The Spell in Queereaders

Jan 06, 2023 Ilya added it

When I first read The Spell, perhaps 15 years ago, the book seemed deliberately over-sexed. Horniness for its own sake, absurd and enjoyable. I remembered the place-name Crewkerne and a lot of architecture-talk, and that there was a betrayal. Country-mouse, city-mouse stuff.

Now I live in the country myself, like Robin, and like Robin I am in my 40's. And The Spell reads as a shockingly perceptive and truthful story about what we gay guys are like. How our self-expression fuses genuine-ness and f ...more

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Jun 13, 2008 Stewart rated it liked it

Shelves: own

Hollinghurst is a fantastic author who can't write a bad book -- but it sure seems like he tried to with The Spell. The novel focuses on the interconnected loves and lusts of four gay men who travel in various social circles within London and in the surrounding countryside. It had all of the trappings of a guilty-pleasure inducing romance novel, but Hollinghurst -- ever literary -- takes his shallow, self-absorbed characters way too seriously. They obsess over their romances but are rarely roman ...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Gerard Galpin rated it liked it

I loved In the Line of Beauty. But I suspect that this may be the last book I read from Alan Hollinghurst.
The writing style is beginning to wear thin. Dont get me wrong, I love a destructive depressing book. IM just not a fan of reading them over and over by the same author.
Same thing happened wioth Edmund Hite. Gave up on him ages ago.

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Aug 22, 2008 Zweegas marked it as abandoned

Sometimes there are books that are a battle. I question why I am subjecting myself to them. What am I possibly gaining from reading them? Sometimes I make it through and sometimes I'm happy that I did. Sometimes, I just can't be bothered. For me, The Spell is a "can't be bothered" book that I never finished.

It was making me too depressed and nurturing internalized homophobia.

(My reading group's January 2008 book selection)
...more

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