Status Updates From Υπόθεση Σπάρσολτ

'The people in her father's pictures often looked a little bit uncomfortable, as if something was being revealed about them that they'd rather have kept to themselves.'

The novel opens in Oxford in 1940. The blackouts, the sense of young men living with awareness that their world is about to change. Time is limited and uncertain. The wartime Oxford atmosphere is rendered with Hollinghurst’s unique aesthetic taste and precision. Beauty feels especially sharp in a contrast to the darkness gathering around.

'his thin smile made it clear that his listening to you did not in any way imply that he agreed with you. It was the smile of someone proud of his own judgement'

'Ivan beamed, "Yes, of course!", a silver promise that tarnished in seconds in the air.'

'There was something unsettled about him, his pale, dark-eyed face under its tumbling forelock gave hints of feelings that he rarely expressed.' 11

Such gorgeous writing but I have a minor dread of the four post-graduate sections ahead... English leisure is just so boring to me

After a 2.5 month break from reading I am trying to get back into it… hoping something dense and British and gay can break through…