The Inner Circle

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

»Hör mal, ich wollte dich fragen, ob du dich vielleicht mit mir verloben möchtest... Du weißt schon, für diesen Kurs.«Es ist das Jahr 1939, und auf dem Campus der Universität Indiana ist eine Revolution ausgebrochen. Alfred Kinsey, ursprünglich Zoologe, beschäftigt sich mit dem Sexualverhalten von Männern und Frauen - und das rein empirisch. Unter dem harmlos klingenden Titel »Ehe und Familie« gibt er Aufklärungskurse, die durch die Präsentation von drastischen Dias Furore machen.John Milk, ein junger, ehrgeiziger, aber in sexuellen Dingen völlig unbedarfter Student, lernt Kinsey persönlich kennen und wird dessen erster Mitarbeiter. Kinseys Projekt ist gewaltig: Er will so viele Personen wie möglich zu ihren sexuellen Erfahrungen, Vorlieben und Gewohnheiten befragen und gleichzeitig Angaben zu deren sozialem Hintergrund und physischer Konstitution sammeln, um der Sexualforschung eine Basis zu geben. John Milk ist von diesem Mann fasziniert und wird einer seiner treuesten Anhänger und uneingeschränktesten Verfechter. Und doch gerät er in einen Zwiespalt, denn da gibt es eine junge Frau, die er liebt und mit der er leben will ...T. C. Boyle erzählt die Geschichte eines ebenso genialen wie fanatischen Helden, für den die sexuelle Aufklärung das höchste aller Ziele ist, und zeichnet ein Porträt der prüden, bigotten Gesellschaft des Amerika der vierziger und fünfziger Jahre.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literary Fiction, Book Club, Sexuality, Contemporary

418 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

T. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eighteen novels and twleve collections of short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.

He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.

Reviews

[Shovelmonkey1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr Kinsey, or Prok as he was known to his overly familiar and very hands-on inner circle was the man who lifted the covers on sex and took a good long hard look, often with the occasional poke or touch also involved. Revered and reviled by post-war American society as both a genius and a deviant he revolutionised the way people think and talk about doing “it”. This was especially significant at a time when most people wouldn’t admit to doing it, never mind thinking about it or talking about it.

T.C Boyle departs from his own personal fictive style here and instead provides the narrative voice for Prok’s story via the conduit of John Milk, the earliest recruit made by Dr Sexy M.D. Milk is a fairly unlikely sexpert but he just about manages to keep his end up with Prok leading the way. This book is described as a both superb and salacious... if mark monday were reviewing it, it might end up on the shelf marked “sexy-time”. But the main problem with this book is that ultimately it manages to make sex deeply unsexy... you know how eating loses its appeal when you spend too much time cooking and thinking in infinite detail about the chemical processes that take place when you make the meal? Well the same thing happens here. Prok is an interesting character and undoubtedly ahead of his time but as is often the case, pioneering and domineering are two character traits which like to skip along merrily hand-in-hand. If it weren’t for the fact that Milk is, well, as mild as milk then you can imagine that the whole research process might have quickly unravelled.

Readable but not that rewarding so I’m downgrading this from sexy-time to staying in on your own with a bar of chocolate, a bottle of Lambrini and the box set of Sex and the City.

[Jmoscari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me think about my sexual side in ways I never dreamed of. Boyle understands his protagonist like a true master - when John Milk is anxious about a sexual situation, I am equally nervous. What I found exceptionally impressive about this book is how well Boyle writes the erotic. Despite the blatant opportunity for the events of the story to become gratuitous, the novel is not pornographic in any way. Everything involving sexual subjects - which is pretty much the whole novel - is handled with such supreme finesse. And it's not even that Boyle avoids or waters down the sexual content - the sex is plentiful and explicit. Rather, Boyle does exactly what he should do - just as though it were any other type of novel, the events in the story are significant for specific reasons and propel the story forward. This does two things. First, it makes the novel a page-turner. But, more significantly, it forces the reader to consider the emotional implications, good and bad, of the sexual realm. An awesome read.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of T.C. Boyle's many novels that I've read - and it is nothing short of remarkable. An immensely satisfying reading experience from beginning to end. 

I've read three of Boyle's collections of short stories - all of them bountiful in terms of breadth of imagination. In each volume, the author - in a manner not unlike pinball - bounces wildly from one unexpected subject to another. The overall result has usually been an uneven one; many stories grabbed me, some didn't. (And, of course, that could change for the reader, depending on who's reading the stories.)

But short stories are, of course, animals completely different from novels. I wasn't prepared for the tactic Boyle would take in approaching a full work. With 'The Inner Circle', I didn't anticipate something so accessible, so effortlessly readable, and so fiercely disciplined. 

I also didn't expect a book about tireless research - even sex research - to be quite the page-turner that 'TIC' is. It has a kinetic construction.

Perhaps it was the particular subject matter that afforded Boyle the opportunity to really breathe in his storytelling; to not feel confined to a short story's unique and constricting demands. By its nature, sex is an untethered topic. It's a testament to Boyle's skill that he simultaneously lets loose even as he reigns in. 'TIC' is an even-keeled look at a powder-keg theme.

