The Spell
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4.2 • 13 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Discover this ‘sparkling celebration of sexual intrigue’ (Telegraph) from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty.
The Spell is a comedy of sexual manners that follows the interlocking affairs of four men: Robin, an architect in his late forties, who is trying to build an idyllic life in Dorset with his younger lover, Justin; Robin's 22 year old son Danny, a volatile beauty who lives for clubbing and casual sex; and the shy Alex, who is Justin's ex-boyfriend.
As each in turn falls under the spell of romance or drugs, country living or rough trade, a richly ironic picture emerges of the clashing imperatives of modern gay life. At once lyrical, sceptical and romantic, The Spell confirms Alan Hollinghurst as one of Britain's most important novelists.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Confirming his status as the preeminent new voice chronicling the worldly, debauched erotics of linguistically limber gay British men, Hollinghurst (The Swimming-Pool Library; The Folding Star, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize) explores London's drug-addled discos and Dorset's country charms. This colorful and often breathtakingly eloquent novel follows the lives of four gay men in the late '90s. After his longtime lover dies from AIDS, Robin Woodfield, "big and fit and handsomely unshaven"--and at 46 still scoring with much younger men--sets up house with the utterly selfish and duplicitous (though of course fetching) 35-year-old Justin. The two had been meeting for regular and "fierce speechless sex" in a public loo during the degeneration of Justin's relationship with the decent, tender and very handsome Alex. But Alex isn't exactly dumped. He spends a weekend at the Dorset cottage with the lovebirds, and succumbs to the sexual charm of another Woodfield, Robin's randy gay son, Danny. Alcohol, drugs and a high-camp combination of butch bravado and queenly preening keep the social wheels lubricated. A witty and ingenious writer, Hollinghurst weaves prose that shifts deftly from steamy sex to genteel country living, from edgy cocaine-fed conversations to delicately sensuous observations about the "tussocky hillside" or "crowded dim moons of cow-parsley." He also conveys a significant empathy for the perennial struggle of urban gay men to find true love without forfeiting their sexual autonomy. The author excels at pithy character portraits, and his keen observations of human nature (gay and otherwise) give a depth and realism even to the bit players in this marvelous tale.
Customer Reviews
Close to home
If you live in London know someone gay or gay yourself this is a good read. I work in a office where Alex works and live in the area Alex lives and recognise how he feels. Which is why I know the end of the story when it started. The description of the clubs and London brought back some vivid memories. I have yet to meet my Nick i will popping to a club this weekend after this good read.
NO SPELLS
The protagonists are all rather hard to like, and I tried! Some of them are deeply unlikable. In real life you'd avoid them for being so toxic. The novel itself seems directionless, in that it doesn't reach anywhere and it's difficult to understand the need for some of the characters to remain together at all. Alex's narrative is one that seems completely static from beginning to end. The novel feels, very much, like a partial draft, than a finished work. Disappointing, after having read something as brilliant as 'The Strangers Child'.