While England Sleeps

by David Leavitt

Set against the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe, While England Sleeps tells the story of the love affair between Brian Botsford, an upper-class young writer, and Edward Phelan, an idealistic, self-educated employee of the London Underground and a member of the Communist party. Though by far the better educated of the two Brian is also more callow, convinced that his homosexuality is something he will outgrow. Edward, on the other hand, possesses 'an unproblematic capacity to accept' both Brian and the unorthodox nature of their love for each other - until one day, at the urging of his wealthy aunt Constance, Brian agrees to be set up with a 'suitable' young woman...and soon enough Edward is pushed to the point of crisis. Fleeing, he volunteers to fight in Spain, where he ends up in prison. Brian, responsible for Edward's flight, must pursue him across Europe, into the violent chaos of war.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Gay, Historical, Queer, Gay Fiction

309 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 1993

About the author

Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.

Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.

Reviews

[Christy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial reaction:

Argh, my heart.

Actual review:

Sometimes, when I finish a book, I loved it so much that I have to write a review right away, However, sometimes, a book affects me so, that I need a few days to decompress. This is the latter.

While England Sleeps takes place in 1930s Europe. It's told from the point of view of Brian Botsford, an upper class amateur writer, and tells of the relationship he has with Edward Phelan, a working class boy and Communist.

That's all you're getting out of me as far as a summary, because this is a book one needs to experience with only the vaguest of preconceived notions. Because nothing can prepare you for getting your heart ripped out and stomped on. Ok, I'm being over dramatic, but when I finished and closed the book, that's what I felt happened to me.

Oh, the author is a cruel person for doing this to me, I thought. I couldn't stop sobbing at one point. I get it, though. While England Sleeps is incredibly realistic and those are stories that get me emotional – the ones that could quite possibly have happened.

In the days following my finishing this book, I found the story popping back into my head at random times. I've had to tell myself not to get all choked up again. Cripes, I have to keep telling myself that this damn book was fiction.

I checked this book out from the library, but now I have to buy my own copy, so I can randomly open it and torture myself at odd times.

Damn this book.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

Having just read Stephen Spender's The Temple, I was interested in this, since Spender successfully sued Leavitt for copyright infringement, claiming he had appropriated sections of Spender's autobiography for his own novel. It's a thorny subject, and Leavitt's publisher withdrew the initial print run, Leavitt revised the sections under contestation, and it was subsequently released in this revised format.

Despite all the mishegoss over that, the book itself is eminently readable and quite fascinating. Spender objected not only that a portion of his life had been co-opted, but that the book itself was salacious, bordering on pornographic. Although quite frank and forthright about sexual matters, if the definition of porn is that it is primarily to excite prurient interest, then I don't think it applies here.

It's unfortunate that Leavitt's career has never fully recovered from the scandal, since he's undoubtedly a talented writer and should be more widely read and lauded.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/25/bo...
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...

[Aleksandr Voinov]

Enjoyed this.

Interesting plagiarism debate:

The plagiarised: http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/26...

The plagiariser: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/03/mag...