In John Milk, Boyle has a (non-historical) protagonist who describes himself as a rather uninteresting person. When Milk is taken on as first assistant to Prof. Alfred Kinsey (most often referred to as 'Prok'), he can't really understand why he was recruited. He feels completely inferior. But Prok is nothing if not persuasive and Milk soon feels up to the challenge. At any rate, he takes to the sex research like the proverbial duck to water. 

And it's not long before the research becomes a - well, 'whirlwind' might be putting it mildly. It's more or less a lifelong, 24/7 obsession - for Prok, Milk, other assistants brought in, as well as (to some extent) the wives. The work becomes a double-edged sword. Thousands of eager participants are intrigued, but many uptight Americans are alarmed:

...now I began to understand: these were spies, hostile witnesses, the drones of convention and antiquated morality who wanted to keep the world in darkness as far as sex was concerned. They weren't there to be educated--they were there to bring Prok down.

Through it all, Milk remams our stalwart, relatable Everyman - even when he reaches the point where, in spite of himself, he feels something threatening his 'safe space':

I kept telling myself I was a sexologist, that I had a career and a future and a new outlook altogether, that I was liberated from all those petty, Judeo-Christian constraints that had done such damage over the centuries, but it was no good. I was hurt.

One might expect a book like this to be somewhat salacious but, surprisingly, the actual sex sequences are not only minimal but (all things considered) rather delicately handled. 

You may not subscribe to everything you read about sex in this novel. Some of what's here may even appal. But 'TIC' could certainly, to some extent, make you reconsider what you think you know / understand about the subject.

The year this book was published (2004), an unrelated film ('Kinsey') was released. I recall it as not being a bad film, if somewhat somber. There's nothing at all somber about 'TIC'; it's a rather lively, adventurous (occasionally humorous) work. It may be historical fiction and removed from many of the facts of Kinsey's life - but in terms of the human spirit, it's entirely plausible and instructive.

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is NOT the book to read on Melbourne public transport! Believe me you don't want someone peering over your shoulder on the tram or train on this one! This is my first TC Boyle and it's a great read! Boyle combines fact and fiction with the story of Alfred Kinsey's "inner circle" from the point of view of (fictional) John Milk a good looking nerd who gets drawn deeper and deeper in Kinsey's experiments and views on life, marriage, sexuality, to the detriment of his own marriage. The scenes at Kinsey's house where he invites his colleagues and their wives have you on the edge of your seat (or bed maybe) as you wonder what Kinsey has instore for them in the attic. I read this book in less than a week, and really slowed down the last 50 pages because I didn't want it to end.

[Siv30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"המעגל הפנימי" הוא סיפור בדיוני המבוסס על אירועים אמיתיים, על מחקר עומק ועל ביוגרפיה של פרופסור אלפרד קינסי, הזואולוג ששינה את פני האנושות במחקרים שפירסם על מיניות הגבר ומיניות האישה.

הסיפור נמסר בקול ראשון של עוזרו הדמיוני, ג'ון מילק, שבהיותו סטודנט, נכח בהרצאות על מין בחיי הנישואים שהעביר פרופסור קינסי כחלק מהשיעורים באוניברסיטה. ג'ון נשבה בדמותו של קינסי וכשהוא מציע לו להצטרף אליו כעוזר מחקר, אין דבר שיעצור בעדו. ג'ון עוזב את מסלול הלימודים שתכנן לעצמו ומצטרף לקינסי במאמץ "המלחמתי" לאסוף היסטוריות מיניות מ- 100,000 בני אדם מכל השכבות ומשני המינים, כך שיהיה לו מדגם מייצג למחקר שהוא עורך.

בשנים שעד פירסום הספר על מיניות הגבר, קינסי מימן את המחקר מכיסו וכך ג'ון מילק משתכר שכר נמוך מאוד שמאפשר לו בקושי לשרוד תוך שהוא עובד שעות ארוכות. אבל מערכת היחסים שלו עם קינסי ועם אישתו, קלרה מחפה על המחסור הכלכלי. קינסי שהיה כנראה דו מיני, מפתה את ג'ון ליחסים מיניים שנמשכים עמוק לתוך היכרותם ב- 15 שנים שיבואו. את התמונה המינית משלימה אישתו של קינסי, קלרה, שמקנה לו את ההשכלה המינית המשלימה שלו לגבי נשים.

למעגל הזה מתווספים לאורך השנים אנשים שונים ובראש ובראשונה אייריס, אהובת ליבו של ג'ון שלה הוא נישא. הסיפור עובר בין תיאור אירועים מתקופת המחקר ובין אירועים בחיי הזוגיות של אייריס וג'ון. אייריס מגלה על המעורבות המינית של ג'ון עם קינסי ועם קלרה. באופן ברור היא רותחת אבל השלישיה מצליחים לשכנע אותה שמדובר רק באירועים פיזיים שאין להם משמעות נפשית. אבל אייריס לא שוכחת, היא מגישה לג'ון את הנקמה שלה קרה: כשמגיע חוקר חדש ומושך לצוות, ג'יגולו בשם קורקרן, אייריס מתפתה לקיום יחסי מין איתו ומתאהבת בו נואשות עד כדי כך שהיא רוצה לפרק את הנישואים שלה לג'ון.

