The Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst
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Winner of the Man Booker PrizeNamed a Best Book of the Century by The New York Times Book Review
International Bestseller
From acclaimed author Alan Hollinghurst, a sweeping novel about class, sex, and money during four extraordinary years of change and tragedy.
In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby-whom Nick had show more idolized at Oxford-and Catherine, who is highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions.
As the boom years of the eighties unfold, Nick, an innocent in the world of politics and money, finds his life altered by the rising fortunes of this glamorous family. His two vividly contrasting love affairs, one with a young black man who works as a clerk and one with a Lebanese millionaire, dramatize the dangers and rewards of his own private pursuit of beauty, a pursuit as compelling to Nick as the desire for power and riches among his friends. Richly textured, emotionally charged, disarmingly comic, this is a major work by one of our finest writers. LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.) Literature. Fiction. show less
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djmccord73 british families, class divisions, being an outsider, envy
80
pingdjip Sex and class divisions, and a diabolically clever narrator.
Member Reviews
A very good novel, well paced and stylish writing. What kept me enthusiastic too, was the merciless depiction of the Conservative Party milieu as evil, unintelligent, irredeemable.
The one character who I found sympathetic was Catherine the perverse, but more likely bi-polar, daughter of grotesque Tory, Gerald Fedden. She has the insight to appreciate the catastrophe of her family, the directness to ask the questions and the destructive urge to blow the fatuous edifice apart, with the help of her boyfriend, Jasper.
The protagonist, Nick Guest, having been invited to live with the family to keep an eye on Catherine, is free to pursue his own obsessions in this privileged world - sex with beautiful men, words, objects and cocaine. show more
Brilliant wit and delicious insight permeate this book. show less
The one character who I found sympathetic was Catherine the perverse, but more likely bi-polar, daughter of grotesque Tory, Gerald Fedden. She has the insight to appreciate the catastrophe of her family, the directness to ask the questions and the destructive urge to blow the fatuous edifice apart, with the help of her boyfriend, Jasper.
The protagonist, Nick Guest, having been invited to live with the family to keep an eye on Catherine, is free to pursue his own obsessions in this privileged world - sex with beautiful men, words, objects and cocaine. show more
Brilliant wit and delicious insight permeate this book. show less
Hollinghurst does a tremendous job of describing Thatcherite England, the greed, the ambition, the deception, the corruption, and the impact of all this on Nick Guest, whose last name is a sort of metaphor - he's a guest in the house and lives and world of the Feddens, a guest whose welcome lasts as long as they can use him.
None of the characters are particularly likeable, but they are all so well-done that we are nevertheless interested in them and what happens to them. One is drawn inexorably into this book; I could barely put it down.
None of the characters are particularly likeable, but they are all so well-done that we are nevertheless interested in them and what happens to them. One is drawn inexorably into this book; I could barely put it down.
I'm undecided about this book. Undoubtedly well written. Dense with description and characterisation. But was the topic worth the effort? The privileged and political elites of Britain in the 80s and their wasteful, empty lives told with a tone of longing nostalgia even for the breaking tide of the AIDS epidemic? For most people the 80s were a different experience and we won't have any sense of longing or envy for the lives of the characters in this tale. Well constructed, well written but in the end a piece of paste rather than a jewel.
This novel begins in 1983 when middle-class Nick Guest has just graduated from Oxford. He comes down to London and is given a room in the prosperous home of one of his classmates. The father, Gerald Fedden, is a conservative MP, and the mother, Rachel, comes from a wealthy banking family. Nick makes himself useful to the family in one way or another over the next several years. He becomes an inside observer of the workings of the upper classes, the wealthy and the politically connected during the Thatcher years. As an observer, Nick basically remains an outsider (though he doesn't always recognize this himself), and never really becomes a full participant in the goings-on. And since Nick is gay, the book is also the story of gay life in show more London during the onset of the AIDS epidemic.
The novel is divided into three parts. The first part takes place in 1983 when Nick has just come down to London and has his first love affair with Leo, a young but more experienced civil servant. The second part takes place in 1986 when Nick is both working for and having an affair with Wani, a former Oxford classmate. In the last part, in 1987, AIDS is ravaging Nick's social group, and disasters of other sorts are befalling one after another of the other characters.
Hollinghurst writes beautifully, and I was always fully engaged in this book. The book is full of insightful and perceptive observations about the time, the place, culture, and the society in which these characters move. (One reviewer compared the book and its social observations to Proust). The book serves both as a very personal story of one man and his friends, and as a political and societal history of the Thatcher years. I highly recommend it.
4 1/2 stars show less
The novel is divided into three parts. The first part takes place in 1983 when Nick has just come down to London and has his first love affair with Leo, a young but more experienced civil servant. The second part takes place in 1986 when Nick is both working for and having an affair with Wani, a former Oxford classmate. In the last part, in 1987, AIDS is ravaging Nick's social group, and disasters of other sorts are befalling one after another of the other characters.
Hollinghurst writes beautifully, and I was always fully engaged in this book. The book is full of insightful and perceptive observations about the time, the place, culture, and the society in which these characters move. (One reviewer compared the book and its social observations to Proust). The book serves both as a very personal story of one man and his friends, and as a political and societal history of the Thatcher years. I highly recommend it.
4 1/2 stars show less
“The pursuit of love seemed to need the cultivation of indifference.”
