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The Night Climbers
The Night Climbers, set among members of a close-knit eccentric club at Cambridge, portrays people at their most impressionable, when the intensity of early relationships stand to define their lives forever.
When James Walker first arrives at Tudor College, Cambridge, he is anxious to find his place among new friends. By accident, he encounters one of the members of a club calling itself the Tudor Night Climbers, a tightly knit, wealthy, secretive and tantalizingly eccentric circle of undergraduates who at night scale the college towers and gargoyles in pursuit of ever greater sensations. Seduced by their talent for decadence and high living, James falls for the reckless charisma of both Francis, the group's ringleader and Jessica, his beautiful best friend. Jessica becomes his obsession, and also his arch rival for Francis's friendship.
The group's tear-away extravagance is funded, unwittingly, by Francis's father, Lord Soulford, but when suddenly he cuts his son off, the friends are left floundering, until Francis embroils them all in a plan that will test not only their friendship, but also their very souls. The story begins with the news that, almost ten years after the crime, the fake Picasso they replaced the real one with is in danger of being discovered. The beautiful Jessica visits the narrator/lawyer James at his office in order to see what trouble they might be in, and the story flashes back and forth in time, also following the present narrative as they figure out whether they can save themselves.
Humming with intellectual energy and grace, The Night Climbers portrays people at their most impressionable, when the intensity of early relationships stand to define their lives forever. Seductive and sinister, The Night Climbers is an exciting debut by a talented young writer.
When James Walker first arrives at Tudor College, Cambridge, he is anxious to find his place among new friends. By accident, he encounters one of the members of a club calling itself the Tudor Night Climbers, a tightly knit, wealthy, secretive and tantalizingly eccentric circle of undergraduates who at night scale the college towers and gargoyles in pursuit of ever greater sensations. Seduced by their talent for decadence and high living, James falls for the reckless charisma of both Francis, the group's ringleader and Jessica, his beautiful best friend. Jessica becomes his obsession, and also his arch rival for Francis's friendship.
The group's tear-away extravagance is funded, unwittingly, by Francis's father, Lord Soulford, but when suddenly he cuts his son off, the friends are left floundering, until Francis embroils them all in a plan that will test not only their friendship, but also their very souls. The story begins with the news that, almost ten years after the crime, the fake Picasso they replaced the real one with is in danger of being discovered. The beautiful Jessica visits the narrator/lawyer James at his office in order to see what trouble they might be in, and the story flashes back and forth in time, also following the present narrative as they figure out whether they can save themselves.
Humming with intellectual energy and grace, The Night Climbers portrays people at their most impressionable, when the intensity of early relationships stand to define their lives forever. Seductive and sinister, The Night Climbers is an exciting debut by a talented young writer.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
December 2, 2008
theres a reason i have a "books claiming to be just like secret history" shelf. and this book is it. its not a bad book; the story is engaging and fast-paced, but at every turn there are too many parallels to one of the best novels ever written without the effortless grace of tartt. it just makes me want to reread secret history. like, right now.
February 25, 2017
The Night Climbers wears its influences on its sleeve so clearly that the sole quote displayed on the cover proclaims: 'Lapped up The Secret History? Then this one's for you.' Obviously, I had to read it as soon as possible. However, now I've finished it I'm wondering about that context of that quote, and whether the reviewer who wrote it meant it as a compliment.
It's ironic that a significant element of the plot involves the protagonist forging a copy of a valuable work of art, because this book is a virtual facsimile of The Secret History. James, the narrator, now a successful barrister, receives a visit from an old friend which stirs up unwanted memories of his days at Cambridge university. In flashbacks, we see how the younger James found himself inducted into a close-knit group known as the Night Climbers (because they scale the roofs of Cambridge's buildings after dark, although this isn't much more than an incidental detail in the end). The group is led by decadent, wealthy Francis, and typically, James, who comes from a less impressive background (though in this case 'less impressive' means he still went to private school, he just isn't filthy rich) feels like something of an outsider and is completely enthralled by his new friends. And then SOMETHING TERRIBLE happens and the group is torn apart... etc etc. You know the drill.
The writing is erudite but somehow soulless. It's not dissimilar to Tartt's, but where a better writer might have been able to push beyond the obvious influence and make something great out of it (as was the case with Naomi Alderman's The Lessons), here it just feels like a pastiche. It seems like the sort of thing you might come out with at the beginning of a creative writing course, with about 5 metaphors and similes on every page. There isn't anything specifically wrong with the plot and there are actually lots of great scenes, with Cambridge evoked rather well (although I could have done without the name-dropping of every shop, road, landmark etc). However, the characters aren't at all likeable, and James in particular was someone I just couldn't warm to.
I'm aware that the author was only about 25 when this book was published, and some respect is due for that; it's simply an immature debut, and maybe he will write something much better in years to come. I couldn't hate this book because it dealt with a lot of themes and situations I will always be fascinated by. However, ultimately it's just another mediocre rip-off of a superior novel.
It's ironic that a significant element of the plot involves the protagonist forging a copy of a valuable work of art, because this book is a virtual facsimile of The Secret History. James, the narrator, now a successful barrister, receives a visit from an old friend which stirs up unwanted memories of his days at Cambridge university. In flashbacks, we see how the younger James found himself inducted into a close-knit group known as the Night Climbers (because they scale the roofs of Cambridge's buildings after dark, although this isn't much more than an incidental detail in the end). The group is led by decadent, wealthy Francis, and typically, James, who comes from a less impressive background (though in this case 'less impressive' means he still went to private school, he just isn't filthy rich) feels like something of an outsider and is completely enthralled by his new friends. And then SOMETHING TERRIBLE happens and the group is torn apart... etc etc. You know the drill.