קינסי שרואה באקט של אייריס אקט פזיז, חסר מחשבה שמהווה סיכון למחקר שלו ולשנות עבודה רבות שהשקיע פשוט חותך את הקשר באיבו ומאלץ את קורקרן פשוטו כמשמעו לזרוק את אייריס.

האפיזודה הזו מדגימה רק את קצה הקרחון של השליטה המלאה וללא עוררין שהיתה לקינסי על צוות עובדיו ועל כל אספקט בחייהם: הוא דאג להם לפרנסה, לתרבות בערבי מוזיקה, למשפחתיות, לרדות בהם בעבודה ולהעביד אותם עד צאת נשמת וגם לקיים איתם יחסי מין ולתת את אישתו כשהיה נידרש גיוון.

דמותו של קינסי עיצבנה אותי, הוא היה גאון אבל מופרע שאף אחד לא שם לו גבולות. הוא הכריח את הצוות שלו לצפות בקיום יחסי מין אחד עם השני, וכשהוא הרגיש שהמאזן מתערער בתוך הצוות הוא דאג לתת ברכתו לאקטים שיאזנו את המאזן שהופר. הוא היה מוכן ללכת רחוק מאוד בשם המדע, להגן על אנסים ופדופילים כדי להבטיח להם חיסיון על המידע שמסרו לו.

בשנים האמורות, שנות הארבעים והחמישים של המאה ה- 20, אקטים אוראליים נחשבו לעברה על החוק, כך גם יחסים מיניים מחוץ למסגרת הנישואים היו אסורים וגם אוננות היתה מחוץ לחוק. הומוסקסואליות גרמה הרבה כאב ראש ולא דיברו עליה.

פרסום הספר מיניות הגבר בשנת 1948 הביאה לגל פרסום חסר תקדים, אבל מה שהיה מקובל על הציבור לגבי הגברים לא היה מקובל עליו לגבי הנשים ופירסום הספר מיניות האישה הוביל לגל מחאות שליליות שקינסי לא צפה. הספר נכתב כביכול ביום מותו של קינסי: המתח והלחץ גבו את שלהם. קינסי לקה במספר אירועים מוחיים קלים ולבסוף בשנת 1956 ליבו כשל.

אייריס מעולם לא הצליחה להתגבר על הטינה שלה לקינסי לאחר שהוא גרם לקורקרן לנטוש אותה. היא נוטרת לו על האופן שבו הוא מנצל את עוזרי המחקר שלו הן מינית והן בעבדות ממשית לטובת המחקר תוך שהוא מפריע להם לנהל חיי נישואים תקינים ומאושרים והיא נוטרת לו על השליטה המלאה שלו בצוות שלו ובינהם ג'ון בעלה. יחד עם הטינה העמוקה שבחלקה מוצדקת, היא מהווה את הקול השפוי שמאיר פינות אפלות באישיותו של קינסי ומכפכפת את בעלה (ודרך זה את הקורא) כשהעיניים שלו הופכות כלבלביות מידי וההערצה שלו עולה על גדותיה.

האישיות של קינסי בעייתית ביותר בכל מיני אספקטים אבל לא ניתן לקחת ממנו את טוב הלב והדאגה האמיתית שלו לרווחת הצוות שלו ובני משפחותיהם. הוא רואה במשפחה ערך עליון והוא לא מוכן לאפשר להם להתבלבל בין האקטים הפיזיים שהם צורך גופני לבין ערכים כמו אהבת אמת ודאגה למשפחה ולזולת.

הספר יחסית איטי, יש בו חלקים צהובים יותר וחלקים צהובים פחות אבל אותי הוא מאוד עיניין והוא מומלץ.

[Bob Brinkmeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

My GR friends might recall that I am practicing German by reading fiction in German, sometimes by German writers, sometimes by writers whose work has been translated into German. It’s usually determined by what I have my hands on since my local library has no German shelf. A few years ago, on one of my many trips to NYC, which always included an obligatory trip to the Strand bookstore, I found a number of T. C. Boyle’s novels in the German section. Given how many were on the shelf, I’m pretty confident he is (or was) popular in Germany, and I picked up several of the translations. I finally got through with my first—Dr. Sex, a translation of Boyle’s The Inner Circle, a novel about Dr. Alfred Kinsey and his team at the Institute for Sex Research, whose research led to publication of immensely influential and controversial studies, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.

