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Jan 29, 2012

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

Dr Kinsey, or Prok as he was known to his overly familiar and very hands-on inner circle was the man who lifted the covers on sex and took a good long hard look, often with the occasional poke or touch also involved. Revered and reviled by post-war American society as both a genius and a deviant he revolutionised the way people think and talk about doing “it”. This was especially significant at a time when most people wouldn’t admit to doing it, never mind thinking about it or talking about it. More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2008

Nitya rated it:

This is essentially the story of Professor Kinsey, the famous sex researcher, as told by a young man, who in the late 1930's takes Professor Kinsey's class in college, gets interviewed by him for his now famous sex study, and ends up working alongside Kinsey in his research of human sexuality. The inner circle consists of Prok (Professor Kinsey), his wife, Mac, and the young men who join him in his research, as well as their wives.
I really want to know how much of this book is based on More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

Jmoscari rated it:

This book made me think about my sexual side in ways I never dreamed of. Boyle understands his protagonist like a true master - when John Milk is anxious about a sexual situation, I am equally nervous. What I found exceptionally impressive about this book is how well Boyle writes the erotic. Despite the blatant opportunity for the events of the story to become gratuitous, the novel is not pornographic in any way. Everything involving sexual subjects - which is pretty much the whole novel - i More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

May 24, 2008

Hillary rated it:

I sort of hate to give this only three stars, but the rating hinges to some extent on whether or not you've seen the movie Kinsey, which I have and which covers much of the same ground. I'm not opposed to Boyle's leanings toward the historical novel. They've produced great results, as with Riven Rock, but that was a book that transcended its subject, becoming just as much about a genre of literature (social realism) as about its more obvious topic. The Inner Circle doesn't so much do that--or, i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2008

Anna rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Punk rated it:

Fiction. The memoirs of John Milk, assistant and friend to Dr. Alfred Kinsey as he develops the Institute for Sex Research. This is a fairly dry book, which is amazing considering the sheer amount of sex going on, but that's mostly the fault of Milk, our hedging, awkward narrator. Milk is just no fun, though he's got some crazy hero worship for Kinsey. Kinsey is a god to Milk, and to his other assistants, and it's creepy and fascinating and really makes me want to learn more about Kinsey and see More...

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Mar 03, 2009

Justin rated it:

My experiences with T.C. Boyle thus far (which include his book of short stories, The Descent of Man, his newest novel The Women, and this one) lead me to believe he is not a brilliant stylist or mind-blowing master of prose, but that he does his research, works hard, and spins a good solid yarn.

The Inner Circle is about Alfred Kinsey and his disciples. Thanks to the movie Kinsey that came out the same year this book did, 2004 (which seems like too much of a coincidence to not have More...

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Jan 08, 2012

Kirstie rated it:

Though this is technically a work of fiction, Boyle did some research into Kinsey via biographies to lay down a great deal of the groundwork. I've read other works about Kinsey and seen the film around him, of course. This goes into greater detail. I'm not sure it's really life changing but if you're interested in the person behind all of the stir that was created, this is worth picking up. I think what I was fascinated by the most is the characterization of Kinsey as someone who was so mall More...

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Nov 25, 2011

Tom rated it:

Interesting story about a subject most wouldn't necessarily want to divulge at your typical book club yet we all can relate to at some level. Can you imagine working with someone who slept with your wife and were so numb to emotion that you could just mechanically sleep with his spouse? Talk about awkward. It's the Human Animal vs Love and in this story ... prevails. if you can get through the 418 pages to find out.
Reading this book will definitely get you thinking about your own faith, or y More...

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Feb 03, 2011

Colin rated it:

I found myself gliding through the pages, to Boyle's credit - and I am not a fast reader. He has a narrative gift that drew me along despite strongly disliking the two central characters, which almost made me give it a three star. I don't know anything about the real characters so I'll assume he was was stuck with these flawed people. The narrator, John, is such a doormat that even as I think of him stumbling through every - I mean, every - piece of dialogue, it make me want to change the rating More...