[Andy Murphy-Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading the reviews of this book, and how gut-wrenching the ending was I thought I'd give it a go. I'd just re-read Forster's Maurice and was wanting a bit of a gay period story. Oh dear.
I know that it's possible to have a hateful protagonist, and for that to add to a book; but even horrible people need to grow, or at least go on some journey and be different at the end (even if they are still horrible). Brian Botsford does go on a journey, a literal one, and comes back the same. I was disappointed by the story. Upper-middle class writer briefly lives with a working class boy, treats him terribly, awfully, then realises he loves him. Kind of. Well, actually, no, "it would be twenty years until I even contemplated marriage between two men".
Part of why I didn't like it is the picture it paints of gay men. All gay men cheat, it seems to say; all gay men go cottaging, desperately. I'm gay and I do neither of those things. Alec Scudder didn't do those things, neither did Edward Phelan. What is Leavitt trying to say then? Upper class gays do? The story was a non-story, the main character didn't change all the way through.
I agree with other reviewers who say it's perfectly acceptable to have a villain as the protagonist, and to be able to enjoy that book or story - but I can't condone the way Brian treated Edward, his cowardice or lying, and worst of all: he learned nothing from his behaviour and its consequences, not even regret.
Read the book if you want to, there's lots of beautiful description in there, and there's no denying Leavitt is a good writer. Having read this, I doubt his storytelling abilities though. Every chapter ends with a wistful, forced image; much like a hollywood blockbuster: "I stopped being young", "Then the letter came", "As if it mattered. As if he weren't watching my every move".
The characters talk of Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, and it seems that Leavitt wanted this book to be a sort of Maurice or Wildean tale; it falls far short. It lacks the wit, tenderness and story that Forster or Wilde's works do.
I wish it had been great, I wish Brian Botsford hadn't been such a lazy, cowardly cheat; but it wasn't, and he was.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be adding this to my favorite shelf in the next couple days. Yes, this is a title parody of Winston Churchill's 1938 While England Slept. Leavitt's While England Sleeps takes place in 1936-1937 and focuses on a young man's coming to age story in London.

Brian Botsford, the main character, along with his Oxford classmates, Nigel, John, and Rupert are in a different caste and rebel for the cause against the rising Fascist power in Spain. Edward Phelan, with Communist beliefs, falls in love with Brian, and their sexual relationship is not only erotic on page but believable in heartbreak.

Highly recommend, and after reading two David Leavitt books now, I'm a fan

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Rewritten for clarity in July 2024).

I was very fortunate to read this novel while being totally unaware of the controversy about the 'plagiarism' Leavitt was accused of and the court case that resulted in it being withdrawn, so my comments are purely about its quality as a novel (though I will have more to say about the 'plagiarism' controversy later). As a novel While England Sleeps is good, very good in parts, but I did feel that Mr. Leavitt had a weak grasp of the historical setting in 1930s Britain or Barcelona and although my complaints are about details they contribute to a sense that the author hasn't really come to grips with the period. Novels that can be broadly be classed as 'historical' are difficult to get right. The best historical novels wear their period detail lightly but problems arise when the author overburdens his story with researched period detail that distracts the reader so they end up noticing what the author gets wrong in travel directions, buildings or clothes worn. While England Sleeps suffers from this problem. The characters and events are believable but not wholly convincing. Overall While england Sleeps is a very believable story about the Spanish Civil War and the passions and politics that gripped young people in the UK and USA and caused them to go and fight in the war.

But it is flawed and part of the problem, for me, may have been the concentration on characters who were, like Stephen Spender, from privileged upper middle class backgrounds. I had come to know about those who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalists from stories told by ordinary working class men in Dublin and of similar men from the USA and elsewhere whose stories I had read. Leavitt's novel's inability to connect or tell the story of those 'ordinary' men was, for me, a failure. But I must insist I enjoyed the novel and, aside from his short story collections, While England Sleeps is one of my favourite works by Mr. Leavitt and the one I am most likely to reread..

Now a brief word on the plagiarism charge. UK law on plagiarism is, like it's law on libel, different from the USA and elsewhere. The UK writer Stephen Spender claimed that Leavitt had read his memoirs of his time in Spain in the 1930s and based his novel partially on his life as revealed in his memoirs. At no point did he claim that Leavitt had plagiarised anything he had written only that he had used some facts of his life without acknowledgement. He was claiming copyright on his 'life'. This is not what most people think of as plagiarism but it is (or was I don't know if the law has changed) legally so in England. Leavitt and his publishers did not fight because Leavitt, in his research, had read Spender's memoirs and created a character based on him. So they withdrew the book and Spender made rather a song and dance out of their giving in without a fight. But they really hadn't.

The legal advisors to Leavitt's UK publisher retained to fight the case advised that Spender, as a grand old man of English letters and something of 'national treasure' (anyone in the UK public eye who lives to a great age tends to become a 'national treasure' no matter what the reality of their life), along with the real, if unacknowledged anti-American and homophobic prejudice, would make the case almost impossible to win no matter how weak the legal basis of the plagiarism claim. Advice like this is difficult to ignore because, if the publishers did, their insurers would almost certainly refuse to pay if the publisher lost.

