The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
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1kidzdoc
This thread is for discussion of The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst, which was selected for the 2011 Booker Prize longlist.
2cushlareads
I downloaded this one to my ipad Kindle last night, and the first ten pages are excellent!
4kidzdoc
The current issue of The London Review of Books (28 July) includes a review of The Stranger's Child, by Christopher Tayler:
The Rupert Trunk
The Rupert Trunk
5cushlareads
Here's what I posted on my 75 Books challenge thread about The Stranger's Child. Sorry for the cut and paste.
It has been quite hard to write this because a lot of the things I loved would mean giving away a bit of the plot, and I don't want to do that this soon after the long list has come out.
***
OK, here's my quick review of The Stranger's Child. I have marked tons of quotes, but I have given the ipad (and Kindle on it) to the kids so that I can get peace to write this down. Quotes later!
Book 40. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst - 5 stars
*spoiler free as much as possible*
This beautifully written novel is a family saga, but so much more. It starts in 1913 with 16 year old Daphne Sawle lying in a hammock excitedly waiting for her brother George and his friend Cecil to come home for a long weekend. Home is "Two Acres" near London, where Daphne lives with her widowed mother Freda, her older brother Hubert, and George (when he's not at Cambridge). The book spans almost a century and we get to track the family members and their relations to one another in detail. There is also lots in here about how attitudes to World War 1 have changed, the Bloomsbury group and the war poets, how family myths get built up, and most of all, and not surprisingly because it's Alan Hollinghurst, how being gay in England has changed.
The Sawles are comfortably off, but not rich. They're acutely aware that Cecil comes from a much posher family, the Valances, and spend a fair bit of the weekend worrying about diong things right. For example, Jonah, one of their general house servants, is assigned to be Cecil's valet for the weekend, and has no clue what to do but pretends he does. George is infatuated with Cecil, whose strong personality comes through the whole novel. George worries about his mother and sister letting slip just how much detail he's told them about Cecil and his family. Lots happens during the weekend. (I said spoiler free!!) It felt like a rewritten version of Brideshead Revisited near the start, only backwards - the rich boy comes into the poorer family home.
There are 5 or 6 parts to the book, and 15-20 years between parts. Figuring out what was going on at the start of every new part was great fun. I don't think it's giving much away to say that by the end of the book Cecil, George, Daphne, Hubert and the rest of the family have all died, and we're left with the myths surrounding their lives and the impact they have had on several generation.
I loved this book and really hope it wins the Booker this year. Comparing it to other Booker winners that I've read, it's much better than The Finkler Question, not as good as Wolf Hall or The Remains of the Day but I am still happy giving it 5 stars. This is only half a review because I don't want to spoil it in case you go on to read it. I am dying to tell somebody how irritating I found one particular character but I will wait a few weeks!
It has been quite hard to write this because a lot of the things I loved would mean giving away a bit of the plot, and I don't want to do that this soon after the long list has come out.
***
OK, here's my quick review of The Stranger's Child. I have marked tons of quotes, but I have given the ipad (and Kindle on it) to the kids so that I can get peace to write this down. Quotes later!
Book 40. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst - 5 stars
*spoiler free as much as possible*
This beautifully written novel is a family saga, but so much more. It starts in 1913 with 16 year old Daphne Sawle lying in a hammock excitedly waiting for her brother George and his friend Cecil to come home for a long weekend. Home is "Two Acres" near London, where Daphne lives with her widowed mother Freda, her older brother Hubert, and George (when he's not at Cambridge). The book spans almost a century and we get to track the family members and their relations to one another in detail. There is also lots in here about how attitudes to World War 1 have changed, the Bloomsbury group and the war poets, how family myths get built up, and most of all, and not surprisingly because it's Alan Hollinghurst, how being gay in England has changed.
The Sawles are comfortably off, but not rich. They're acutely aware that Cecil comes from a much posher family, the Valances, and spend a fair bit of the weekend worrying about diong things right. For example, Jonah, one of their general house servants, is assigned to be Cecil's valet for the weekend, and has no clue what to do but pretends he does. George is infatuated with Cecil, whose strong personality comes through the whole novel. George worries about his mother and sister letting slip just how much detail he's told them about Cecil and his family. Lots happens during the weekend. (I said spoiler free!!) It felt like a rewritten version of Brideshead Revisited near the start, only backwards - the rich boy comes into the poorer family home.