The writing is erudite but somehow soulless. It's not dissimilar to Tartt's, but where a better writer might have been able to push beyond the obvious influence and make something great out of it (as was the case with Naomi Alderman's The Lessons), here it just feels like a pastiche. It seems like the sort of thing you might come out with at the beginning of a creative writing course, with about 5 metaphors and similes on every page. There isn't anything specifically wrong with the plot and there are actually lots of great scenes, with Cambridge evoked rather well (although I could have done without the name-dropping of every shop, road, landmark etc). However, the characters aren't at all likeable, and James in particular was someone I just couldn't warm to.
I'm aware that the author was only about 25 when this book was published, and some respect is due for that; it's simply an immature debut, and maybe he will write something much better in years to come. I couldn't hate this book because it dealt with a lot of themes and situations I will always be fascinated by. However, ultimately it's just another mediocre rip-off of a superior novel.
July 26, 2009
Why did I keep reading this? I hoped the mystery/plot would outweigh the ponderous, self-serving, egotistical characters. In the end, however, I realized that I had spent too much time with despicable, shallow people. With a narrator whose only "relationships" are with anonymous prostitutes, and whose main hobby is pornography, I as a reader was hoping for some transformation by the end. What I got was a pathetic picture of Cambridge scholars with too much money and too little sense of morality, goodness or compassion. The final line ("I...prayed I could learn to want the right things") was not enough evolution for me.
September 24, 2011
Like most modern books, this is a search for meaning in actions done to the characters, not in their own moral evolution.
This book combines cliches from the modern success stories, and by that I mean general story ideas that were successful, patching in bits of Dan Brown, Fight Club, Bret Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt, even your bog-standard postmodern novel in the style of David Foster-Wallace (think David Mitchell).
The underlying story however is pure dime store novel: the characters do not evolve, they merely express themselves and disappear behind the curtain.
I mention it because in the midst of this chaos, the author inserts a somewhat insightful view of race and class, in which he points out that (a) our politics of race and class are entirely for show, e.g. of the visible world and not the secret world in which the night climbers participate and (b) that they lead to a confusion of identity and self-destruction.
Beyond that, this book is appreciably better than average, which is damning it with faint praise. So I'll modify: clearly more thought went into this book than into your average modern superstar like Jodi Piccoult, Alice Seybold, Stephanie Meyer, Lee Child, etc.
This book combines cliches from the modern success stories, and by that I mean general story ideas that were successful, patching in bits of Dan Brown, Fight Club, Bret Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt, even your bog-standard postmodern novel in the style of David Foster-Wallace (think David Mitchell).
The underlying story however is pure dime store novel: the characters do not evolve, they merely express themselves and disappear behind the curtain.
I mention it because in the midst of this chaos, the author inserts a somewhat insightful view of race and class, in which he points out that (a) our politics of race and class are entirely for show, e.g. of the visible world and not the secret world in which the night climbers participate and (b) that they lead to a confusion of identity and self-destruction.
Beyond that, this book is appreciably better than average, which is damning it with faint praise. So I'll modify: clearly more thought went into this book than into your average modern superstar like Jodi Piccoult, Alice Seybold, Stephanie Meyer, Lee Child, etc.
June 24, 2013
I hated every single character in this book. James was weak & an idiot, Francis an extremely spoiled, shallow, walking cliche. I hated the things they did, what they talked about. I hated what happened & how everything turned out. The writing was good however, which is why I'm giving it 2 stars. I'd read something else by this author in hopes another story might match his writing & actually be interesting to me. We shall see.
January 17, 2008
(My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
As regular readers know, when it comes to many topics in the arts, I like to do things a little differently here at CCLaP than at many other organizations; to cite one example, as a book reviewer I deliberately try to learn as little "industry" information about the publishing world as possible, even to the extent of purposely avoiding such publications as Booklist and Publishers Weekly, even to the extent of never reading those "books to keep your eye out for" articles that come at the beginning of every literary season. And the reason I do that, of course, is because of the lessons I learned from working at a college radio station for four years as an undergraduate; that too much exposure to the secret gears actually running an artistic industry can very easily ruin whatever simple appreciation you used to have for that medium. I like to approach the books reviewed here in the same way as I imagine my average reader does; I like just walking randomly into bookstores and libraries, picking books sometimes based solely on what the cover looks like or what the dustflap has to say, of occasionally hearing someone mention a book that sounds intriguing and maybe filing it away in my endless "books to get around to one day reading" list at the back of my Moleskine notebook. It's a process I feel would become corrupted if I were to learn too much "inside information" about the books in question; that if I were to follow the fates of certain titles for months before they came out, if I were to see the entire promotional campaigns behind some of these titles, it would not only negatively affect what books I end up reviewing here but what I have to say about them.
And in fact I can think of no better example of what I'm talking about than the subject of today's essay, the solid and entertaining The Night Climbers by British first-time novelist Ivo Stourton; it is a book I just literally came across by accident at my neighborhood library earlier this winter, a book that probably otherwise would've never come to my attention (especially if my plate were full with a bunch of insider-benefit review copies of books I didn't particularly want to read in the first place), a book I checked out literally because I liked the cover and because the concept sounded intriguing. And it's indeed an intriguing book, I've now found after finishing it -- not a masterpiece by any means, and a little derivative to some other books I've read in the past concerning the same subjects, but certainly a whole lot better than most people's first novels, an undeniably tight page-turner that will really suck you into its cultured, high-class Cambridge world, a book you'll find yourself quickly zooming through and saying at the end, "Wow, that was a great little novel!" When such a thing is a pleasant surprise like that, it affirms to me that I've made the right career choice, that reviewing books for a living really is as fun as it can sometimes seem; if I had been following the fate of this book for months, though, if I had been bombarded with marketing material from overzealous publicists, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, that I would've been disappointed by its shortcomings instead of delighted by its strengths. I like to think that makes me more like you than a lot of other book reviewers; I like to think that makes CCLaP's reviews a little more relevant to you than at other publications. It certainly makes my job a lot more fun, I can tell you that.