To understand the entire plagiarism case one has to understand that Stephen Spender up until recently could have sued for Leavitt libel for presenting Spender, even within a roman a clef novel, as a homosexual. Although writers like Isherwood in his books and diaries recounted tales of Spender chasing boys in Berlin these books were published in the USA where libel cases are very difficult to win. In the UK throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s it was impossible to even suggest that Spender, now married and ostensibly heterosexual, ever looked at a someone of his own sex and Spender, like many closet queens of his generation, used Britain's severe libel laws to hinder anyone suggesting otherwise. That is why Spender's lawyers brought the action against While England Sleeps under a charge of plagiarism. Of course two years late Spender was dead and the book was reissued and the whole incident became just a legal anecdote and a footnote in the long history of UK anti-Americanism and homophobia.

But Mr. Leavitt never committed plagiarism in the way most of us understand it.

[JOSEPH OLIVER · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't have the language for book reviews and have no wish to repeat what other reviewers have said in much better English. I found the book very engrossing and showed a flawed main character who lives with the results of his behaviour for the rest of his life. Although it sounds dramatic it could in fact happen to anyone - not knowing whether something you did or left undone would have affected someone else's life profoundly. I read the book straight through and regretted finishing it so quickly. I'll re read it at my leisure. Well worth any expense incurred.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. The plagiarism alone would justify one star, but even on its own merits the book fails. It's chock-full of solecisms about both England and Spain in the 30s, making it obvious even in ignorance of the facts that Leavitt must have borrowed heavily - when he wasn't engaged in outright fantasy. A truly ridiculous book.

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francamente bueno y realmente curioso. El protagonista es un escritor en ciernes, obsesionado con el sexo. Se empareja con un jovencito sin recursos y se ve como lo traiciona. A su vez todo está envuelto en tiempo de preguerra lo que le da una ambientación genial.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book so bad I had to solicit aesthetic slurs to describe it. One friend suggested "waistcoat ripper" and we'll stick with that. I didn't even need to see the controversy over plagiarism mentioned in a Goodreads review to know this book was a ripoff. The author's prose changes with the setting -- when his characters are having sex in England, their speech and mannerisms sound like the half-informed imaginings of a pretentious 17-year-old who just binge-watched the TV serial of "Brideshead Revisited;" when his characters are having sex in Spain, the book reads like gay Hemingway. An incidental character keeps dropping in and out of the narrative for the sole purpose of allowing Leavitt to steal from Christopher Isherwood as well. The blurb on Kindle made this book look an interesting gay spy novel but it's just bad gay romance. Oh, and I've got to hate on one more thing -- the book takes place in the mid-1930's, but Leavitt, the lazy idiot, didn't do enough research to learn who was Prime Minister. It was Stanley Baldwin or Neville Chamberlaine, you moron, not Anthony Eden. I know you didn't have Google in 1993 when you excreted this garbage but there were encyclopedias.

Damn, I hated this book.

[NicoleR.M.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars. I have a feeling this is a book that’s going to stick with me for quite some time.

[ERIC PECHINOT · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no doubt David Leavitt did his homework well for this book. For example, it is true that 1936 was notably rainy in the UK, especially in July, which saw exceptionally high rainfall across much of the country. I looked it up to support what I want to say about his book, and I’m happy to note that it accounts for his sound and thorough research.

I also know that if something sounds like an old cliché, then it is very likely because it must be true. And an old cliché is to compare the writing of a book with cookery. You need the knack to get this dough right. Leavitt has it, because his way with words is very good. But sadly, I find him rather heavy-handed with the ingredients. There’s just too much of everything in this botched recipe of his, leaving me with a leaden course — heavy, unbalanced, and clumsy on the palate. Yes, I think this is it: While England Sleeps is a failed concoction.

