Bent and Unfolded

[dotinthesky]

Alan Hollinghurst, The Folding Star, 1994
I found out recently that this is a perfect novel to read on the beach. It's got everything you'd want in a bonkbuster: torrid gay sex, love intrigues, tragic deaths, secrets and a pervy main character obsessed with a 17-year-old boy (to the point of stealing his underwear and stalking him). It's Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and Nabokov's Lolita set in a Flamish town in the mid 90s, brought to life through carefully descriptive, gorgeous writing. The main character is Ed, an English teacher in his early 30s who moves to Belgium to work as a private tutor with some tentative plans of using his spare time on creative writing. He's unlikeable and unreliable as a narrator, but the reader still can't help but be seduced by his voice as he paints a life of untethered pursuits and regrets. Make sure to read the ending carefully because it is easy to misunderstand it.

Comments

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Nice review, I may ask to borrow that off you. Here I think I found a Freudian slip: It's Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and Nabokov's Lolita set in a Flamish town in the mid 90s,

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Lol. Nicely spotted.

I've got a copy that I'll pass over next time we meet. xo