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The Conclave
The Conclave charts the first 30 years in the life of a suburban dilettante with aesthetic aspirations, who, in the 1980s, begins a lucrative career. The story roams from the edge of London to a well-heeled part of Bristol, and in doing so reveals a disturbing tale of loneliness and lost love.
- GenresFiction
336 pages, Paperback
Published May 15, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 5, 2009
Remarkable novel by a British social/art critic. Michael Bracewell who wrote a fantastic pre-history of the band Roxy Music, and I came upon his novel by accident. Just recently re-released by the very interesting Capuchin Classics publishing house.
"The Conclave" sort of reminds me of Patrick Hamilton in that he really gets into the heads of his main characters - which tells the bigger story of being on the move and on the up in 1980's England. In many ways this could be a 'Situationist' novel in that it shows the conflicts of chasing a certain status or style for the sake of appearance. Or the 'dream life' that is there but really doesn't exist. At times I felt I was reading a British 19th Century novel that takes place in the go-go 80's.
Totally readable (page turner) yet a very complexed and layered novel. In a manner it is sort of a cousin to Brett Easton Ellis' "American Psycho" but without the violent imagery - and the obvious satire. "The Conclave" is funny, but in a very bitter way. And also it has ties to our current financial world. A must-read in my opinion.
"The Conclave" sort of reminds me of Patrick Hamilton in that he really gets into the heads of his main characters - which tells the bigger story of being on the move and on the up in 1980's England. In many ways this could be a 'Situationist' novel in that it shows the conflicts of chasing a certain status or style for the sake of appearance. Or the 'dream life' that is there but really doesn't exist. At times I felt I was reading a British 19th Century novel that takes place in the go-go 80's.
Totally readable (page turner) yet a very complexed and layered novel. In a manner it is sort of a cousin to Brett Easton Ellis' "American Psycho" but without the violent imagery - and the obvious satire. "The Conclave" is funny, but in a very bitter way. And also it has ties to our current financial world. A must-read in my opinion.
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January 23, 2026Turned out to be great novel to read soon after The System of Objects. The couple, Martin and Marilyn, centre their lives around consumption, with the object coming to define everything they do. They are obsessed with appearances, mistake luxury for beauty and treat each other and themselves like the commodities they pursue. Like Ballard's Crash, there is an emotional emptiness and the couple need products to temper all aspects of their relationship, but this ultimately leads to boredom.
Bracewell's tight measured prose portryas a certain ambiguity involved 1980s hedonism, something other novels on the era (Money, American Psycho) failed to do. While John Self and Patrick Bateman are grotesque satires, Martin Knight is more balanced and life- like. He is an excessive consumer, but considers himself different to his peers, given to creative meditations and a desire for beauty. However, this aspect of his character never gives birth to any real art; it simply manifests itself in his shopping habits. He sees himself as eccentric but externally he only follows the lifestyle the age presented to him and many others. This involved easy credit, career advancement, choice of products, a steady and rather lifeless relationship. In this way Bracewell depicted how all encompassing the system of objects was at the time for certain people. Even if they saw themselves as something else, it would come to define their habits and desires, leaving no room for other options.
What also struck me was how fast the characters grew up. Thanks to the historical circumstances they lived in (access to credit and rapid salary progression), the couple could buy a flat in their mid- twenties. This is turn facilitated a lifestyle of dinner parties, interior design, having kids out of boredom. "Marilyn was now twenty- five years old. In many ways she felt older than her years," and "She found herself thinking- more and more of late- about the years that stretched out before her and what would fill them." Their rush to affluence was a kind of trap, leading to a bleak stagnation. The search for novelty in products can only last so long. I found myself thinking that while the economics of today mean that many in my generation feel like they are living an extended adolescence (lack of opportunity for home ownership), this may not be such a bad thing, opening up the chance for a more revolutionary approach to the living of a life. We are not bound to pursue the same commodity obsessions, and perhaps this should make us consider a life spent a bit differently (more room for creative expression, consideration of real relationships rather than financial partnerships). Or perhaps this is my utopian side getting the better of me, and we just live in an age with the same governing ideals of consumption and property ownership that happen to be less affordable now. Maybe this means things are worse now than they've ever been.
Bracewell's tight measured prose portryas a certain ambiguity involved 1980s hedonism, something other novels on the era (Money, American Psycho) failed to do. While John Self and Patrick Bateman are grotesque satires, Martin Knight is more balanced and life- like. He is an excessive consumer, but considers himself different to his peers, given to creative meditations and a desire for beauty. However, this aspect of his character never gives birth to any real art; it simply manifests itself in his shopping habits. He sees himself as eccentric but externally he only follows the lifestyle the age presented to him and many others. This involved easy credit, career advancement, choice of products, a steady and rather lifeless relationship. In this way Bracewell depicted how all encompassing the system of objects was at the time for certain people. Even if they saw themselves as something else, it would come to define their habits and desires, leaving no room for other options.