The catch is in the misleading title. It makes you believe you'll be treated to a tribute to George Orwell. The impression gets stronger with an initial quote from Homage to Catalonia. But disappointment is just around the corner. Always sex-driven, people in this story keep wondering whether they wouldn't be better off if they had a leg over with someone of the same or the opposite sex. As if it was always a simple matter of choice! To put a veneer of fake respectability to his ranting and raving, randy Leavitt wraps it up with a few worn-out thoughts on the Spanish Civil War.

David Leavitt is actually utterly dishonest, refering to Orwell only as a pretext to write an absolute letdown. This is not While England Sleeps. It is While England Sleeps Around.

[Erastes · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the blurb:

At a meeting of republican sympathisers in London, Brian Botsford, a young middle-class writer and Cambridge graduate, meets Edward Phelan, an idealistic, self-educated London Underground worker. They share a mutual attraction. Across the divisions of class they begin an affair in secrecy.

But Edward posesses “an unproblematic capacity to accept” Brian and the love that dare not speak its name, whereas Brian is more cautious and under family pressure agrees to be set up with a suitable young woman. Pushed to the point of crisis Edward threatens to volunteer to fight Franco in Spain.

There are (to my perception, at least) a few inaccuracies in the blurb, but I won’t quibble over them. This is an excellent book which I devoured in two sittings.

It has a readability that draws the eye, and the narrator’s voice is completely convincing. It’s written in first person, there is a faux prologue “written” in 1978 where Brian explains that he’s now living in America and considers himself to be an American and an epilogue which looks back at 1938 from that fifty year gap. Both of these devices go far to convince that the book was written by Brian and not by David Leavitt.

Like “As Meat Loves Salt” (although not to the same extent) Brian is not a likeable or attractive character. A product of his class, he coasts through life, unlike Edward who takes what he wants with more enthusiasm, facing what he is face on. Brian still thinks that being homosexual is just something one did at school and that he would get over it, although it’s obvious he’s deluding himself. He’s a playwright, and he plays at it, having no drive to support himself; he sponges off his Aunt Constance (or “Inconstance” as he cruelly calls her, as she doesn’t pay him regularly enough for him to depend on her support. He mumps off his friends and generally won’t commit to one thing or another, which leads to the crisis event in the book – one which he will regret, and will haunt him for the rest of his life.

I found it to be tremendously absorbing, like the best of historicals, it immersed me in the era without info dumping. As I’ve said before, if a book reads like it was written in the time, rather than about the time, it earns big kudos from me. The class divide might be hard for non-Brits to grasp – but pre-war it was still more relevant than people would suppose. I felt ashamed of Brian’s inability to admit his affair to his own friends, but then found it perfectly acceptable to talk to Edward’s sister about it. I wanted to smack him with the clue-by-four several times in the book – but that’s ok – that meant that the author was doing his job.

It also brings the situation in Europe at that time into sharp relief, there’s a lovely sub-plot with a friend of Brian’s who is attempting to get a friend out of Europe which breaks your heart, and you, as the reader, knowing what is going to happen in a few short years, hold your breath and weep at the hopeless cause and loss of life that is the Spanish Civil War.

If you prefer to like your protagonists, then this book might not be for you, but if you want a meaty and rich story that takes you so viscerally into the period that you can smell the steam engines and feel the bubble of the champagne of the Fast Set, then you’ll enjoy this as much as I did. A definite keeper.

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in a single sitting, I couldn't put it down. The trajectory of the relationship and the pathos of Brian's denial of what all dream of, passionate love and simple commitment (whether it is ever possible to achieve either in the form presented in this story or not is another question), and the subsequent loss of all through the meaningless and unecessary death of Edward, had me pinned in ways I would never have expected. Much of the intensity the story carried for me, may have had much to do with events in my own life, I left the barren hearth of home for the futile endeavour of a war in Cambodia in the 70's, and a tragedy unfolded there for me in exactly the same fluid, incremental way that Edward's death evolved in this story. It was on me before I even realised that it was circling.

It is not difficult for me to imagine that had I been alive in the 1930's in Europe I would almost certainly have ended up and probably ended in Spain. It carried so many similarities to the debacle I did throw myself into;confusion, dedication, heroism, idealism, betrayal,intrigue, romance, futility and much death and destruction for a simple beautiful people who deserved better.

