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The Line of Beauty
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
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Summary
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is a classic novel about class, politics and sexuality in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s Britain.
There was the soft glare of the flash – twice – three times – a gleaming sense of occasion, the gleam floating in the eye as a blot of shadow, his heart running fast with no particular need of courage as he grinned and said, 'Prime Minister, would you like to dance?'
In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy Feddens: Gerald, an ambitious Tory MP, his wife Rachel and their children Toby and Catherine. Innocent of politics and money, Nick is swept up into the Feddens' world and an era of endless possibility, all the while pursuing his own private obsession with beauty.
The Line of Beauty is Alan Hollinghurst's Man Booker Prize-winning masterpiece. It is a novel that defines a decade, exploring with peerless style a young man's collision with his own desires, and with a world he can never truly belong to.
The Pride List of Queer Storytelling
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- DAVID
- 09-10-18
Obvious and lusty
I'd heard many good reports of this....but after three hours all I could discern was a flimsy narrative linking the lusty thoughts and dabblings of a young Gay adventurist. Tedious repetition of the words penis, bulge, snog, hole, etc.
Bored by the boring.
And so it was abandoned.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 26-10-18
excellent writing and urgent listening
If you want to understand the political landscape of 1980s Britain, this is the novel. If you want to understand the history behind the current media morality panic about trans people, this is the novel. If you want to understand our current government, this is the novel.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Gillian
- 27-06-20
Excellent prose - but do we really need all that detail?
On reflection, I enjoyed listening to this. The narration was excellent - just the right sardonic time for the times. The writing is very beautiful too. The story moves slowly, but everything falls into place at the end, which is satisfying. But there is just too much explicit description of sex... it seems on every page. I do understand that this is an important theme... and I’m no prude, or I wouldn’t have chosen this book at all... but too much detail and too frequently just gets really tedious. If it was a paper book, I’d just skip those sections, but more difficult with audio.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Olivia
- 16-04-22
Fascinating depiction, gorgeously written
I’m confused by the negative reviews of this book, which I can’t help feeling are fuelled (however subconsciously) by internalised homophobia… I understand the style and pace may not be for everyone, but in what way are class, politics and the AIDS epidemic ‘niche’ or uninteresting topics??
I found this a fantastically evocative, wry, observant and sad depiction of 80s Britain. Or, more specifically, of a young gay man’s experience brushing shoulders with the mega-wealthy/political elite in 80s Britain. Rich subject matter, deftly executed - the writing really is masterful.
It’s not a page turner exactly - it took me a while to get through - but I savoured every line, and finished with the overwhelming sense that this was a book I was going to remember for a long time.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Robert
- 26-12-18
Boring
Aimed at a limited interest group. Cliche ridden. Hardly of interest to a wide audience.
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2 people found this helpful
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- ben carey
- 09-09-21
Transcends Genre
Absolute masterpiece. Complex characters, a protagonist with ambiguous morals leads us through a portion of sex, drugs, politics & first love - all handled expertly. The reeason this book was so successful is due to its honesty & accuracy with a genuinely interesting story. Also the sadness, hypocrisy & betrayal that the author showcases - in 80’s London high society is subtle & powerful. A book you won’t forget
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1 person found this helpful
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- Pavarotta
- 12-03-20
Dull
I had high hopes of this novel as I love this narrator, who can usually bring anything to life, and I liked the sound of the storyline. However, I found it at best unengaging, at worst boring and mannered.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Cheesetaster
- 25-02-23
Challenging but worth it
It's not an easy listen, but worth getting to the end. It's well narrated. The book moves well at the start. You get into the characters and the situations. The writer establishes the 80s well without being descriptive. But about two thirds into the book, it completely loses it's way and becomes dull. Not much happens for a while, and I was tempted to give up, but was glad I listened to the end. The book stayed on my mind for weeks after.
Possible spoiler.
At the start I expected to like Nick and feel sorry for him. He doesn't really do a lot. He just explores his sensuality. I felt kinship with him not being wealthy. But at the end I hated him. He's nothing but a leech, and an observer. Very polite. Almost a sycophant, but too boring. He just has nothing to him and no feeling or passion, and is extremely selfish. Perhaps a narcissist? Difficult to put my finger on it. He just watches really and tags along, and never really contributes. Interesting.
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- Mark beach
- 17-12-22
My first Hollinghurst
5 years ago, a friend told me I should read Alan Hollinghurst, I didn't get round to it then but I'm so pleased I have now
Hollinghurst takes ordinary characters, and some extra-ordinary too, and allows them to tell their stories in compelling, often heary-wrenching, yet very human ways.
Jack, thanks for the reading list!
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-02-22
What were the Booker judges thinking?
To say ‘Not what I expected’, would be an understatement. At times it felt like House & Gardens meets the Tatler with some Jackie Collins thrown in. The writing was good, descriptions, turns of phrase etc, but where was the plot? The protagonist, Nick Guest went from naive 21 year old looking for love in 1983, to still pretty naive Nick Guest in 1987.
It was all so predictable. The excitement & tragedy of his sexual love with Leo Charles. The hypocrisy & double standards of the upper middle class & aristocracy of Thatcher’s Britain. The spectre of AIDS. On paper this could have been a tender look at the fears of the 1980’s gay community, while critiquing the double standards of those in power. Instead, it wasn’t. Pretty writing isn’t enough. I have to care about the characters, even if they are unlikeable.
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