While the characters are fictional (other than Kinsey and his wife), the novel apparently is pretty much true to fact in terms of Kinsey’s work (and play) habits. Let’s just say that his demands on his team members wouldn’t fly today—not only did Kinsey enjoy sex with his workers but he also filmed them in his home's attic having sex with various partners, including himself and his wife. All in the name of science, etc. The novel is narrated in retrospect by John Milk, one of the team members whose name might just as well have been Milquetoast, at least for a good chunk of the novel. (The narrative structure resembles that of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, a novel based on Huey Long narrated by a man in the Governor’s inner circle observing the political machinations and being drawn into them.) While Kinsey stands at the center of Milk’s tale, the novel’s central concern is Milk’s own slow maturation, brought about in part by the growing conflict between Kinsey’s demands and Milk’s commitment to his wife and family. Or put simply: Sex vs. Love (and commitment). Milk has a tough time sorting through all this—hence a novel that runs 500+ pages.

Dr. Sex (The Inner Circle) is a good, solid novel, always engaging if not always entirely compelling.

[Colin Mckenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself gliding through the pages, to Boyle's credit - and I am not a fast reader. He has a narrative gift that drew me along despite strongly disliking the two central characters, which almost made me give it a three star. I don't know anything about the real characters so I'll assume he was was stuck with these flawed people. The narrator, John, is such a doormat that even as I think of him stumbling through every - I mean, every - piece of dialogue, it make me want to change the rating back to a 3. But Boyle's finesse is as persuasive as Dr. Kinsley's and for that he gets a 4. I never got the sense that he was gratuitous in any of his portrayals or scenarios, no matter how graphic or downright repellant the material. I think he managed to stay out of the way and tell the story without editorializing, which I'm not sure I would have been able to do because I admit that I really despised John's lack of backbone and Prok's (Professor K) tyrannical side. But the story is based on the facts and not meant to be pasteurized and pretty. That said, it's not for everyone.

[Janine Corman · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have already seen the film KINSEY, don't bother with this novel, because that's what it is, a novel, told by a fictional narrator who is not worth the imagining of. His name is John Milk and he is a research assistant on the Kinsey project, whose scientific objectivity is constantly at odds with his emotions. This grew tiresome very quickly, as did every character in the book (Kinsey included), with the exception of one character, John's wife, Iris. How I wish Boyle had alternated the narration between her and her husband. I was most able to associate myself with her character, and I would have loved to have read first hand about what she was going through, as a wife in the Kinsey "Inner Circle", forced to put up with their questionable methods in the name of science. She was the only character to actually stand up to that boarish professor, and she made me want to stand up and cheer. Unfortunately, as the book was written, Iris is not enough to have made me enjoy this read.

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction. The memoirs of John Milk, assistant and friend to Dr. Alfred Kinsey as he develops the Institute for Sex Research. This is a fairly dry book, which is amazing considering the sheer amount of sex going on, but that's mostly the fault of Milk, our hedging, awkward narrator. Milk is just no fun, though he's got some crazy hero worship for Kinsey. Kinsey is a god to Milk, and to his other assistants, and it's creepy and fascinating and really makes me want to learn more about Kinsey and see what parts Boyle got right and what he was making up. The subject matter's engaging, even if the writing's a little flat, and I tore through it in two days.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Thema ist außerordentlich interessant, im puritanischen Amerika werden die Sexgewohnheiten der Bürger in einer großangelegten empirischen möglichst repräsentativen Studie mittels Interviews erhoben.
Basierend auf der historischen Geschichte der Entstehung des Kinsey Reports.
Boyle erzählt sowohl von der Entstehung der Studie als auch über das Leben und Wirken der Interviewer und des Universiätsinstituts. Der Institutsleiter regt auch an, dass die Forscher und Ihre Familien gemäß ihrer Mission sexuell frei leben sollten. Dies kann natürlich nie funktionieren und die Chose inkl. aller Beziehungen explodieren dann auch zwangsläufig am Ende des Romans.

Ein großer typisch amerikanischer Roman episch sehr breit ausgeholt. Die Story könnte durchaus kürzer gefasst, die Handlung gestrafft und schneller sein.

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh…I couldn't wait for this long, slog of a book to finally end. And that's saying a lot. Why? First, I think author T. Coraghessan Boyle is one of the most talented, exceptional, and imaginative writers of our time. Second, this is a book about sex, which should be a page-turner. It's not. It's boring. Oh, so boring!

This is the story of Alfred C. Kinsey, a professor of zoology at the University of Indiana and the pioneer researcher and author of the now-famous Kinsey reports, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953), that landed on the American public like an explosive hit them. The reports scientifically measured human sexuality. And all that research was done by just a few men, who were known as "the inner circle," an exclusive group that, socially at least, also included the men's wives.

Boyle has fictionalized that inner circle, creating the lead character of John Milk, who was hired as Kinsey's first researcher before he had even completed his undergraduate degree in English. The novel is John Milk's memoir and his insider view of Kinsey—his personal and professional life—purportedly tape-recorded after Kinsey's death in August 1956.