For me the most impact in this story came through the simple straightforward accounting of how one person fuelled by fear and the expectations of culture, in driven pursuit of what they think they want can cruelly, almost mindlessly close their heart to another.

I was saddened deeply by the threads from my own past drawn by this story so vibrantly into my present.

[Karen Wellsbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an intriguing read for me, I love this period, Laurie Lees As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morningis one of my favourite books, and there are similarities (which is a good thing)
I also like the casual way that sex was sometimes dealt with in the 1930's, at times.
This started off so well, it was funny, there is scene where an elderly relative writes a letter praising the way that he's dealing with Germany, where I spat water out. Brian and Edwards romance starts off gloriously, and I was seduced by romance reading into imagining this would be at the very least HFN. Edward's family are touching and funny and Edward himself is a beautifully realised character.

Then Brian, a total product of his upper class breeding; where its ok to fuck boys, but one day you will fall in love with a woman and get married, reverts back to type. The way the relationship flounders and Edward feels the distance between them was achingly sad and real.

The way the book ended was not totally satisfactory for me, bu the writing was grand

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably gripping and well-written novel, in some ways, but I don't like the way the Spanish Civil War is used as a backdrop to the main love story. We are supposed to believe the protagonist is a writer, part of a circle of serious intellectuals (clearly based on Spender/Auden/Isherwood etc.). His lover is a Communist who goes to fight in Spain - a huge decision for a young man to take, but one which is sort of trivialised in the way it is presented as simply a response to a relationship breakdown.

Leavitt excels in portraying the personal relationship, the shabby way Brian treats Edward, and the painful guilt and regret that he feels later. But the politics of the 1930s are not really treated in a serious way, and I sometimes felt one could write a very similar story set in the 1940s, 50s, or 60s, and leave Spain out of it. Spain is there to supply a dramatic episode and the personal tragedy of Edward's death. But the larger political tragedy - the strangulation of the Spanish Revolution and the victory of fascism - is left out.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell right into the deep end of David Leavitt's While England Sleeps and only came up for air when I absolutely had to. The first half of the book is incredibly romantic and occasionally witty (sometimes hilarious) and details the sexual encounters of two twenty-something young Englishmen from different sides of the tracks (or in this case, the Tube), who are exploring each other's bodies (and Communism) for the very first time. The backdrop is the dark days of the 1930s, when the everything seemed impossibly short and brutish and the world was about to end, making their encounter seem all the more urgent. The book takes a tragic right turn about half way through, and I don't want to give way too much, but it made the book even more fun to read, and tragically romantic (romantically tragic?). I cried like a baby at the end. Gay historical fiction is a rare bird, and well-written gay historical fiction is almost unheard of.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of first love and a young gay man's mistakes and attempts at redemption related thereto was set against the horror of the Spanish war in 1937. Though the title says that England slept while this was going on, I expected the author to tell what was really going on in England while the events of the 1930s in Germany, Italy, and Spain were unfolding. I was disappointed when there seemed to be almost nothing said about what was going on in England at that time. That's the point; the author gives the impression that England was doing nothing -- quietly sleeping in the ignorant bliss as a country trying to cling to its past while the rest of the world was in upheaval. A very different culture from my own, but the experiences of the character as he worked through his sexual identity seemed realistic and familiar.

[Franco Fica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó el libro. Me dejó un vacío emocional gigante.

[Elma Chowdhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragic book, beautifully written - had me tearing up
Love and loyalty and betrayal, the hypocrisy of upper class society
I want to give Edward Phelan a big hug

[Jaljes · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I enjoyed some parts of this book a lot, but I hope my review explains why I gave this book a 3. It's a first person narrative, so the events are told by the voice of Brian, who is an upper class writer, although he depends on his aunt's charity. His acquaintances belong to the same social circle, until Edward comes into his life. At first it seems it doesn't matter to Brian that Edward has a working class upbringing and works as a ticket collector for the London Underground, but then their relationship starts breaking because Brian starts getting bored and has multiple affairs, one of which is with a woman who was introduced by her aunt hoping to marry his nephew. Meanwhile, Brian always keeps aside a copy of the Communist Manifesto and is getting more involved with the Civil War in Spain. Brian struggles to see himself in a homosexual relationship and eventually proposes to a woman. The same day, Edward joins the Communist Party and signs to fight against Franco.