The son of noted radio personality Ed Stourton, recipient of a double first in English at Cambridge (American translation: really good grades), The Night Climbers is in fact set at Cambridge itself, at a college there called...
As regular readers know, when it comes to many topics in the arts, I like to do things a little differently here at CCLaP than at many other organizations; to cite one example, as a book reviewer I deliberately try to learn as little "industry" information about the publishing world as possible, even to the extent of purposely avoiding such publications as Booklist and Publishers Weekly, even to the extent of never reading those "books to keep your eye out for" articles that come at the beginning of every literary season. And the reason I do that, of course, is because of the lessons I learned from working at a college radio station for four years as an undergraduate; that too much exposure to the secret gears actually running an artistic industry can very easily ruin whatever simple appreciation you used to have for that medium. I like to approach the books reviewed here in the same way as I imagine my average reader does; I like just walking randomly into bookstores and libraries, picking books sometimes based solely on what the cover looks like or what the dustflap has to say, of occasionally hearing someone mention a book that sounds intriguing and maybe filing it away in my endless "books to get around to one day reading" list at the back of my Moleskine notebook. It's a process I feel would become corrupted if I were to learn too much "inside information" about the books in question; that if I were to follow the fates of certain titles for months before they came out, if I were to see the entire promotional campaigns behind some of these titles, it would not only negatively affect what books I end up reviewing here but what I have to say about them.
And in fact I can think of no better example of what I'm talking about than the subject of today's essay, the solid and entertaining The Night Climbers by British first-time novelist Ivo Stourton; it is a book I just literally came across by accident at my neighborhood library earlier this winter, a book that probably otherwise would've never come to my attention (especially if my plate were full with a bunch of insider-benefit review copies of books I didn't particularly want to read in the first place), a book I checked out literally because I liked the cover and because the concept sounded intriguing. And it's indeed an intriguing book, I've now found after finishing it -- not a masterpiece by any means, and a little derivative to some other books I've read in the past concerning the same subjects, but certainly a whole lot better than most people's first novels, an undeniably tight page-turner that will really suck you into its cultured, high-class Cambridge world, a book you'll find yourself quickly zooming through and saying at the end, "Wow, that was a great little novel!" When such a thing is a pleasant surprise like that, it affirms to me that I've made the right career choice, that reviewing books for a living really is as fun as it can sometimes seem; if I had been following the fate of this book for months, though, if I had been bombarded with marketing material from overzealous publicists, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, that I would've been disappointed by its shortcomings instead of delighted by its strengths. I like to think that makes me more like you than a lot of other book reviewers; I like to think that makes CCLaP's reviews a little more relevant to you than at other publications. It certainly makes my job a lot more fun, I can tell you that.
The son of noted radio personality Ed Stourton, recipient of a double first in English at Cambridge (American translation: really good grades), The Night Climbers is in fact set at Cambridge itself, at a college there called...
March 14, 2010
I was predisposed to like this story, and was disappointed to not like it much at all. The jacket/teaser copy of the book made it sound interesting - a group of college students who daringly climb the buildings around campus, at night and against college regulations. But, the reality of it was this was only a very tiny portion of the story, and the students were a group of narcisstic brats with overexaggerated worries out of proportion with the reality created by the author. Although the characters were well drawn at times, at others they were reduced to carcitures. All too often the prose was heavy with adjectives, as if the author was more interested in playing with combinations of words rather than telling the story. An interesting concept that was disappointingly rendered, in my opinion.
December 19, 2012
It was a chore finishing this book. I love reading books with Oxford or Cambridge as the setting, and I guess that was the main reason for choosing this book. I never warmed to any of the characters, I found a lot of the writing ponderous. I can not recall finding any pleasure reading this, but I kept on reading as I continue thinking that there might be something on the next page, or next chapter to rescue it.
February 2, 2011
A couple weeks ago I mentioned Donna Tartt’s novel The Secret History, a book I read almost 20 years ago. If you haven’t already read it, I can highly recommend it as a compelling novel about art and literature, particularly from the Greek period. But even if this isn’t your thing, The Secret History tells an intriguing tale of friendships made and destroyed on a college campus. It’s a book that has stayed with me all these years and one I should really re-read.
Ivo Stourton’s novel The Night Climbers mirrors Tartt’s novel in some respects. When James Walker arrives at Tudor College, Cambridge, he is careful about the friendships he forms.
"My father and Evelyn Waugh had warned me against the dangers of making early friends, so I deliberately avoided contact with my fellow freshers in my first weeks, hoping to cultivate a vague air of mystery that would bring me to the notice of the social elite."
Pure chance brings Michael Findlay into his room and then, shortly thereafter, into a secret circle known as The Night Climbers. James is smitten with The Night Climbers, particularly Francis, the son of a Lord. Francis is beautiful and irreverent, blithely spending his substantial allowance on alcohol, drugs and dinners out. Soon James is a part of this group and the novel follows their escapades from their delirious (both literally and figuratively) highs to their rock-bottom lows.
Stourton’s novel is well written. The story begins some years after James has left university and is paid a visit by one of his former friends who hints at some trouble that might be coming their way. The story then artfully backtracks, introducing us to this interesting group of characters. James is not altogether unsympathetic, either, which is helpful because despite Stourton’s skill, the book lacked any emotional resonance for me.