The only thing that saves this book is Boyle's magnificent writing, but the constant recitation of sex, sex, sex becomes mind-numbing after just a few chapters. While Kinsey is obsessed with sex and views it as a purely animal instinct without morals or limits, Milk serves as a foil to that, knowing in his heart that there must also be love and connection, too. Even so, Milk falls under Kinsey's spell (he and everyone else call Kinsey "Prok" a nickname from Professor Kinsey) and can't ever say no to his increasingly bizarre requests. The best parts of the book involve Milk's independent and feisty wife, Iris, who is eventually torn apart psychologically by Kinsey's unorthodox research and dubious demands on them as a couple—so much so that it has the potential to destroy their marriage.

Boring, tedious, and dull.

[Zek · Rating 5 out of 5]

עוד ספר מרתק מבית היוצר של ת.ק. בויל, שמאז שקראתי את ספרו המרשים "מסך הטורטייה", הוא מסתמן כאחד הסופרים האהובים עליי.
מומלץ ביותר, והציון, כמה "מפתיע" חמישה מנצנצים זוהרים.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one sexy novel!! Be advised that you may feel aroused while reading it and chronically horny in between the hours spent reading. It is a fictional account of the years leading up to and immediately following the publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Dr Alfred Kinsey in 1948.

I don't think many people heard the term "open marriage" until the 1970s. In fact, American views on sexuality remained conservative, Puritan and repressive until the "sexual revolution" and "free love" became buzz words as well as an open practice in the 1960s. Alfred Kinsey however, showed that sex before marriage, masturbation, and homosexuality were common practices in the 1930s and 1940s. Such things were never mentioned back then. Churches, mothers, and educators preserved a morality that was proven false by the publication of Kinsey's book, for which he gained wild popularity and of course major moral backlash. His book was a top ten non-fiction bestseller in 1948.

Boyle chose to tell the story through the first person viewpoint of John Milk, a fictional character who serves as Kinsey's first research assistant. Mike is a socially inept nerd, but the set up is brilliant. T C Boyle proves all of Kinsey's research to be truthful by showing us that a socially inept nerd is as horny and open to sexual adventure as any male.

He goes further though in making Milk a besotted, devoted follower of Kinsey, willing to do anything to help the research, even when it involves Kinsey's wife, Milk's wife, and his fellow researchers. Kinsey puts himself and those researchers through a grueling pace over many years as they travel around the United States taking the sexual histories of hundreds of men. The researchers are required never to exhibit being "sex shy". Kinsey himself is a tireless sexual enthusiast, at least as he is portrayed in The Inner Circle, his research lining up exactly with his natural proclivities.

Despite Kinsey's insistence on scientific objectivity and severe statistical methodology, I was left wondering if the "research" was not a tad slanted. But having been raised under the iron hand of the moralist mainstream Christian views on sex, then living the free love life in the 60s, and trying out the open marriage thing in the 70s to equivocal results, I am of the opinion that Alfred Kinsey did us all a favor. I think T C Boyle showed that it takes a slightly wacked guy to break through centuries of repression.

[May · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Boyle. I like his writing, but I hate the character of Prok. While I was reading it I would get so mad I would hurl the book away, then promptly pick it up because I wanted to know what happens next. In the book, Kinsey is a strong proponent of open sexuality and consensual sex, yet he manipulates people in to doing it. Iris believes he is blackmailing her into giving her 'history' and having sex with someone other than her husband to get her husband out of the army because he thinks it is for her own good. That is not free choice. Just because Kinsey believes that sex is 'an animal function divorced from emotion' doesn't mean he is allowed to force his opinion on other people or force people to stay married (for the sake of appearance) when they don't want to be. It also makes me mad that Milk is such a push over, and the one time he stands up for himself, he ends up apologising for it. This book made my blood boil. I still love Boyle, only he can make you hate a character so thoroughly yet respect his work.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sort of hate to give this only three stars, but the rating hinges to some extent on whether or not you've seen the movie Kinsey, which I have and which covers much of the same ground. I'm not opposed to Boyle's leanings toward the historical novel. They've produced great results, as with Riven Rock, but that was a book that transcended its subject, becoming just as much about a genre of literature (social realism) as about its more obvious topic. The Inner Circle doesn't so much do that--or, if it does, I missed it. Boyle seems to have been so caught up in the subject matter that he neglected to do more. It's almost as well-written page-to-page as most of his stuff, and it's an interesting portrait of personalities, but, again, the movie is shorter and covers the same ground about as well.