It is 1983, London. The Thatcher years. Nick Guest is a twenty year old gay man living in an attic bedroom of the Feddens, a wealthy influential family. Gerald Fedden is a Member of Parliament. Nick and their son Toby were friends at Oxford. Nick comes from a more modest background, but is smart and cultured and fits in well with this top-tier family. As the narrative moves through the 80s, cracks begin to appear in and scandals are looming, threatening to break this family apart and Nick finds himself in the middle of it.
This was my introduction to Hollinghurst and this Booker Prize-winning ended up being the perfect place to start. The writing is excellent and show more so is the story-tellling. This does deal with gay culture in the 1980s, which of course includes the AIDs crisis. It makes the perfect companion piece to The Great Believers. Highly recommended. show less
It is 1983, London. The Thatcher years. Nick Guest is a twenty year old gay man living in an attic bedroom of the Feddens, a wealthy influential family. Gerald Fedden is a Member of Parliament. Nick and their son Toby were friends at Oxford. Nick comes from a more modest background, but is smart and cultured and fits in well with this top-tier family. As the narrative moves through the 80s, cracks begin to appear in and scandals are looming, threatening to break this family apart and Nick finds himself in the middle of it.
This was my introduction to Hollinghurst and this Booker Prize-winning ended up being the perfect place to start. The writing is excellent and show more so is the story-tellling. This does deal with gay culture in the 1980s, which of course includes the AIDs crisis. It makes the perfect companion piece to The Great Believers. Highly recommended. show less
This was for the most part beautifully written, although it did go on for a long time and there was a large cast of characters, many of whom had a tendency to reappear once I had forgotten them. It was hard not to sympathize with Nick, despite his parasitical lifestyle - with Gerald, I wanted to ask what exactly he brought to the Fedden house.
Ultimately very sad, there was a lot of dry (sly?) humour along the way. I'm glad I read it, but I think that's it for me for Hollinghurst novels.
Ultimately very sad, there was a lot of dry (sly?) humour along the way. I'm glad I read it, but I think that's it for me for Hollinghurst novels.
The protagonist of The Line of Beauty, Nick Guest, is aptly named: he reminds us of Nick Carraway, the middle-class observer of Gatsby's high life; and he is a guest, at the home of a Member of Parliament. He is also a gay man in the 80s, anxiously pursuing sex for the first time in the years just before AIDS rears its ugly head.
Nick has been invited to the conservative MP's home ostensibly as a friend of their son's, but his secret mission is to keep an eye on their mentally unbalanced daughter. Our protagonist pursues beauty and romance, while the straight and respected around him have affairs and hide mental illness. The hypocrisy is glaring, as well as a setup for heartbreak: the lower class but well-educated loyal dependent comes show more to think he is part of the family; sadly, blood and money turn out to be much thicker than water. The novel explores gay love and lust, Thatcherism, and social prejudice in England.
Hollinghurst's writing is beautiful, including the graphic sex scenes. I was reminded of the understated sophistication of Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children.
I'm reading all the Booker Prize winners since 1968 this year. Follow me at www.methodtohermadness.com. show less
Nick has been invited to the conservative MP's home ostensibly as a friend of their son's, but his secret mission is to keep an eye on their mentally unbalanced daughter. Our protagonist pursues beauty and romance, while the straight and respected around him have affairs and hide mental illness. The hypocrisy is glaring, as well as a setup for heartbreak: the lower class but well-educated loyal dependent comes show more to think he is part of the family; sadly, blood and money turn out to be much thicker than water. The novel explores gay love and lust, Thatcherism, and social prejudice in England.
Hollinghurst's writing is beautiful, including the graphic sex scenes. I was reminded of the understated sophistication of Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children.
I'm reading all the Booker Prize winners since 1968 this year. Follow me at www.methodtohermadness.com. show less
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ThingScore 100
But the plot isn’t the point. This novel’s pleasures are thick and deep, growing out of the brilliant observational powers of the main character.
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Author Information
18+ Works 12,277 Members
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Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Line of Beauty
- Original title
- The Line of Beauty
- Original publication date
- 2004
- People/Characters
- Nick Guest; Margaret Thatcher; Gerald Feddon; Rachel Feddon; Catherine Feddon; Toby Fedon (show all 7); (Antoine) Wani Ouradi (Antoine)
- Important places
- London, England, UK
- Related movies
- The Line of Beauty (2006 | IMDb)
- Epigraph*
- 'What do you know about this business?' the King said to Alice. 'Nothing', said Alice. 'Nothing whatever?', persisted the King. 'Nothing whatever', said Alice. 'That's very important', the King said, turning to the jury. They... (show all) were just beginning to write down on their slates, when the White Rabbit interrupted: 'Unimportant, your Majesty means, of course', he said in a very respectful tone, but frowning and making faces at him as he spoke. 'Unimportant, of course, I meant', the King hastily said, and went on to himself in an undertone, 'important - unimportant - unimporant - important -' as if he were trying which word sounded best. - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter 12
- Dedication
- For Francis Wyndham
- First words
- Peter Crowther's book on the election was already in the shops. It was called Landslide!, and the witty assistant at Dillon's had arranged the window in a scaled-down version of that natural disaster. -Chapter I
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It wasn't just this street corner but the fact of a street corner at all that seemed, in light of the moment, so beautiful.
- Blurbers
- Dyer, Geoff; White, Edmund; Smith, Zadie
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.914
- Canonical LCC
- PR6058.O4467
- Disambiguation notice
- ISBN 1582346100 is for The Line of Beauty NOT Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Volume 3: The Ultimate Collection.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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