The Line of Beauty - March 2021 Book Group Discussion thread

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Diogenes Apr 2021 11:11am, 9 Apr 2021 59,017 posts	0 Diogenes This is a long one, and contains some spoilers. Sorry My journey through the The Line Of Beauty was a not a straightforward one. There is much about this book that is ugly, or perhaps just gauche, but there is also much that is beautiful and artfully delivered. I will admit that I did struggle a little with some of the gay sex, but it was more that I found it difficult to understand what the book was about, or why Hollinghurst was writing it. As I said previously on this thread, I initially gave up on TLOB after about 70 pages: I just wasn’t enjoying it and struggled to find the motivation even to pick it up. There is an argument that says that if you are finding a book difficult, the problem isn’t the book, it’s the reader. It’s easy to give up on a book and dismiss it, harder but more rewarding to work at completing it. What’s needed is the right conditions and frame of mind to make progress. Taking twenty minutes when tired and the tv is on in the background is not conducive to making meaningful progress on a challenging task. That’s the time for a crime novel or an old favourite as a distraction. The right conditions for me were a sunny day when I was working from home. I picked up TLOB again during my lunchbreak and sat in the sun reading it as I ate my sandwich, and away I went. Instead of struggling, it was a shame to have to return to work. Once I finished work for the day, I was straight back in and by bedtime, I was 120 pages further on. You can’t like everything you read, even less like every character you encounter. Likeable books are a mirror that show us our own reflection. More interesting are mirrors angled to show us something we wouldn’t otherwise see, or those that give us a distorted view of familiar things. As someone else said, although this book was 500 pages long, once I was reading it the pages seem to go quite quickly, and yet it always felt like work. I think a lot of this was down to the extended descriptions and lack of exposition. Plot, like likeability, is another thing that is overrated. Often plot gets in the way of the interesting stuff. When you’re doing 90mph down the motorway from point A to point B, you miss out all the interesting stuff in between. The first two sections of this book set a scene of complacent wealth, privilege and freedom. The third wakes you up and makes you question all you took for granted before, and begin to examine consequences. Nick Guest (no subtlety there with the naming) is the cuckoo in the nest. He enjoys the freedom his freeloading lifestyle affords him and immerses himself in a world of unquestioned indulgence. His status relies entirely on the generosity of others. He appears to have no income or job that hasn’t been handed to him by his wealthy, secret boyfriend. Subconsciously he must know he is an outsider and should move on, but he does not have the gumption to make that decision for himself. The effete Wani is much more pragmatic, especially when ill. He tells Nick he should get out of the Fedden’s, and he says he will leave him the Clerkenwell building (which Nick snobbishly hates) which will give him an income for life. Nick all but turns his nose up at this, not through propriety, but through snobbishness. He possibly also wants a more personal, emotional legacy, not just a commercial property (but that comes later in the form of the single edition of the pretentious magazine they produce). Nick’s assumed position as trusted family friend is shown to be a false one as soon as the shit hits the fan and the family close ranks, throwing him under the bus in the process. Two of his former lovers are dead or dying, and he seems certain that he too will fall prey to the same disease. Suddenly everyone is telling him he is a leech, a parasite, and a hanger-on; it had never occurred to him he was anything other than another line of beauty running in harmony with those whose path he shared. He was never calculating, unlike almost every other character in the book. This was his fault and weakness. The scene at the end where Nick is posting his keys back through the letterbox is significant. He hesitates before returning the key to the private gardens, the key to the Garden of Eden, the place where he first tasted forbidden fruit, but ultimately he gives up this freedom too. It is after the fall and he has been exposed for all that he is, to the world, but most of all to himself. That brings me back to my earlier question: what was this book about, and why did Hollinghurst write it? On reflection, it seems to me that this is very much a coming of age novel. Nick comes of age at both the beginning and the end of the story, the first being a sexual enlightenment and the second a dawning of self-awareness. It also shows up the ethos of that part of society at the time, without revisionism or judgement. The Badger is a bullish asset-stripper, but he’s not the only one taking what he wants without thought for the consequences. Everyone else is using it up and wearing it out however they can. Finally, for me, The Line Of Beauty is a celebration of a golden period in a life, a time of liberation and excess. The values can be questioned, but who’s to say that anyone should feel guilty for enjoying oneself and making the most of what’s offered to them, especially when young? The line of beauty is irresistible, the book of the same title less so.
Sharkie Apr 2021 12:19pm, 9 Apr 2021 17,914 posts	0 Sharkie I agree with a lot of this (and said some of it in a blog, you prob put it better than I did). The line of beauty (and how an individual interprets that) is an important component of the book, ignore and you miss a lot of what it's about. And very much so it's a coming of age novel - I said that too). I actually feel I will read it a third time, perhaps in six months or so.
Serendippily Apr 2021 2:58pm, 9 Apr 2021 21,507 posts	0 Serendippily Good review Dio I still think the last third is what the first two thirds is all about
LindsD Apr 2021 3:00pm, 9 Apr 2021 46,264 posts	0 LindsD I absolutely agree. Well put. Just I liked it a lot more than you.
Diogenes Apr 2021 3:51pm, 9 Apr 2021 59,026 posts	0 Diogenes I did raise my vote from an expected 4 to an appreciative 6
westmoors Apr 2021 5:15pm, 9 Apr 2021 5,011 posts	0 westmoors Great review Dio.
Columba Apr 2021 10:07pm, 9 Apr 2021 20,995 posts	0 Columba Wonderful review, Dio. Almost had me considering a re-read. I don’t always look at the blogs, and have therefore missed Sharkie’s comments, though it will be easy to find them now I know they’re there. Could I make a respectful plea that if anyone’s posting their review as a blog, they should mention this fact on the thread?
LindsD Apr 2021 10:10pm, 9 Apr 2021 46,272 posts	0 LindsD Good idea
Sharkie Apr 2021 10:15pm, 9 Apr 2021 17,918 posts	0 Sharkie It's not that easy to find, Columba (I write a lot of blogs and the titles can be a bit obscure) so I'm lining it in case you're interested. I wrote about the book at least twice - but this is the main one: fetcheveryone.com/blog/4167/2021/3#blog421637
Sharkie Apr 2021 10:16pm, 9 Apr 2021 17,919 posts	0 Sharkie Linking not lining. And it was a while ago.