There are 5 or 6 parts to the book, and 15-20 years between parts. Figuring out what was going on at the start of every new part was great fun. I don't think it's giving much away to say that by the end of the book Cecil, George, Daphne, Hubert and the rest of the family have all died, and we're left with the myths surrounding their lives and the impact they have had on several generation.
I loved this book and really hope it wins the Booker this year. Comparing it to other Booker winners that I've read, it's much better than The Finkler Question, not as good as Wolf Hall or The Remains of the Day but I am still happy giving it 5 stars. This is only half a review because I don't want to spoil it in case you go on to read it. I am dying to tell somebody how irritating I found one particular character but I will wait a few weeks!
6kidzdoc
Here's my review of The Stranger's Child (mild spoiler alert, but these spoilers are included in every review of the book that I've read):
The novel, based in part on the life of the early 20th century English poet Rupert Brooke, opens at Two Acres, a Victorian estate in suburban London in 1913. George Sawle, a student at Cambridge, has invited his close friend Cecil Valance, a poet of modest talent and greater wealth, to spend a weekend with his family. Cecil's wit and striking good looks charm everyone in attendance, none more so than George's younger sister Daphne, an outspoken and independent minded 16 year old girl who spends her days reading and quoting from the poetry of Tennyson and Valance. After a raucous and unforgettable weekend, Cecil dedicates a poem to Daphne and the estate, which he wrote in the notebook that she lent to him.
Cecil dies tragically during the Great War soon afterward, and the uncovered poem gains widespread fame as a glimpse of English country life in a time of innocence. He is revered by Churchill and other leading public figures, and details about his life take on greater interest. However, Cecil's homosexuality is hidden by those closest to him, as these activities are not to be discussed in public.
Although the poet serves as the main focus of the novel, Daphne serves as the book's central character. The book moves forward in time from 1913 to 2008, and through her and other main characters within and surrounding the Sawle and Valance families Hollinghurst paints a detailed picture of British upper middle class society through most of the 20th and early 21st centuries, including its preferences and deep prejudices, and the changes in its view of sexual behaviors. The novel is enhanced by the author's comic wit, and its characters are as finely portrayed as in any book I've read in recent memory. However, the novel's last section was flat and somewhat contrived, which kept me from giving it a 5 star rating. Despite that, The Stranger's Child is one of the best novels I've read this year, and I think it would be a worthy winner of this year's Booker Prize.
The novel, based in part on the life of the early 20th century English poet Rupert Brooke, opens at Two Acres, a Victorian estate in suburban London in 1913. George Sawle, a student at Cambridge, has invited his close friend Cecil Valance, a poet of modest talent and greater wealth, to spend a weekend with his family. Cecil's wit and striking good looks charm everyone in attendance, none more so than George's younger sister Daphne, an outspoken and independent minded 16 year old girl who spends her days reading and quoting from the poetry of Tennyson and Valance. After a raucous and unforgettable weekend, Cecil dedicates a poem to Daphne and the estate, which he wrote in the notebook that she lent to him.
Cecil dies tragically during the Great War soon afterward, and the uncovered poem gains widespread fame as a glimpse of English country life in a time of innocence. He is revered by Churchill and other leading public figures, and details about his life take on greater interest. However, Cecil's homosexuality is hidden by those closest to him, as these activities are not to be discussed in public.
Although the poet serves as the main focus of the novel, Daphne serves as the book's central character. The book moves forward in time from 1913 to 2008, and through her and other main characters within and surrounding the Sawle and Valance families Hollinghurst paints a detailed picture of British upper middle class society through most of the 20th and early 21st centuries, including its preferences and deep prejudices, and the changes in its view of sexual behaviors. The novel is enhanced by the author's comic wit, and its characters are as finely portrayed as in any book I've read in recent memory. However, the novel's last section was flat and somewhat contrived, which kept me from giving it a 5 star rating. Despite that, The Stranger's Child is one of the best novels I've read this year, and I think it would be a worthy winner of this year's Booker Prize.
7vancouverdeb
Thanks Daryl for both your review and your advice re using Abe's Books to get The Stranger's Child from the Book Depository. I just ordered it through Abe's Books. Thanks again!
8Simone2
Everybody loves this book and I was sure I would too. Hollinghurst is such a good writer and I love his English-ness and his plots. At least I did in In the Line of Beauty (an all-time favorite) and The Swimming Pool Library.
So I didn’t want to give up but halfway through this chunkster I had to admit I wasn’t in the least interested in the parade of characters that came and went. This book is more a portrait of England in the 20th century than a novel I think. For me that didn’t work.