Ivo Stourton’s novel The Night Climbers mirrors Tartt’s novel in some respects. When James Walker arrives at Tudor College, Cambridge, he is careful about the friendships he forms.
"My father and Evelyn Waugh had warned me against the dangers of making early friends, so I deliberately avoided contact with my fellow freshers in my first weeks, hoping to cultivate a vague air of mystery that would bring me to the notice of the social elite."
Pure chance brings Michael Findlay into his room and then, shortly thereafter, into a secret circle known as The Night Climbers. James is smitten with The Night Climbers, particularly Francis, the son of a Lord. Francis is beautiful and irreverent, blithely spending his substantial allowance on alcohol, drugs and dinners out. Soon James is a part of this group and the novel follows their escapades from their delirious (both literally and figuratively) highs to their rock-bottom lows.
Stourton’s novel is well written. The story begins some years after James has left university and is paid a visit by one of his former friends who hints at some trouble that might be coming their way. The story then artfully backtracks, introducing us to this interesting group of characters. James is not altogether unsympathetic, either, which is helpful because despite Stourton’s skill, the book lacked any emotional resonance for me.
February 18, 2019
Das war tatsächlich eines der schlechtesten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe. So schlecht, dass ich mich gefragt habe, wen der Autor bestochen hat, damit sein Buch verlegt wird. Nur der Stil kann mit viel Wohlwollen als „ok“ bezeichnet werden, aber auch der war schrecklich gewollt und zum Teil anstrengend pseudo-poetisch. Und von der Story an sich muss man auch gar nicht erst anfangen: platt und eindimensional, unlogisch, leblos, blöd und gänzlich unrealistisch. Alle Figuren verhalten sich absolut oberdämlich und sind in sich selbst kaum glaubhaft. Kein Handlungselement (Boxen, Hausklettern, Geld raushauen, Drogen nehmen, Kunst fälschen) hat irgendeine tiefere Bedeutung oder gar einen Zweck, alles wird lieblos aneinander geklatscht, um zu zeigen, wie „crazy“ die vier Hauptfiguren drauf sind. Es gibt kein zentrales Thema, nichts, was alles eint, nur ganz viel gewollt provokantes Wischiwaschi. Da hat wohl ein Lektor einen neuen „Fänger im Roggen“ erkannt, wo es keinen gab. Es gab nichts Tiefgründiges, nicht einmal einen logischen Handlungsablauf.
Furchtbare Zeitverschwendung!
Furchtbare Zeitverschwendung!
June 4, 2011
A sine wave of a reading experience - I didn't enjoy the start very much, warmed to it a little in the middle, but it lost me at the end.
It's obvious why the 'if you liked The Secret History...' comment appears, but where the characters in that book drew me in, the characters in The Night Climbers have nowhere near the same depth and complexity, and feel as if they are serving the plot, rather than their own ends.
The narrator is an outsider, but has passivity without interest, and the same problem as rest of book: his outsider status is there to serve a purpose rather than feeling true to the character.
It's obvious why the 'if you liked The Secret History...' comment appears, but where the characters in that book drew me in, the characters in The Night Climbers have nowhere near the same depth and complexity, and feel as if they are serving the plot, rather than their own ends.
The narrator is an outsider, but has passivity without interest, and the same problem as rest of book: his outsider status is there to serve a purpose rather than feeling true to the character.
October 8, 2010
If I could give negative stars I would. No one should ever read this book. The title and description talk about a group that climbs walls at night. The book touches on this subject once. I rarely regret reading books, but this was a large waste of time.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Night Climbers - Nevisande : Ivo Stourton - ISBN : 1416948694 - ISBN13 : 9781416948698 - Dar 288 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2007
November 14, 2023
The Night Climbers is one of those books that can best be described by how much it was influenced by The Secret History. And I mean this in the best way possible.
The writing in this story is so clearly an homage to TSH that it is impossible to not be excited about it, if you’re like me and are always on the lookout for a new book that gives you the same feeling as TSH did. I am the type of reader that knows that deep down there will never be a book which will be exactly like The Secret History but since this novel started a whole subgenre, Dark Academia, which is one of my favorite genre is literature, I am the type of reader who gets excited, giggling, kicking my feet, over finding new titles that give me even that 1% feeling, instead of focusing on the “oh, this is a rip-off” or “this is trying to emulate that, and I hate it”. To each their own, but I’ve got to say that, for me, it was a marvelous experience to read The Night Climbers.
We begin this story meeting James, who’s just arrived in Cambridge and his first thoughts are that he can’t wait to be a part of a group that everyone talks about, he has in his mind an ideal that this small group would be the center of the world in the academic social environment, and he wants nothing more to be in it. This novel drips with the classical Campus Novel protagonist who is desperate to belong, and whose imminent participation in a secluded group, would be their ultimate demise. And wow am I a sucker for that. I never get tired of this, no matter how many times I read it. I truly am an enthusiast.
The Night Climbers is partly inspired by real events, as in literal building climbing that was done by young-men in Cambridge, with accounts and “manuals” teaching others how to climb dating from as early as 1937 and also the 60s and 70s. This was fascinating to discover, and I only wish it was more deeply incorporated into the novel, because it was an exquisite thing to learn, and I do feel like it worked really well within the scope of the novel.
One of the most interesting dynamics, to me, is James incessant and ever-growing obsession and admiration towards Francis, the unspoken charismatic and problematic leader of the group. The passages in which James describes his thoughts and feelings towards him, are some of the most beautifully written and evocative of the whole novel, some examples:
I delighted in the writing, the kind that grips you and won’t let you go until it’s over. For a book with such low rating, albeit it has less than four hundred ratings, I was actually a bit reticent, if intrigued by this before I picked it up, and yet it just proved me that the best way to know if a book it’s for you, is to give it a chance.