What also struck me was how fast the characters grew up. Thanks to the historical circumstances they lived in (access to credit and rapid salary progression), the couple could buy a flat in their mid- twenties. This is turn facilitated a lifestyle of dinner parties, interior design, having kids out of boredom. "Marilyn was now twenty- five years old. In many ways she felt older than her years," and "She found herself thinking- more and more of late- about the years that stretched out before her and what would fill them." Their rush to affluence was a kind of trap, leading to a bleak stagnation. The search for novelty in products can only last so long. I found myself thinking that while the economics of today mean that many in my generation feel like they are living an extended adolescence (lack of opportunity for home ownership), this may not be such a bad thing, opening up the chance for a more revolutionary approach to the living of a life. We are not bound to pursue the same commodity obsessions, and perhaps this should make us consider a life spent a bit differently (more room for creative expression, consideration of real relationships rather than financial partnerships). Or perhaps this is my utopian side getting the better of me, and we just live in an age with the same governing ideals of consumption and property ownership that happen to be less affordable now. Maybe this means things are worse now than they've ever been.
February 10, 2014
If Patrick Bateman from American Psycho lived in England and never thought of killing anyone he would be Martin Knight, the main character of this book. Written around the same time as American Psycho, The Conclave is one of those books that perfectly paints a picture of a certain place and time.
We follow Martin Knight from his middle class childhood to his pretentious prep school days to his money obsessed adulthood. Obsessed with the idea of beauty, Martin meets his match in Marilyn Fuller, a young woman with little ambition other than to be stylish. They are drawn together by their mutual love of shopping, and together they live through the decade of overindulgence, spending money like water and worrying about nothing other than finding the perfect soap dish to match the faucets.
At first I really enjoyed this book. Martin Knight is an everyman, a product of his generation. Although we see things to criticize in him, we can also see aspects of ourselves. Bracewell's descriptions are elegant and poetic, and it almost didn't matter that nothing really happened. But then... it started to matter. About halfway through the book I started to grow bored and become somewhat infuriated by Martin's lack of common sense. His inner monologues became repetitive and I lost some of my enthusiasm for the book. I still found the book interesting, but I can see why American Psycho is a much more popular book.
We follow Martin Knight from his middle class childhood to his pretentious prep school days to his money obsessed adulthood. Obsessed with the idea of beauty, Martin meets his match in Marilyn Fuller, a young woman with little ambition other than to be stylish. They are drawn together by their mutual love of shopping, and together they live through the decade of overindulgence, spending money like water and worrying about nothing other than finding the perfect soap dish to match the faucets.
At first I really enjoyed this book. Martin Knight is an everyman, a product of his generation. Although we see things to criticize in him, we can also see aspects of ourselves. Bracewell's descriptions are elegant and poetic, and it almost didn't matter that nothing really happened. But then... it started to matter. About halfway through the book I started to grow bored and become somewhat infuriated by Martin's lack of common sense. His inner monologues became repetitive and I lost some of my enthusiasm for the book. I still found the book interesting, but I can see why American Psycho is a much more popular book.
November 6, 2024
Michael Bracewell is a master stylist whose prose is so effortlessly charming, so balanced and finely-weighted, it's almost a different medium altogether. There's a razor-keen aesthetic sense, reminiscent perhaps of Denton Welch, but Bracewell's prose manages to be aware of its own (in a good way) preciousness and subtly to comment on it, without ever being po-faced. It's an extraordinarily versatile prose style which could tell any number of stories; but in "The Conclave" it has probably the ideal subject.
This is an essential novel of 1980's Britain which analyses consumerism as a quest for meaning/truth through beauty. It is a novel about money, but money is always a means, not the end in itself that so many 80's narratives make it. The members of "The Conclave" aren't braying loadsamoney types - those barely feature on the very periphery of the narrative - but ordinary imperfect individuals responding to a societal sea-change they are hardly aware of. Their addiction to credit and nice things isn't politicised; Thatcher is referred to only once or twice, obliquely. And by showing us how things were so quietly and immersively, Bracewell gives a better account of why things were than any number of Amises; in fact he does for this small segment of society what Waugh did for the bright young things of the 1930's.
There is simply no reason not to read this book. My only minor quibble is with the conclusion, which feels rushed - as though history caught up with the author before he was finished. But this must have been how it felt for the characters, too, when the clock ticked over into 1990.
This is an essential novel of 1980's Britain which analyses consumerism as a quest for meaning/truth through beauty. It is a novel about money, but money is always a means, not the end in itself that so many 80's narratives make it. The members of "The Conclave" aren't braying loadsamoney types - those barely feature on the very periphery of the narrative - but ordinary imperfect individuals responding to a societal sea-change they are hardly aware of. Their addiction to credit and nice things isn't politicised; Thatcher is referred to only once or twice, obliquely. And by showing us how things were so quietly and immersively, Bracewell gives a better account of why things were than any number of Amises; in fact he does for this small segment of society what Waugh did for the bright young things of the 1930's.
There is simply no reason not to read this book. My only minor quibble is with the conclusion, which feels rushed - as though history caught up with the author before he was finished. But this must have been how it felt for the characters, too, when the clock ticked over into 1990.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews