Beautifully crafted, not to be missed

This is a story of discovering oneself and falling in love that is woven through the strict boundaries of English society in the late 1700’s. All of the expectations and intricacies of societal positions and the challenges faced by anyone who cannot or will not conform to its unwritten rules. To be gay and to have existed at this time of ‘change’ and enlightenment, opens up the ever present array of challenges that seek to destroy those whose only crime in life is to love someone of the same gender. The Intoxicating Lavelle is a story of love and bravery, that whilst historical in its context, throws sharp light into the everyday lives of so many people who feel that they risk losing so much simply to be able to embrace the beauty of who they truly are. This was a charming, insightful and beautifully crafted book. But more than this, it is an atonement for those living and past who have fought through fear and shame to be themselves.

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If you don't like crude books, this is not for you

If you don't like crude books than this is not a book for you because Mr Lavelle has a serious potty mouth and a lewd personality. What a character! I understand why many think this book might have had more of an emotional impact if Horace Lavelle hadn't of been so crude and humorous in the first half. But, personally, I thought that side of him helped to amplify his meltdown at the general unfairness of the world. It's a very moralistic story about class, sexuality, and following your own path. And all set in the 1700s.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book when Benjamin (the narrator) meets Lavelle and shows him all the horrid bits of real life his parents have sheltered him from. Seeing him through Benjamin's eyes, he was an exciting breath of fresh air. Until he wasn't, in the second half of the book when the tone completely changed. The author tried so hard to make the parents the bad guys in all this, but it didn't quite work for me. What were their crimes really? Wanting a better life for their children, even if that plan was too optimistic to work out, and concealing their past to avoid prejudice against their sons. That is all. For me, personally, the "bad guy" was Horace Lavelle. I know we're supposed to feel sympathy for him because of his past and the persecution for being gay, but any sympathy evoked quickly evaporated in the second half of the book. He is a horrid, manipulative person. He may be broken because of the abuse he suffered, but it absolutely does not give him the authority to abuse others. He meets Benjamin, learns about his life, and then utterly destroys his reality in every sense. It may not have been physical abuse, but it was certainly emotional abuse. There's a line at the end of the book that goes something like <i>Lavelle wasn't here to forgive, he was here to crush</i> which sums his role up quite aptly in this story.

Overall, I thought the story was quite well written and the characters were great. The plot and some of the key events let it down a bit though as they were a tad dramatic.

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1 person found this helpful

A terrific story.

This story moves with pace and energy as the characters come to understand themselves and each other. Mr Lavell is an unsettling and intriguing hero and as a reader I was captivated by him and his relationship with the fashionable world.

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