[Inga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als Alfred Kinseys Reports über Sexual Behaviour 1948 (Männer) und 1953 (Frauen) erschienen, war die Entrüstung groß. Niemand hatte zuvor Studien über das menschliche Sexualleben veröffentlicht und so schlugen die Publikationen des US-amerikanischen Biologen große Wellen. Für seine Ergebnisse hatte er erstmals konkrete Befragungen von Männnern und Frauen mit einem umfangreichen Fragenkatalog erhoben, der u.a. auch homosexuelle Erfahrungen einbezog – allein dies sorgte schon für große Entrüstung.
2004 veröffentlichte T.C. Boyle seine literarische Darstellung der Recherche-Phase Kinseys unter dem Titel Dr. Sex (Original: The Inner Circle). Erzählt wird aus der Perspektive eines fiktiven Mitarbeiters, John Milk, der zunächst noch als Student Interesse für Kinseys Forschungsgebiet enntwickelt. Er gehört dann später zum inneren Kreis derjenigen, die Daten erheben und auswerten. Pararallel dazu wird aber auch deutlich, dass Kinsey selbst durch seine hohen Ansprüche und seine ausgelebte eigene sexuelle Freiheit keine einfache Persönlichkeit war. Hier greift Boyle Gerüchte über homosexuelle Beziehungen oder auch Gruppensex mit den verheirateten Partner innerhalb der Kinsey-Gruppe auf, die offiziell nie bestätigt werden konnten. Die Ehefrau John Milks ist es schließlich, wegen der es in einer Szene des Romans schließlich zu einem Bruch mit diesen Praktiken kommt und Milk seine eigene Positiion überdenken muss. Zentrale Frage ist nicht die nach der Normalität oder Moral verschiedener sexueller Handlungen, sondern eher die nach einer Trennung von wissenschaftlicher Arbeit und emotionaler Involviertheit. Vermissen lässt Boyle in seinem Roman eventuell eine Beleuchtung der Arbeitsweise und auch der Ergebnisse Kinseys. Auch die Frage nach der Bedeutung seiner Arbeit wird nicht beantwortet. Zwar wird Kinseys plötzlicher Erfolg nach seinen Veröffentlichungen kurz dargestellt, aber die gesellschaftlichen, politischen (z.B. für Homosexuelle) und wirtschaftlichen (in Hinsicht auf weitere Forschung) Folgen bleiben unerwähnt. So bleibt Dr. Sex eher eine sehr persönliche Beleuchtung eines fiktiven Kinseys – da wäre vielleicht mehr möglich gewesen…
Die Lesung von Jan-Josef Liefers hat mir gut gefallen, er setzt die durch den Erzähler John Milk von sich selbst geforderte Ehrlichkeit auch stimmlich gut um.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

The work of Alfred Kinsey is explored through a fictitious narrator, John Milk, who is there for the first lecture Kinsey gives on sex and soon after becomes involved in the sex research that will form Kinsey's legacy and change the world. But life in the inner circle is far different from the life presented to the media...

T.C. Boyle's novel is an excellent look into one of the 20th century's most interesting and important thinkers/scientists, someone who brought sex from the shadows and shame and into popular culture. It's no coincidence that the two books "Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male/Female" came out just before the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Kinsey is a fascinating figure himself, a kind of forward thinker who believes all sex is natural whatever your inclination and practices what he preaches. Where the book becomes interesting is in the tangled web of interconnecting relationships between all of the characters who sexually share themselves and their partners among one another leading to devastated feelings and the limits of the sex research and Kinsey's philosophy of free love which fails to take into account real love, just physical sex.

The inner circle resembles a cult almost with Kinsey as the leader and his "followers" doing his bidding, worshipping his strong personality and mission of bringing sex out into the open. It's ironic because Kinsey is so anti-religion and yet he expects complete fealty to his cause and his beliefs without question from his followers. But his utter single mindedness in his pursuit would lead to an early grave and leave a kind of darkness and hollowness to the people in his life after all he put them through.

The novel is a fantastic read with Boyle taking you right there into the times, personifying Kinsey perfectly and giving the reader a clear and vivid picture of the times and the impact his work had on society at the time. The reader also comes away with an understanding of how Kinsey went about collecting the data via interviews and later filmed recordings.

Where the novel fails is in its length - I felt that at just over 400 pages it went on a bit too long. The focus on the imaginary narrator became a bit dull especially when the book's main subject is Kinsey and the story should have stayed on him more than meandering away. Also, this is a book where not much happens. That didn't bother me as I didn't expect much to happen (it's not that kind of story, more of a character portrait) though it could bother some people who might be looking for a novel with lots of twists and turns - this isn't that book.

Besides that, this is a brilliant novel of an important and interesting figure of 20th century history who is brought to life with the expert skill of master writer TC Boyle. Fans of Boyle will enjoy this book while those seeking an idea of who Kinsey was but don't wish to trudge through a dry non-fiction book will find "The Inner Circle" suits their needs. An excellent read, Boyle proves once again his exorbitant ability in the written form outshines many of his contemporaries - definitely worth a look.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of T.C. Boyle for a while – and I’m interested in the subject of psychology in general. So clearly, when I realized that “The inner circle” is something of a biography of Professor Alfred C. Kinsey, my interest was raised.

Professor Kinsey has been one of the first scientists to do intensive research in sex, human sexual activities and relations. While he was originally a zoologist, he believed that there was no logic in humans knowing more about the sex life of gall wasps than the sex life of their own species. His research was a scandal at the time (i.e. in the 1940s in US!) and would probably still be something of a scandal even these days. He provoked this scandal not only for the subject as such and the very personal and intimate way he did his research (he and his team interviewed ten thousands of people, from the sex shy student to the regular wife to the sex addict), but also for his lack of limits (e.g. he interviewed pedophiles granting them anonymity, he interviewed children, he secretly observed prostitutes and their clients, etc).