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Apr 25, 2010

Kathy rated it:

I started this book - and read about half of it - two years ago. I was enjoying the read, but all of the sex finally got to be too much for me. It got to the point where I loathed the main character, John Milk, b/c he was such a lackey for Prok. So, out of a type of disgust, I put the book down. I knew I'd return to it one day, however, because the writing is so very good and I was curious about how Boyle ended the story.
So ... a week ago, when I was trolling my shelves for a good read, I More...

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Oct 22, 2011

Ken rated it:

THE INNER CIRCLE is a novel about Alfred Charles Kinsey, zoologist at Indiana University, and the founder of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction (Kinsey Institute). The story is told in the first person by John Milk, a fictional character who becomes Kinsey's first researcher, and Milk relates how Kinsey's obsession with the investigation of human sexuality impacted his professional career and his marriage to Iris. The novel begins the day of Kinsey's funeral (he di More...

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Jan 10, 2011

Linda rated it:

This is a fictionalized account of the work of Alfred Kinsey's study on human sexuality. Kinsey's work THE KINSEY REPORT, was of course about how people had sex and who has sex and did have sex and so on, in the 1950's. It was kind of hard to read in the way THE POSITION was hard to read. THE POSITION was about the folks who dreamed up the book HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE. This one, another T.C. Boyle is a good book. Through Boyle's eyes we might see some of the sex analysts as maniulative and tw More...

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Nov 17, 2010

Joan rated it:

This Boyle's fictionalized version of the work of Alfred C. Kinsey (Prok) I found it interesting and informative for about the first half. iIt then began to drag and I had a hard time finishing it. told through the eyes of John Milk who became Proks first helper. It was no doubt a good representation of the life and times of Kinsey, but for me, sex became boring as did drinking and smoking. Kinsey and those he chose for his "inter Circle" were all about the project of interviewing More...

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Aug 18, 2010

May rated it:

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1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 14, 2010

A rated it:

I'm a fan of Boyle, but I'm not much a fan of fictional representations or speculations of historical figures. I took a stab at this specifically because it's Boyle and focused on human sexuality (not to mention the fact that I was simultaneously planning a class discussion based on readings around youth sexual identify) and was a bit disappointed.

Boyle's prose, as always, is beautiful and pregnant with an ability to capture the simple melancholy of life and various settings, but More...

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Oct 15, 2009

Tom rated it:

A love story, The Inner Circle is narrated by John Milk, a virginal young man who in 1940 accepts a job as an assistant to Dr. Alfred Kinsey, an extraordinarily charming professor of zoology at Indiana University who has just discovered his life's true calling: sex. As a member of Kinsey's “inner circle” of researchers, Milk (and his beautiful new wife) is called on to participate in sexual experiments that become increasingly uninhibited—and problematic for his marriage. For in his later years More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Frederick rated it:

John Milk, the narrator of this book, is a member of Alfred Kinsey's inner circle, a group of select employees who help him with his sex research. The book is set in the time period from 1939 to 1953 or so, during which time Kinsey did most of his most noted research and published his two most important works, 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male' and 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Female' . Milk does a lot of the interviewing that is such a big part of the work. He also draws up a lot of the graph More...

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Dec 06, 2011

Christopher rated it:

A good book on the dilemma a fictional sex researcher faces while working for the famed Dr. Alfred Kinsey. Boyle has such a way with words that makes it hard to resist reading these books. His depiction of the main character, John MIlk, who also narrates the entire story, is good representation of what any average person may have felt if they had worked under the same conditions as he did. For me, it is hard not to identify with Milk. The other good thing that Boyle does is he avoids turning thi More...

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Aug 26, 2011

Barbara rated it:

John Milk is a senior at Indiana University when he enrolls in Dr. Alfred Kinsey's marriage course. The frank, sexual material of the class has a profound effect on the virginal Milk; fascinated and drawn by the charismatic Kinsey, John takes a position as "Prok"'s assistant, sparking a reverent, at times obsessive, relationship that spans seventeen years.

Kinsey's quest to obtain 100,000 sexual histories takes him to all reaches of the continental United States, where John, More...

