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Among the Toffs
26 Jul 2015 11:51 pmDec 2014
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst - Picador, 2005 (Kindle edition)
* * * *
For the English, the Conservative Party is the political equivalent of comfort food. We know it's bad for the country in the long run, but it is a known quantity and it offers tasty things like tax cuts. So as we enter another period of Tory hegemony, it seems an appropriate time to review a book set during the last one, if only to remember what we have let ourselves in for.
The title has several meanings. It is Hogarth's description of the ogee, the double curve arch introduced from the Arab world. For the gay protagonist, Nick Guest, it represents the shape of a man's back and buttocks. And it refers to the cocaine frequently snorted by some of the main characters, much to their detriment, and somewhat to the book's.
( Read more... )
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst - Picador, 2005 (Kindle edition)
* * * *
For the English, the Conservative Party is the political equivalent of comfort food. We know it's bad for the country in the long run, but it is a known quantity and it offers tasty things like tax cuts. So as we enter another period of Tory hegemony, it seems an appropriate time to review a book set during the last one, if only to remember what we have let ourselves in for.
The title has several meanings. It is Hogarth's description of the ogee, the double curve arch introduced from the Arab world. For the gay protagonist, Nick Guest, it represents the shape of a man's back and buttocks. And it refers to the cocaine frequently snorted by some of the main characters, much to their detriment, and somewhat to the book's.
( Read more... )
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