Book, that is. And entirely different from the Dresden Files.
I am 20% through it . . . and still waiting for the plot to arrive. I can't even hear its hoofbeats in the distance. So far, there's only been sex. Page after page after page of sex, with nary a breather. I'm also waiting for the male characters to distinguish themselves from one another. Even their shout-outs (or growl-outs) during the boinking scenes are identical. As for the setting, I know where all this lusty interaction is taking place but only because I've been told. I've not been given any enlivening details. One thing is for sure, though: it's a very gay place. One wouldn't think such a place would be so rife with queerness, but it is. (No, this isn't a James Lear book. I like his books. They're funny, and they have plots.)
Since I'm tired of being a crabby-ass about my reading material, I'm going to keep plugging away at this one. I'll just have to start skipping the sex scenes, because they're making my eyes glaze over. The reason I'm intent on being persistent is that I know for a fact there's a Dramatic Payoff somewhere down the line. This book's been around for a while, so scads of discussions have cropped up about it and they've been loaded with spoilers. Right now I'm just hoping the Dramatic Payoff has the proper buildup, because it won't seem so dramatic if I'm not convinced, within the context of some plot and character development, that the protagonists are in love. Constant anal and penile stretching do not a romantic relationship make.
I'll keep you posted.
P.S. Have any of you read The Line of Beauty? How was it?
12 comments:
Ok, now I'm curious! Is it a Sean Michael book because they are all mostly sex with very little plot?
I've not read any Alan Hollinghurst, so I can't comment on The Line of Beauty.
Hope the book gets better :).
Ditto what Jen said. I often have to skim SM books. *shrug* and yet I keep buying them.
You are a tease not to tell us. *pout*
Nope, not a SM story. I've never tried one, primarily because I'm more interested in plot and character than slot and tab.
I honestly don't mean to be coy, but I'd rather not name a book or author in this genre unless my reading experience is positive. I'm just so freaking frustrated! I hadn't expected this book to be so utterly shallow and so damned repetitive for so many pages.
We're going to make you e-mail us you know? :-P
You're evil. (BTW, I saw your rating for this book on GRs. You weren't exactly blown away by it either. Heh.)
I'm just so freaking frustrated! I hadn't expected this book to be so utterly shallow and so damned repetitive
Jeez, I hope it's not one of mine! Ha, ha! No, really, I'm pretty sure it isn't because I don't have THAT much in the way of sex scenes. :)
I have read The Line of Beauty, and it wasnt' exactly a fun read. You get a lot of Britain in the 1980s, which is good, but the author maintains an overly-literary distance from the characters. Or maybe that's just me, having got too used to the emotional closeness of romance.
Part 1 centers on a somewhat shallow viewpoint character mooching off a rich family (and not exactly in a fun way either), and Part 2 centered on various characters struggling with AIDs, and so it got dark and bleak.
Still, though, I guess it broke tradition when something like this with one or two explicit gay sex scenes won the Booker Prize. I hear the judges were fighting over it up into the eleventh hour!
Val, I can tell just from your blurbs and excerpts that your plots are imaginative and your settings are richly detailed. I don't think you're capable of writing something this one-dimensional. Granted, I've yet to get deep into the book, but any story that starts out with sex to the exclusion of other elements integral to good fiction is NOT an impressive piece of work.
Thanks so much for your insights on The Line of Beauty. I just might take a chance on it.
Val, I can tell just from your blurbs and excerpts that your plots are imaginative and your settings are richly detailed.
Wow! I wasn't fishing for compliments, I promise, but thank you! Definitely let us know what you think of The Line of Beauty.
Sigh. How many stars did I give it? LOL E-mail me.
"Overly literary distance from the characters" - I love that phrase, Val. So apt!
Did you read it, Chris?
I did not - but that phrase describes how I feel after reading "literary" books.
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