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Mar 06, 2011

Melissa rated it:

I flew through this book in just over 24 hours! The story is an account of the inner circle of Dr. Kinsey and his research on human sexuality in the 1940's and 1950's. The main character, John Milk, is a fictional research assistant of Dr. Kinsey. T.C. Boyle delved into some interesting material-how some people are able to separate love and sex and some people are just not wired that way, the difficulties that are inevitable when living a life that is outside the parameter of the mainstream, the More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Judy rated it:

This is one sexy novel!! Be advised that you may feel aroused while reading it and chronically horny in between the hours spent reading. It is a fictional account of the years leading up to and immediately following the publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Dr Alfred Kinsey in 1948.

I don't think many people heard the term "open marriage" until the 1970s. In fact, American views on sexuality remained conservative, Puritan and repressive until the "sexua More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 11, 2008

Coffeeboss rated it:

Do you ever get halfway through a book and feel like you've read it before? Even upon finishing The Inner Circle, I can't tell if I'm confusing the book with the movie Kinsey (which follows it so closely), or that I actually HAVE read it. Needless to say, it is good enough to finish the second time, though not a completely compelling book, despite the backdrop of Professor Kinsey and his "inner circle" conducting thousands of sex histories and compiling the famous reports. The narrator More...

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Aug 11, 2009

Brian rated it:

I didn't really know much about Kinsey before reading this book, and certainly Boyle has sparked my curiosity about the man and his research. But while it is not a challenge to interest the reader in the pioneer of sex research, what Boyle accomplishes with this story goes well beyond this. In the context of sex research, and Kinsey's strict objectivity to sex, the author places emotions. And so Inner Circle is a love story, about John Milk, devoted both to Kinsey and his work, and equally, l More...

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Oct 02, 2009

Melissa rated it:

My first encounter with the notable Dr. Kinsey. Had I known more about his work and the surrounding controversy, I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much. (I kept turning the pages as much to find out what happened as out of enjoyment.) This is definitely a plot-centered novel, and while TC Boyle can't be faulted for a lack of flowing prose, you rarely stop to wonder at his turn of phrase. Written from the point of view of a fictional assistant, the novel centers on the larger-tha More...

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Jun 15, 2009

Linda rated it:

This is the third book I've read by T.C. Boyle. I'm discovering that he takes groups of people and delves deeply into their characters and motivation. He doesn't pass judgment; just puts it out there for the reader to draw her own conclusions.

This one is about the inner circle of sex researchers under Alfred Kinsey's guidance. And guide he does. The movie was very much like the book. I was really tired of reading about sex by the time I finished the book. I think the characte More...

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Jul 22, 2010

John rated it:

John Milk gets a job assisting Alfred Kinsey in the collection of data for his books on human sexuality. The picture of Kinsey presented in this volume rings true to other descriptions I've read. He was fiercely committed to his research and, which in his mind outranked everything else in importance, and he expected those who worked with him to adopt similar attitudes. His studies were carried out at a time when Americans still subscribed to Victorian notions about sex. Kinsey's open-minded atti More...

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Jun 01, 2010

Nancy (NE) rated it:

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is a fascinating story. I am more troubled by fictional accounts and interpretations of a real person's life than the actual content. It bothers me to have such personal material written about a real person and then wonder as to its authenticity, if any. If indeed this was close to Kinsey's life, then it isn't any wonder there was such controversy over his work. His research did much for our understanding of human sexuality. The level of objectivity More...

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Dec 24, 2008

Tracey rated it:

There is good reason to believe that this work of historical fiction was quite true to the real inner circle surrounding Dr. Alfred Kinsey. Through, John Milk's memoir, we learn about the beginnings of Kinsey's famous sex study projects as well as about the researchers and their families who are both professionally and personally invested.

What I enjoyed the most about the book was trying to understand Kinsey the human being. He was a scientist, a scholar, a husband, a father. Dr. Ki More...

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May 11, 2009

Emily rated it:

I had major issues with this novel. Like, if you're going to write about a real person, then maybe you should make sure that what you write is historically accurate. And if you want to develop a character loosely based on a real person, then change the person's name. Maybe Kinsey was a weird guy, and maybe he did some things that were not admirable. I don't know. I never knew the guy. But if you're going to paint him as an out and out monster while also completely fictionalizing the lives of eve More...

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