The Linguist

by Sebastian Beaumont

Howard is thirty-two; an interpreter and a prostitute. Howard fell in love with Corinne. Corinne's husband, Mathew, fell in love with Howard. Now, two years after Corinne's death (for which Howard feels responsible), Matthew is ill in hospital and wants reconciliation. But for Howard there are questions to be answered: Why, if Mathew was so estranged, has he decided to leave Howard so much money? And why can't he connect with women, sexually, unless they pay him? Howard has always regarded himself as well adjusted, but when he discovers that Corinne was in therapy at the time of her death, he begins to realise that the nervous breakdown he suffered whilst at university remains unresolved. In The Linguist, not everything is as it seems -- and not everyone has been telling the truth about their feelings. This compelling and emotionally shattering novel is the latest from the acclaimed author of On the Edge, Two, Heroes Are Hard to Find and The Cruelty of Silence.

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Michal.F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to make out of this book. It's been an interesting read and its reflective nature definitely made me raise my eyebrows on multiple occasions, and I felt I could relate to the protagonist. But when I finished I felt the wrap-up was a bit of an anti-climax. The ending could have been taken a bit further and made less ambiguous...

[Manca · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It's taken me a long time," he said, "to realise that the experiences that are the most fulfilling are not the most intense highs, the wild extremes of sex, or those blissed-out moments when you're drunk or on drugs, or even the exhilaration of seducing someone new... the truly important moments are those quiet periods of complete calm, of contentment, when you're sitting by the waves, maybe, and the only sound is of the sea and a distant seabird calling across the water - when you're relaxing on the grass and there are no worries pressing in on you. Contentment. I live for those moments."

Every so often a book comes along that just fits. You're not planning on buying it, but for some reason one day you just do and then you start reading it and you get this feeling that the book actually found you. It was like that for me with The Linguist.

After all the fantasy books I've been reading lately this book was so refreshingly real. It's not (just) about (homo)sexuality, it's about life. It's about something that could happen to anyone, regardless of their sexual preferences. The book contains many difficult themes, like prostitution, cancer, death, depression, dishonesty, pain; but they are all intertwined so beautifully and balanced with positive experiences that they're not a burden to the reader. Because there's also love, and friendship and forgiveness, and even poetry. I could identify with the main character on so many levels - his need for "aloneness", his process of self-discovery... and I can honestly say that this book arrived at a perfect time for me. It wasn't exactly life-changing, but it did make me think about some aspects of my current situation in a different way.

It's really a shame that this book isn't more popular here, especially since the story is timeless and could be happening in 2000, today or in the future. It is definitely worth reading. I mean...

Where once I used to question
how you could,
I now can only wonder
that you dared
leave me in the ashes
of a morning
when a few hours more
would have spared
my soul such open pain.

Right?