This book tries to give some sort of account of what happened through the eyes of John Milk, the first assistant in the project and thus the first person of the Inner Circle. In reality, that would have most probably been Clyde Martin.
As the story is narrated in the first person, the reader lives with John Milk through his personal problems, insecurities, the demands of Professor Kinsey but also the generosity he receives, his love life, his marriage and the difficulties to reconcile married life to his job in sex research. It is clear that while Milk was proud to be part of that team and to revolutionize the sexual believes and behavior of his generation and the ones to follow, it must have been a tough life, in the shadow of the dominant professor and some of his prominent colleagues, but in the limelight of criticism from the public and his family.

While I agree with some of the basic statements of Kinsey and his team (e.g. “There is no sexual act between consenting parties that is in any way qualitatively different from any other, no matter what the prevailing ethos of a given society may be.”), I think judging from this book, that I would not have been able to stand Professor Kinsey, his domination and his demands for more than a day; neither the submissive and quail behavior of John Milk…

Still, I loved this story, found it highly interesting, believe that it is well researched and told in the talented and entertaining style of T.C. Boyle. (less)

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a bore! Kinsey and sex, a bore? In spades! Boyle takes some facts of Kinsey’s research and life (how much is impossible to say just from reading this book) and heaps upon it mounds of blather about the growing sexual perversities of Kinsey’s research team (the inner circle) and their wives. Perhaps he intended some sort of metaphorical or allegorical story, but if so, it missed me. The only explicit sex occurs in the context of their field work, and it is clinically described, sometimes in detail; but at other times he seems to want to titillate us and has characters begin a sex scene, then turning it into a tease by suddenly breaking off into a different section or chapter. Apparently, Boyle didn’t know what to with all this sex he had chosen to write about nor how to construct a novel around it; it feels both prurient and prudish at the same time.

The boredom comes not so much from the mind-numbing work involved in the research (that he conveys fairly well) rather from the tiresome tedium of the main character’s life (perhaps 20-25% of the book). For example: the spats and quarrels between him and his wife, from her complaining about being lonely when he is away on research trips to her resistance against being drawn into the open sex life of the inner circle to which she succumbs without convincing motivation, even falling in love (!) with one of his co-workers; or their finding, buying, and refurbishing an old house: or (the worst) almost two full pages detailing his teaching her to drive an automobile (he fails, she gives up). I wish I had given up . . . on reading it instead of slogging through to the end, standing up to Boyle instead of letting him browbeat me the way the narrator lets Kinsey browbeat him.

[Nitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is essentially the story of Professor Kinsey, the famous sex researcher, as told by a young man, who in the late 1930's takes Professor Kinsey's class in college, gets interviewed by him for his now famous sex study, and ends up working alongside Kinsey in his research of human sexuality. The inner circle consists of Prok (Professor Kinsey), his wife, Mac, and the young men who join him in his research, as well as their wives.
I really want to know how much of this book is based on fact. Prok was way ahead of his time, with his beliefs that human sexuality is a natural instinct, and that nothing humans do together, consensually, is immoral or wrong.
Prok was highly sexed, and he practiced what he preached, sharing his wife with the men in his inner circle. He was obsessed with his work, and expected those who worked for him to be equally dedicated. I had never given much thought to Kinsey's work, before.I haven't seen the movie based on his life-yet. After reading this, I realized how backward and repressed our culture was, and of course, to some extent, still is. Kinsey looked at human sexuality like one would look at microbiology. That is to say,as a biological response to stimulation. He played an important part in taking sex out of the stiff Puritanical, for procreation, and better not enjoy it role, instead proclaiming to the masses that sex of all kinds is natural, healthy, and for our pleasure. What a concept!
The book is highly sexed, like Prok, and it raises the questions of non-monogamy, and stimulates the reader to examine her/his own beliefs about sexuality.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this novel about Kinsey and his hardworking team. It's written from the perspective of Kinsey's first worker bee, the young, innocent John Milk. Besides all the shocking doings of Kinsey's inner circle, the book includes John's love story, which makes it intimate and poignant, and ultimately unforgettable. I love T.C. Boyle's writing, and this one surely doesn't disappoint!

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Boyle's fictional narrator is a member of actual sex researcher and all around strange fellow Alfred Kinsey's team. The ick factor is strong.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always happy to turn to a new TC Boyle book when looking for my next read. He goes into the reading as one of my favorite authors, and he doesn’t disappoint. The Inner Circle is another in a collection of novels about real-life characters and how they might have interacted with their environment, socially and physically, when they were famous. Over the years I have become a big fan of the historical novel. Boyle always approaches his from a somewhat different angle from the typical historical novel making them even more interesting and satisfying.