I'd say this is a Bildungsroman in which Edward and Brian eventually come to terms with their identity in a society which would never accept them. Brian feels pressured by his family and is confronted with his own prejudices of homosexual relationships. After his proposal was rejected he comes back home to find that Edward has enlisted and probably already left to Spain. I find it a little bit hard to understand some changes in the plot, since the only really developed character is Brian. And even after looking for Edward and everything that happens in Spain, the only change that seems to have taken place is that he accepts he's probably not spending his life with a woman and finally starts writing. I think I would've much preferred to read Edward's perspective. Some of the other characters seem to appear at very convenient times in the plot in the right places. Overall I ejoyed reading the novel, but it did leave some holes in the narrative.

[Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm torn between two and three stars for this book; it was a very 2.5-stars sort of experience.

I think my main problem is that between (among?) Hemingway, Isherwood, Remarque, and a number of variably fictionalized takes on the Cambridge spy ring, I've pretty much already read this book... and I've read it done better.

Also, Leavitt comes off as intensely obnoxious in the interview (about the Stephen Spender controversy/lawsuit) included at the beginning of my edition. It actually kind of cast a shadow over the book for me. I try not to judge books based on their authors' personalities, but Leavitt sure made it harder here.

[unipark · Rating 1 out of 5]

A mawkish, reductive pastiche ripped straight from the lives/books of Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood, with (mildly) explicit sex scenes grafted awkwardly onto the narrative. An unamused Spender successfully sued, publication was halted, and Leavitt uses the self-serving introduction of this eventual reprint to air his petulant grievances at length. This is the first time I've been moved to write a review on Goodreads, but my distaste for this book just had to be shouted.

[Dorzaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

depressed!

[Tex Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 - Moving Story of Gay Love in 30's England/Spain

I was moved by this story of what it was like to have, lose and regain a lover, at a time when you had to battle to even love another man. All with the backdrop in the 30's of growing Communism, Fascism, and ultimately the Spanish Civil War.

David Leavitt wrote with a clear voice, very readable and descriptive, particularly in terms of understanding the MC in a first-person flashback 40 years prior. It is a tragic tale in a way, yet uplifting. There are those in the m/m romance world that want the HEA. And I understand those in the gay community that, rightly so, say that too many stories and films have sad endings for gays. But that was then; let's bring that forward a few decades where it is more balanced; and then back even further to recognize, in reality, that's what happened. More often than not, desires were repressed, relationships destroyed, lives lost physically and mentally. As a gay man myself, it felt real to me. This represents that truth.

It's ironic to say "truth," because I purposely read the first version, with the supposed plagiarism from Spender's memoir. It was later edited with only 18 instances taken out. While I have not read the memoir, I have read and did see a little "inspiration" from Christopher Isherwood's Christopher and His Kind as well as E.M. Forster's Maurice. With that, I'm more inclined, having read this through, to think they were not copied exactly but similar and inspiring the larger story. I'm torn on whether to think of them as incidents that were all too common at the time from what I've (and I'm sure the author) read. But then there's the whole ideas of trying to save your lovers through immigration and even going to Spain to save your lover, that hits a bit too close to home. Maybe a little too much borrowing.

And then, in truth, it was not until near the end that I realized it was in the last third that it started really getting under my skin, in a good way. It did take a while, but I guess the build up was needed, laying the foundation for the MC coming to terms with his mistakes and trying to recover. Even then I'm not a big fan of the MC. Still, who hasn't in their early twenties had something they didn't fully understand and regret? And not just the MC's self-realization, mea culpa and actions, but the way the author gets to the heart of things, even voicing the feelings of what it's like to be gay, particularly at that time, and not just about the love of your life, but about one's sexual desires and society's disdain.

To its credit, it did take me back in time, and brought me to tears in the end.