As a Dark Academia researcher, I am so glad to add this book to my ever-growing list of DA titles. As a Dark Academia enthusiast, I just know that Francis, Henry (from The Secret History) and Mark (from The Lessons) would sit together at the same table at lunch. That is all.
If you like stories about so much character yearning, a well-written inner monologue, and Dark Academia stories, then this one is for you. My hopes are low of making this book find more audience, because it has been sixteen (!!) years since it was published, however, my mission is to spread the DA word, and I am nothing if I am not committed. Give this one a try.
↠ 4 stars✨
The writing in this story is so clearly an homage to TSH that it is impossible to not be excited about it, if you’re like me and are always on the lookout for a new book that gives you the same feeling as TSH did. I am the type of reader that knows that deep down there will never be a book which will be exactly like The Secret History but since this novel started a whole subgenre, Dark Academia, which is one of my favorite genre is literature, I am the type of reader who gets excited, giggling, kicking my feet, over finding new titles that give me even that 1% feeling, instead of focusing on the “oh, this is a rip-off” or “this is trying to emulate that, and I hate it”. To each their own, but I’ve got to say that, for me, it was a marvelous experience to read The Night Climbers.
We begin this story meeting James, who’s just arrived in Cambridge and his first thoughts are that he can’t wait to be a part of a group that everyone talks about, he has in his mind an ideal that this small group would be the center of the world in the academic social environment, and he wants nothing more to be in it. This novel drips with the classical Campus Novel protagonist who is desperate to belong, and whose imminent participation in a secluded group, would be their ultimate demise. And wow am I a sucker for that. I never get tired of this, no matter how many times I read it. I truly am an enthusiast.
The Night Climbers is partly inspired by real events, as in literal building climbing that was done by young-men in Cambridge, with accounts and “manuals” teaching others how to climb dating from as early as 1937 and also the 60s and 70s. This was fascinating to discover, and I only wish it was more deeply incorporated into the novel, because it was an exquisite thing to learn, and I do feel like it worked really well within the scope of the novel.
One of the most interesting dynamics, to me, is James incessant and ever-growing obsession and admiration towards Francis, the unspoken charismatic and problematic leader of the group. The passages in which James describes his thoughts and feelings towards him, are some of the most beautifully written and evocative of the whole novel, some examples:
He lived so easily, and with such freedom from the grinding little concerns which informed my day-to-day existence, such as whether I could pay my rent that term, or peering into my wallet the night after a binge and wincing at the empty leather, that it made his soul beautiful.
By showing me the face of death, Francis had begun to cut me loose from the illusion of immortality that keeps us from doing what we want today by offering the consolation of tomorrow. At the same time, by inveigling me into what should have been a sacred space, he had given me a demonstration of how easily we could slip through the cracks in a system, if only we dared do it.
I delighted in the writing, the kind that grips you and won’t let you go until it’s over. For a book with such low rating, albeit it has less than four hundred ratings, I was actually a bit reticent, if intrigued by this before I picked it up, and yet it just proved me that the best way to know if a book it’s for you, is to give it a chance.
As a Dark Academia researcher, I am so glad to add this book to my ever-growing list of DA titles. As a Dark Academia enthusiast, I just know that Francis, Henry (from The Secret History) and Mark (from The Lessons) would sit together at the same table at lunch. That is all.
If you like stories about so much character yearning, a well-written inner monologue, and Dark Academia stories, then this one is for you. My hopes are low of making this book find more audience, because it has been sixteen (!!) years since it was published, however, my mission is to spread the DA word, and I am nothing if I am not committed. Give this one a try.
↠ 4 stars✨
May 26, 2020
Yet another book about the jeunesse doree in academia. This time it is Cambridge, not Oxford, although Stourton overtly acknowledges Evelyn Waugh once by name and by inference throughout the novel. Francis is Sebastian Flyte without a soul, and James is Charles Ryder without redemption. It uses the Brideshead trope of the outsider desiring entry into what he imagines is a secret club of fascinating people. But unlike Charles (and Julia Flyte), no one attains wisdom. Hell, no one attains anything at all. And I hate to say it, because I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, "no one" includes the reader. There is no resolution. The Night Climbers simply meanders to a close with a deus ex machina that works as well as that literary device ever does.
The other author to whom The Night Climbers owes at least partial royalties is Donna Tartt. Her The Secret History is a masterpiece of this genre and I would argue, a spectacular literary achievement period. Tartt's book also deals with an outsider seeking to crack into a charmed circle of undergraduates. But she is careful to create the world that brings them together, i.e. classical studies, and peels it back like an onion for half her novel before Richard Papen, her "James", fully understands what actually binds his classmates together.
Stourton simply dumps the night climbing thing in James' lap, and while there is one chapter that skims over it as something these people do, it then disappears as a plot point. Other than that, and as I say, that isn't much, there is nothing at all that binds the group. As a result the characters appear paper thin. Two of the circle are mere blips, so unimportant that Stourton kills one off stage with no more resonance than I just had in this sentence.
The plot MacGuffin is preposterous both in concept and mechanical execution. As in, I didn't believe in it at all, and I will hazard the guess nor does Stourton. That too is disposed of so casually that the reader gets no payoff at all. The shared guilt of The Secret History's characters ruins lives. Here James and Jessica shrug and get on with it. What exactly they "get on with" is never made clear.