The Inner Circle depicts the early experimentation done by Professor Timothy Leary and his colleagues into the mysteries of LSD. As I remember Leary and his cohorts quite clearly from my youth, this book provided all the background and color I had never even thought about. In fact, Leary is not even the main character of the book. The great “experiment” is seen through the eyes of a Harvard University Psychology Graduate student swept up, first with the academic excitement of new discoveries and thorough experimentation. As the book proceeds, the drug becomes more of the focus on a personal basis, ultimately informing the behavior of all the characters. It is the personal introspection and continual reassessment that I found most compelling in this book. All the while, Timothy Leary wends his way in and out of the lives of his devotees, as a beacon to his protégés directing much of their behavior and virtually all of their experimentation with LSD.

The book follows the real-life quest by Leary and his followers to find a welcoming environment in which to conduct mind-bending experiments and to live a lifestyle reflective of heavy drug use, pushing the psychedelic envelope and documenting the effects of LSD to the point that is was, during his lifetime, elevated from a barely known chemical to a controlled substance. This was probably not his intention.

The book is much more than a chronical of Leary’s band of followers and their perceptions while on LSD. The “novel” parts create suspense, intrigue, romance, and in many ways generally bad behavior. Boyle creates a wonderful story within the actual real facts. As always, his characters are beautifully and meticulously crafted so that the reader empathizes with so many of them. It is the story of people living life slightly askew (and often not so slightly). Hijinks, romance, hallucination, spirituality, hopes and dreams swirling away, are all themes Boyle touches. When you create characters your readers cares about, as an author, you’ve won half the battle of creating a superior book. Boyle is a master of this.

This was not Boyle’s best book. But it fits squarely in the mix of all his great stories, particularly those set in real-life history. Can’t wait for the next one.

[R. Bat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am Ende sind es eher knappe vier Sterne, denn ein ganz bisschen fehlt mir der Schwung aus manch anderem von Boyles Büchern. Dennoch gut zu lesen, eine ganz gerade Story um John, den (fiktiven) ersten Mitarbeiter von Alfred Kinsey. Der war als Sexualforscher in den 40ern und 50ern des letzten Jahrhunderts den Moralvorstellungen seiner Zeit weit voraus, und vielleicht auch vielen Vorstellungen von heutigen Zeitgenossen nicht nur in den USA. Und bei allem was wir über Kinsey erfahren, vom Beharrungsvermögen, vom Widerstand und von der Gegnerschaft der damaligen Gesellschaft und ihrer dominanten Institutionen (Kirche) erfahren wir fast nichts. Stattdessen lesen wir vom Zwiespalt des Helden zwischen theoretischer Toleranz und realen Eiversuchtsanwandlungen. Etwas erwartbar das Ganze mit mäßiger Geschwindigkeit und deshalb kein Meisterwerk, sondern eher gehobener Durchschnitt.

[Goan B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weer eens een echte pageturner, waarvoor dank. Het boek zelf vond ik in het begin interessant, maar in de tweede helft zakte mijn aandacht een beetje. De personages vond ik vlak, en soms vrij atypische beslissingen maken voor hun karakter, en na een tijdje wordt het wat te veel van hetzelfde. Ook het afwijken van de chronologie door de auteur vond ik soms storend, doordat het echt overbodig leek. Wel interessant om over Kinsey te lezen, en over hoe dat onderzoek toen ging.

[Allrosenthal · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Milk, a trusted researcher in Kinsey's inner circle, details his sexual awakening, and his struggle to balance his role as a husband and father alongside the prurient, and at times, amoral research environment.

[Chloe Rowen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic until each chapter is a slight variation of the last… a pain to finish

[Lilli · Rating 3 out of 5]

bücherschrankfund, bissi langatmig, idee der anfänge der seggsforschung zu beschreiben ganz cool, aber nicht wahnsinnig spannend, guter schreibstil

[Grace Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much potential but this was the most written-by-a- man book I’ve ever read. Interesting historically but it got so annoying.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing for sure, T. C. Boyle is usually up to something. You can't take his stories at face value. Nor do they turn out to be what you expect. Sometimes his narrator just isn't to be trusted, and you have to read between the lines.

All of this is true of this novel about the famous author of the Kinsey Reports. If you're expecting something steamy with a behind-the-scenes look at the man and the men who were part of his research team, you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting an insightful study of Kinsey himself, something deeper and more substantial than the recent movie, you'll be only partly satisfied. The reason is that Boyle chooses to tell the story through the point of view of an assistant of Kinsey's, who worships the man, even when his behavior is questionable.

Boyle's Kinsey is not sympathetic or heroic, but Milk, the narrator, tries to withhold information about him that would portray him in a bad light, rationalizes what he reveals, and seems in denial about the rest. As a result, the book becomes more a study of Milk, a weak man who allows himself to be used and manipulated by Kinsey, while at the same time he is dominated by his young but not unlikable young wife. When he insists in the final pages that love at times must take precedence over animal desire, he arrives at an understanding that any sensible reader would have held from page one of the novel.

So the book is an odd and quirky journey, that leaves you with a somewhat jaundiced view of all its characters, especially the great man himself, and you marvel that his work, which contributed to a much needed sexual liberation, could be based on such ethically compromised underpinnings.