Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exquisite Story of Forbidden Love, 14 Jul 2006
In this exquisite novel, Mary Renault, best-known for her novels set in ancient Greece, turns her attention to the tendentious subject of homosexual love during the Second World War. Laurie, a wounded soldier recovering in hospital, becomes enamoured of the young and clearly innocent Andrew, a conscientious objector who is working as an orderly. Into the midst of this idyll comes Ralph, an old friend from Laurie's school days, with whom Laurie was in love, or in awe. Along with Ralph come a variety of his friends, some melodramatic, some manipulative. The subject of the novel is Laurie's indecision between Andrew and his otherworldly, ethereal charm, and Ralph's more down-to-earth reality.
The title refers to the metaphor that which the soul is a charioteer in charge of two horses, one beautiful and well-behaved, the other wild and wilful. The charioteer has to keep peace between them and ensure that they don't drag the chariot off-course.
Mary Renault is respected for being so adept at creating believable male characters. Although some of the denizens of this novel are types, the naïve pretty youth, the camp and dramatic queen, the manipulative, predatory homosexual, they never become stereotypes thanks to Renault's gift for characterization.
At the time this novel was written, during the 1950's, the subject of homosexuality was still contentious, and using it as the theme of a novel was a brave decision. There is nothing exploitive or prurient about the story, nor is there any kind of plea for tolerance; this is simply a story with well-drawn, consistent characters going about their daily lives. At the same time, there is a strong sense of the time and place in which the novel is set: the war goes on in the background, people try to get on with their lives in the shadow of constant threat, people are kind or selfish according to character. Mary Renault is a superb creator of real people, and anyone who enjoys an engrossing story will find much to enjoy within the pages of this engrossing novel.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Charming and unexpected, 16 May 2003
As a great fan of the author, i discovered this title purely by accident in a charity shop and was mesmerised. Renault demonstrates exceptional insight into human nature and this talent, combined with a remarkable ability of transferring her observations to the written word, gives the reader a moving and very believable story of the lives of gay people during the second world war, well before the word was first penned. The characters are wonderfully complex and yet so very easy to relate to. The party sequence in which she continues to build the scene throughout the chapter, constantly introducing new and varied characters would be banal and confusing from anyone with less ability. If any novel is deserving of the title 'gay classic', this one gets my vote.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favourite books, ever., 4 Jan 2003
By A Customer
I was given this book by a friend after a conversation in a cafe, where she suddenly asked me if I had read The Charioteer, so I opened it and began to read without even looking at the back cover to see anything about it, knowing I would find our conversation in it or something relevant to it. The second chapter caught my attention for itself, Mary Renault writes 'well' and I think this story is her best and most polished. I found it deeply moving and readable and delicately poised. Its charisma stayed with me after I had finished it. I don't really want to say anything about the subject or the 'plot' because I was so charmed to come to it without anything, and the precis on the dust jacket afterwards struck me as being misleading and rather irrelevant. To me it was one of those simple 'human stories' that transpose into many keys, beautifully written and seen, delightful and thought provoking. Of itself.
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