There are some very good passages. Stourton can write. The decadence frequently comes across as studied, but he clearly knows Cambridge and The Night Climbers is well enough grounded in place. But the glittering backdrop cannot ultimately distract from the absence of anything in front of it.
Not recommended.
The other author to whom The Night Climbers owes at least partial royalties is Donna Tartt. Her The Secret History is a masterpiece of this genre and I would argue, a spectacular literary achievement period. Tartt's book also deals with an outsider seeking to crack into a charmed circle of undergraduates. But she is careful to create the world that brings them together, i.e. classical studies, and peels it back like an onion for half her novel before Richard Papen, her "James", fully understands what actually binds his classmates together.
Stourton simply dumps the night climbing thing in James' lap, and while there is one chapter that skims over it as something these people do, it then disappears as a plot point. Other than that, and as I say, that isn't much, there is nothing at all that binds the group. As a result the characters appear paper thin. Two of the circle are mere blips, so unimportant that Stourton kills one off stage with no more resonance than I just had in this sentence.
The plot MacGuffin is preposterous both in concept and mechanical execution. As in, I didn't believe in it at all, and I will hazard the guess nor does Stourton. That too is disposed of so casually that the reader gets no payoff at all. The shared guilt of The Secret History's characters ruins lives. Here James and Jessica shrug and get on with it. What exactly they "get on with" is never made clear.
There are some very good passages. Stourton can write. The decadence frequently comes across as studied, but he clearly knows Cambridge and The Night Climbers is well enough grounded in place. But the glittering backdrop cannot ultimately distract from the absence of anything in front of it.
Not recommended.
January 19, 2021
"... I did take great pleasure in the fact that I didn't care. Indifference, not feigned but genuinely felt, was a hard-won victory, and I prized it."
May 26, 2021
i can't tell if the author is sexist or the narrator is sexist, but either way this made me feel disgusting. there are about 5 million descriptions of women's breasts, which would be fine if they added to the story at ALL. as it is, the gross, scummy, money-centric narrator somehow ends up with jessica, the hot, level-headed smart lady jessica??? what kind of cop out ending????
maybe i've been reading too many brilliant books written by women lately but... it's an INSULT to compare this to the secret history. the cambridge night climbing bit was cool, as were the architecture descriptions, but the world it paints is way too grandiose for the author to adequately fill it up.
felt like a book for 13-year olds but the narrator's pornography collection and prostitute/cocaine habit probably precludes that idea.
also there's only like one scene with actual night climbing??? the rest is like an art heist??? NOT what i signed up for
maybe i've been reading too many brilliant books written by women lately but... it's an INSULT to compare this to the secret history. the cambridge night climbing bit was cool, as were the architecture descriptions, but the world it paints is way too grandiose for the author to adequately fill it up.
felt like a book for 13-year olds but the narrator's pornography collection and prostitute/cocaine habit probably precludes that idea.
also there's only like one scene with actual night climbing??? the rest is like an art heist??? NOT what i signed up for
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
July 25, 2011Eh. I know I shouldn't always believe the blurbs on the back of the book, but its billing as being inspired by "The Secret History" (which I LOVED--it's by Donna Tartt in case you've never heard of it) sucked me in. It was an interesting enough story but generally just blah.
April 16, 2017
A group of Cambridge students, rich, indolent and generally unpleasant, all with emotional issues, take up climbing over the roofs of the colleges among other nefarious occupations. The outcome is not unexpected. Different but rather sordid.
January 15, 2019
A handful of reviews here hint toward The Night Climbers being akin to Tartt, which makes me need to commit to reading Tartt in the new year. It's not that the Night Climbers was so great as to inspire me, though... it's more that it leaves me wanting something similar that uses its best elements to better advantage.
I read Stourton's debut as an ARC, so there are probably some little things which have been edited in post, but the thing that jumped at me first was what felt like a weird inconsistency of time. The book debuted in 2007, for example, and in one scene the protagonists are listening to a Roots album which debuted in 1999. If the flashback is accurate, we're looking at people no older than 20 and a present where they're no younger than 30... and suddenly we've lost two, maybe 4 years (presuming they bought the album early in its existence). It's a weird disconnect of time. This may seem pedantic (it is), but it's simply a concrete example of a feeling that I had across the span of the book... even with the novel written over a decade prior to my reading, the presumed timeframe always felt removed in a super weird way, as if the events were unfolding just a couple years into the future of when the book was written. Nothing was speculative, of course... it just felt like things were jarred just a bit out of the current timeline, and it led to a difficult suspension of disbelief.
As for characters? This felt largely like a Coming Of Age novel about rich people, because it mostly is. A life of minimal consequences. When the older renditions of these youth suddenly are faced with consequences, we're still seeing them as though nothing has really changed. James, the narrator, is making enough money to hire high class prostitutes, and only really describes even his female friends in terms of their sex appeal (his immediate assessment that Jessica had not retained her youthful beauty puts him on a sour note immediately, which is not helped by his waffling between this assessment and reflecting on her beauty at other moments). His friend Lisa, he mentions "looked sexy" when he sees her at a funeral. The thing of it is, because Lisa ends up being the least described of the characters, she becomes the most interesting. Her life is a mystery to both the reader and her friends, by her own design, and wielding that power makes the reader want to know more than the scant notes about her residual coarseness and the fact that she usually wears unattractive clothing but has a good body when she wears fancy stuff. How does a young 20something make a healthy living in the seedy underbelly of the city? We'll never know! But we do know a heck of a lot about Francis, the devil may care son of a Lord who lavishes his friends with the riches his father allows him. The drama of the story revolves around the loss of this patronage... not in having to re-adjust, but in refusing to, in having to find a way to regain that lavish lifestyle. I doubt this was super relatable in 2007, but it's doubly not in the first gasps of 2019.
