at a certain period of history that made me think this.
I Look Divine's 109 pages go fast. It took me a few days to read it only because at the time I did—the middle of March of 2020—there was a lot going on in the world that distracted me.

"Seventeen years ago I sprang to life in this hotel," I remember hearing my brother tell a man from San Francisco, in the bar in the garden …

Excellent of its kind, [a:Christopher Coe|218034|Christopher Coe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s [b:I Look Divine|13275863|I Look Divine|Christopher Coe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|372794] is one brother's remembrance of another. Coe, who died of AIDS in 1994, writes at times like Hemingway, I thought, though it's an odd comparison. I doubt the two would've gotten along well. It was the way Coe captured what it's like to be at a cafe in a foreign country at a certain time of your life at a certain period of history that made me think this.
I Look Divine's 109 pages go fast. It took me a few days to read it only because at the time I did—the middle of March of 2020—there was a lot going on in the world that distracted me.

"Seventeen years ago I sprang to life in this hotel," I remember hearing my brother tell a man from San Francisco, in the bar in the garden of the Hassler hotel, a few nights after he took the swim in the Tiber, in 1996.
We spent an amount of time in hotel bars. Nicholas was partial to hotel bars. I was, too. I cannot say that now and then I did not share his taste.
The man from San Francisco was with a woman, but Nicholas did not address himself to her. Nicholas seldom addressed himself to women. He tended to avoid conversations that did not hold at least a possibility of conquest. For Nicholas, when he traveled with me, conquest was mostly an unmessy affair, flirtation returned, although his flirtations themselves could get somewhat lubricious. For flirtations, they could get a little gamy.

Bridgman reviewed I look divine by Christopher Coe (Vintage contemporaries)

Review of 'I look divine' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

MichaelJoseph reviewed I look divine by Christopher Coe (Vintage contemporaries)

Review of 'I look divine' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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