[Gay Men’s Book Group-Chicago monthly selection]

[Jude Macher · Rating 4 out of 5]

hmm…

i loved this book, but i’m inclined to read the memoir that this novel supposedly plagiarized, because i can’t help but feel this book watered it down a bit.

i’m thinking about betrayal between allies and lovers. i’m thinking about the context of gay author stealing valor from gay author. i’m thinking about how brian betrayed edward, and how edward’s comrades betrayed him. i’m thinking about the in-fighting between the communists and the anarchists in the spanish civil war. even under a common goal, it’s human nature (and the nature of youth) to hurt those who are fighting on your side. even though brian had a gay community, he competed with them and belittled them.

ultimately, brian betrayed himself by betraying edward. and even when he follows him to spain to apologize and in turn rescue him, you aren’t convinced that it’s out of love but instead out of guilt and a selfish need to right your wrongs, especially in the face of embarrassment.

the historical context of this novel is merely a backdrop for a story about betrayal and love lost. it’s a story about regret and shame. i wonder if leavitt felt regretful and ashamed of drawing on a former so significantly for this story. i wonder if he imbued it into this novel.

if you’ve ever sworn off men in search of heterosexual complicity, taken a romantic trip to barcelona, or had an autistic obsession with trains, give this one a try, but take it with a grain of salt.

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could not put this down. Wonderfully told story set in the lead up to WWII focusing on the love between Brian and Edward and how that goes badly wrong resulting in Edward going to Spain to fight in the civil war. Part romance, part history, part social commentary. Really enjoyed this.

[Angel Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una de las mejores novelas homoeróticas que he leído. Con una pareja, escenario y drama bastante peculiar, Mientras Inglaterra duerme, de David Leavitt, sin duda es una propuesta interesante no sólo de contenido homosexual, sino también de contenido histórico.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the novel at many levels: the coming-of-age aspect, "coming out" (as if) in England in the 1930s, the history, the confessional tone of the narrator.

Quickly read Gary Glickman’s story, “Spirit House,” which is ostensibly about David L. when he and Glickman were together. Funny, the characters seemed oddly similar, regardless of the author. Brian B. & “my friend” (unnamed) were both callous, self-absorbed, interested in superficial sex.

I believe Glickman may be the better writer though Leavitt may be more gifted in some ways. Who knows? Perhaps they are only different, each better in his own way. [Saved it, don’t you think?]

[The reader must read Leavitt’s introduction in the Houghton-Mifflin US version, in which he tells all about the lawsuit that Stephen Spender filed against Leavitt for using certain material about his life “without permission.” I was fortunate enough to purchase one of the unexpurgated Viking copies, published in England, at Book Alley, Larry McMurtry's defunct store in Archer City, Texas. I paid $48.75 to ascertain that mostly what Leavitt did was to change the "Stephen Spender" character from a poet to an essayist. It is still the same fine novel, and might his woeful story serve as a cautionary tale to any writer of fiction.]

[Ozmar Pedroza · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Así que huyes de los causantes de dolor, vas a un sitio nuevo, intentas convencerte de que el viejo sitio no existe, que la distancia borra la historia."

Una maravillosa historia sobre un amor roto, representado en una cadena de autoengaños y de decisiones que terminan por dañar a las personas más queridas. A pesar de que, desde el inicio, hay un presentimiento de la tragedia amorosa que se avecina, David Leavitt ofrece un relato extraordinario que presenta a sus personajes como humanos, con excentricidades, virtudes y miedos, lo cual permite conocerlos de una mejor manera. Asimismo, Leavitt muestra cómo los peligros de la traición en la juventud pueden crear heridas profundas que tardan en desaparecer. Sin duda, ésta es una historia digna de la buena literatura contemporánea; en sus líneas se encuentran personajes llenos de pasión, culpa, sentimientos encontrados y sacrificio en tiempos de guerra.

Totalmente recomendada, ya que es un libro de esos que empiezas y no puedes dejar de leerlo hasta saber el final, aunque sea triste o simplemente un cierre común.

"Quien toca el cuerpo por fugazmente que lo haga, también toca el alma."