That's another thing: the book is called The Night Climbers, but we get maybe two chapters which actually are dedicated to stories of climbing at night (more if we count hopping a fence). The thought that these youth find a certain bond through their act of secrecy and danger was a huge appeal. The reality is more that climbing the buildings is a thing they do because they're rich and need to find something they might not get away with. There would be just as much reason to call this novel "The Boxing Riggers," or "The Fox Hunters," or even "The Coke Snorters," for as integral as climbing at night is to the plot.
All this is made more frustrating by the fact that this is, admittedly, largely good writing. If I don't feel any sympathies or connections around the characters, I am compelled to see their story out. And sometimes that's plenty. But there's just too much about those elements which make up the story which kept ripping me away from it.
The general consensus here seems to be a scratch below 3 stars. That seems about fair by my consideration.
I read Stourton's debut as an ARC, so there are probably some little things which have been edited in post, but the thing that jumped at me first was what felt like a weird inconsistency of time. The book debuted in 2007, for example, and in one scene the protagonists are listening to a Roots album which debuted in 1999. If the flashback is accurate, we're looking at people no older than 20 and a present where they're no younger than 30... and suddenly we've lost two, maybe 4 years (presuming they bought the album early in its existence). It's a weird disconnect of time. This may seem pedantic (it is), but it's simply a concrete example of a feeling that I had across the span of the book... even with the novel written over a decade prior to my reading, the presumed timeframe always felt removed in a super weird way, as if the events were unfolding just a couple years into the future of when the book was written. Nothing was speculative, of course... it just felt like things were jarred just a bit out of the current timeline, and it led to a difficult suspension of disbelief.
As for characters? This felt largely like a Coming Of Age novel about rich people, because it mostly is. A life of minimal consequences. When the older renditions of these youth suddenly are faced with consequences, we're still seeing them as though nothing has really changed. James, the narrator, is making enough money to hire high class prostitutes, and only really describes even his female friends in terms of their sex appeal (his immediate assessment that Jessica had not retained her youthful beauty puts him on a sour note immediately, which is not helped by his waffling between this assessment and reflecting on her beauty at other moments). His friend Lisa, he mentions "looked sexy" when he sees her at a funeral. The thing of it is, because Lisa ends up being the least described of the characters, she becomes the most interesting. Her life is a mystery to both the reader and her friends, by her own design, and wielding that power makes the reader want to know more than the scant notes about her residual coarseness and the fact that she usually wears unattractive clothing but has a good body when she wears fancy stuff. How does a young 20something make a healthy living in the seedy underbelly of the city? We'll never know! But we do know a heck of a lot about Francis, the devil may care son of a Lord who lavishes his friends with the riches his father allows him. The drama of the story revolves around the loss of this patronage... not in having to re-adjust, but in refusing to, in having to find a way to regain that lavish lifestyle. I doubt this was super relatable in 2007, but it's doubly not in the first gasps of 2019.
That's another thing: the book is called The Night Climbers, but we get maybe two chapters which actually are dedicated to stories of climbing at night (more if we count hopping a fence). The thought that these youth find a certain bond through their act of secrecy and danger was a huge appeal. The reality is more that climbing the buildings is a thing they do because they're rich and need to find something they might not get away with. There would be just as much reason to call this novel "The Boxing Riggers," or "The Fox Hunters," or even "The Coke Snorters," for as integral as climbing at night is to the plot.
All this is made more frustrating by the fact that this is, admittedly, largely good writing. If I don't feel any sympathies or connections around the characters, I am compelled to see their story out. And sometimes that's plenty. But there's just too much about those elements which make up the story which kept ripping me away from it.
The general consensus here seems to be a scratch below 3 stars. That seems about fair by my consideration.
July 8, 2021
I thought I’d return to my beloved #darkacademia genre with Ivo Stourton’s novel, The Night Climbers! Although it includes tidbits of similarities from The Goldfinch and The Secret History (ie: art theft, Greek literature, and a group of morally grey, impressionable college students), it was unfortunately…. just not good. Allow me to get straight to the point- this comes nowhere remotely near Donna Tartt’s masterful writing. The male gaze is all too obvious in this book: women are depicted as sexual objects mainly written to benefit their male counterparts, the author comments far too often on the physical appearances and ages of each woman, & I often found them to be somewhat dehumanised.
Stourton’s writing focuses around James Walker, a new Cambridge University student who gets involved with an enigmatic, wealthy group of “night climbers.” Fearless and alluring, James quickly becomes swept up in the group’s daring adventures in the dead of night. Switching between their time in undergrad and present day as adults, it's difficult to perceive any complex character development from any member of the group. Jessica’s “character building” felt passive and was the main target of the author’s unavoidable male gaze.
I’ll admit, the core story of Cambridge’s secret, nocturnal society of students who scale the university’s buildings is fascinating. Echoing the work of Noel Symington’s, The Night Climbers of Cambridge, it’s difficult to believe these groups actually existed. Unfortunately, Stourton’s writing comes off as cliche, predictable, and included undeveloped characters I had trouble actually empathizing with.
Stourton’s writing focuses around James Walker, a new Cambridge University student who gets involved with an enigmatic, wealthy group of “night climbers.” Fearless and alluring, James quickly becomes swept up in the group’s daring adventures in the dead of night. Switching between their time in undergrad and present day as adults, it's difficult to perceive any complex character development from any member of the group. Jessica’s “character building” felt passive and was the main target of the author’s unavoidable male gaze.
