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The Swimming-pool Library (Paperback)

by Alan Hollinghurst (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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The Swimming-pool Library + The Folding Star + The Spell
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  • This item: The Swimming-pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst

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  • The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Jan 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099268132
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099268130
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,498 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Gay & Lesbian > Fiction General > Gay
    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > H > Hollinghurst, Alan
    #5 in  Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature

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Product Description

Review

"'Deserves first prize in every category... superbly written, wildly funny' Daily Telegraph 'The first major novel in Britain to put gay life in its modern place and context... A historic novel and historic debut' - Guardian 'The tautness and energy of Alan Hollinghurst's novel derive from its ambiguous status a it shimmers somewhere between pastoral romance and sulphurous confession, between an affectionate and credible rendering of contemporary mores and lurid melodrama...classic English prose...surely the best book about gay life yet written by an English author' - Edmund White, Sunday Times 'Beautifully welds the standard conventions of fiction to a tale of modern transgressions. It tells of impurities with shimmering elegance, of complexities with a camp-fired wit and of truths with a fiction's solid grace' - New York Times Book Review"


Product Description

Alan Hollinghurst's first novel is a tour de force: a darkly erotic work that centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly realised and frequently steamy novel, 13 Mar 2001
By A Customer
The world of this book is a rather specific one - that of the male gay Englishman in the 20th century, so if you aren't male, or gay, or English, you might want to pop your head out of the book and gasp for air every so often. Also the graphic descriptions of homosexual congress can make it an uncomfortable read on crowded commuter trains, as I discovered to my cost. Having said that, the book is well, if lavishly, written, and the interlocking tales of danger and desire work together to produce a brilliantly cohesive picture of the evolution of English gay life before the onset of AIDS. The story centres on the relationship between the narrator, a privileged and promiscuous young aristocrat, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, whose life he saves in a public toilet. Nantwich turns out to have had quite an eventful life, as we discover when the narrator is asked to write his biography. The depictions of white boys attracted to black boys are particularly well-handled, and the twists and turns of the plot never take you where you expect. The book's world may be insular, but its immersion in and explication of that world is brilliantly realised.
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35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sumptuous writing, 13 Jan 2004
By ch0pper "ch0pper" (SOUTHAMPTON, Hampshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
Like all of Hollinghurst's writing, this book will not suit the average tabloid-reader with a limited vocabulary. If your idea of the acme of writing is Jeffrey Archer be prepared for a far richers and more rewarding experience.

Whilst the story is a racy delve into the darker parts of gay life it is not without its lighter moments. There is drama, comedy and tragedy to be found here.

Although the subject matter is modern the writing seems to come from another altogether more refined era. The author will challenge your broader cultural knowledge with his witty asides and the fullness of the characters. They are fully-rounded and flawed.

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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars just brilliant!, 21 Nov 2006
By A reader (brighton, UK) - See all my reviews
Wow. This is a literary but very erotic book which takes for its subject a hidden English sexual subculture which doesn't often register in mainstream life. I would recommend it to people of all sexualities.

The main focus is on metropolitan gay life in the early 1980s, before AIDS, and the novel's protagonist William Beckwith is suitably hedonistic and frequently debauched. He's not always likeable but the sensuous and sensual character of Hollinghurst's prose keeps you reading as you enter seedy flats, exclusive gentlemen's clubs and darkened caverns.

Hollinghurst's graceful, elegant prose is the work of a mind which has digested a library-load of English prose. Despite its forays into underground porn cinemas and gay cottaging, this is a book which is deeply aware of tradition and the relationship between history and the present; the dead haunt every page.

Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous writing
This is to me above all a book about London, about a London that remains hidden from all but a few, described in a magnificent subtle language. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. H. Costeris

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent exploration of recent gay history
London, 1983. William Beckwith, young, gay, indolent and aristocratic, devotes his existence to the pursuit of pleasure, enjoying numerous casual affairs with a variety of men. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dandy Highwayman

4.0 out of 5 stars Very gay, very thoughtful - well worth reading!
A compelling and sexy novel about a decadent, gay young aristocrat in 80s London whose life is changed irrevocably when he saves the life of the elderly Lord Nantwich. Read more
Published 12 months ago by E. Potten

5.0 out of 5 stars WAS IT WORTH THE HYPE?
The first Hollinghusrts book I read was "the folding star" and I thought it was a very good book, full of great characters and unforseen twists and turns and on that level i... Read more
Published 17 months ago by FUTURESTARdelux

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant though not his finest
Like all books written by Mr. Hollinghurst, this was written eloquently and beautifully. Fascinating insight into the gay world of the 80s and perhaps even earlier in the century... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Terence

5.0 out of 5 stars Twenty years on this is still superb!
I read this book twenty years ago when it first came out. Although I remember loving it, I've always had it linked in my head with a strange experience I had with finding some... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Phil Shanklin

2.0 out of 5 stars Tedium
Like one of the other reviewers, I too just couldn't get into this book and gave up just over half way through. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2005 by Michael

2.0 out of 5 stars stilted writing
i couldn't get into this at all. i found the writing style stilted and pedantic. i couldn't sympathise with the characters at all. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2003 by Hambletta-Maud

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Descriptions!
This is Alan Hollinghurst's most popular novel, but I really like The Spell more. That doesn't mean I don't like this one. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Sumptuously sexy
I just loved this book.It doesn't seek excuses...simply depicts gay life as it is..or rather was.I've recognized myself inthe sentiments of Will's friend. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2000

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