I’ll admit, the core story of Cambridge’s secret, nocturnal society of students who scale the university’s buildings is fascinating. Echoing the work of Noel Symington’s, The Night Climbers of Cambridge, it’s difficult to believe these groups actually existed. Unfortunately, Stourton’s writing comes off as cliche, predictable, and included undeveloped characters I had trouble actually empathizing with.
February 15, 2024
I enjoyed this book, primarily because of the eloquent writing style and the fully developed character studies. To me, at least, James (the narrator) and his elite friends are 3-dimensional and believable.
The pacing is kind of slow at parts, however, and I was disappointed that we rarely find the “‘night climbers” themselves, well, actually climbing. (I do understand the significance of the activity as a driving force behind the characters’ motivations, and the way it symbolizes freedom from the rules and restrictions of the society they need to feel superior to.)
I feel ambivalent about the ending, too. I appreciate the twists and turns as we find out the truth about the faked Picasso and who Augustus White really was when they met him for the sale, but it feels like they suffered under the weight of their crime for a decade for nothing. The payoff didn’t really land for me.
This was a decent read, and a solid first novel for an author in his mid-20s. Having just watched Saltburn, though, I can imagine a more memorable follow-through for the end of the story. This book is kind of Saltburn-lite (an unfair comparison, I know, because of the many years that separate this book and that movie).
The pacing is kind of slow at parts, however, and I was disappointed that we rarely find the “‘night climbers” themselves, well, actually climbing. (I do understand the significance of the activity as a driving force behind the characters’ motivations, and the way it symbolizes freedom from the rules and restrictions of the society they need to feel superior to.)
I feel ambivalent about the ending, too. I appreciate the twists and turns as we find out the truth about the faked Picasso and who Augustus White really was when they met him for the sale, but it feels like they suffered under the weight of their crime for a decade for nothing. The payoff didn’t really land for me.
This was a decent read, and a solid first novel for an author in his mid-20s. Having just watched Saltburn, though, I can imagine a more memorable follow-through for the end of the story. This book is kind of Saltburn-lite (an unfair comparison, I know, because of the many years that separate this book and that movie).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2018
I can't put my finger on exactly what is wrong with this book, but it is lacking something essential. The writing is just fine, but a bit too stiff. Every page has an awkwardly constructed metaphor or two (I will insert some examples later!). The characters are flat, and I found myself not caring if the whole lot of them fell off the roof while "night climbing."
The idea behind this book is really interesting - a group of Cambridge students who climb the university walls. The book is blatantly marketed towards fans of The Secret History (aren't they all?) and, as promised, follows Donna Tartt's formula to a T. However, it comes across as a cheap knockoff.
My hope is that Ivo Stourton hones his writing skills and character development and produces something original in the future.
The idea behind this book is really interesting - a group of Cambridge students who climb the university walls. The book is blatantly marketed towards fans of The Secret History (aren't they all?) and, as promised, follows Donna Tartt's formula to a T. However, it comes across as a cheap knockoff.
My hope is that Ivo Stourton hones his writing skills and character development and produces something original in the future.
December 29, 2018
#readingchallenge2018 (a book picked with my eyes closed)
The beginning chase was exciting; followed by the compelling suspense of our narrator “joining the ranks”. However, once he was “in”, he became just like the other egotistical characters; blending into the fold, with no development-and the story faltered. I was hoping the plot would develop with more internal character struggles, but it was all just passively laid out. All the opportunities for interesting plotlines (i.e the forgery, the secret histories, etc.) didn’t pick up.
Switching between the past and present would have been interesting but the hyper-focused worries of the students far outweighed the plot. I wanted more about the daring climbs, the impacts-but it was more just a novel about horribly written characters. The writing was stronger in some aspects however development needs work.
The beginning chase was exciting; followed by the compelling suspense of our narrator “joining the ranks”. However, once he was “in”, he became just like the other egotistical characters; blending into the fold, with no development-and the story faltered. I was hoping the plot would develop with more internal character struggles, but it was all just passively laid out. All the opportunities for interesting plotlines (i.e the forgery, the secret histories, etc.) didn’t pick up.
Switching between the past and present would have been interesting but the hyper-focused worries of the students far outweighed the plot. I wanted more about the daring climbs, the impacts-but it was more just a novel about horribly written characters. The writing was stronger in some aspects however development needs work.
October 14, 2019
The Night Climbers isn't awful, but it certainly isn't good. It's diverting enough, and not long enough to make you resent it, but it's still pretty bad. The writing is adequate, the plot is strong in the generic, knockoff Brideshead sense, but not in any way to distinguish it as anything but knockoff Brideshead/ Secret History/ #DarkAcademia. And I love Dark Academia. So it was fine. But - just fine. Fine minus points for straddling the line of 'so does this character hate women or does this author hate women' for a while before landing solidly in 'yeah it's the author'.
February 2, 2021
I don't care if this was supposed to be comparable to the secret history, this is basically fanfiction. I mean seriously? The author even named the "leader of the group" FRANCIS. Francis from The Secret History is one of my comfort characters, so this definitely hurt to read. The author really just couldn't come up with his own originality, it seems. Disappointing. The writing wasn't terrible, so I'll give it that. Though it wasn't anything spectacular either.
Read
March 24, 2021I read enough of this book to count because that’s time I’ll never get back but not enough to rate it. This book isn’t one I’ll be recommending to anyone. It’s just incredibly sexist and racist, no thank you.
March 6, 2023
Ivo Sturton has lots of good ideas but he doesn't yet know how to really do anything with them. There were multiple side plots, but the story lacked a main plot line. Despite this, the book was still mostly enjoyable.
June 8, 2022
This book is a great read.
A good story, well researched and well told.
A good story, well researched and well told.
Read
April 21, 2024DNF
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