The Leaves on Grey: A Novel

by Desmond Hogan

It is the late 1940s, and Sean and Liam, middle-class boys in a small West of Ireland town, share a powerful bond of love and rivalry: each long for the same women. At university together in Dublin, Sean and Liam’s burgeoning sexuality leads them to a deeper, almost mystical level of involvement. They befriend Christine, rich, vulnerable and desperate for affection, and Sarah, glamorous, spoiled, intoxicating; her body is a seductive bridge between the pair, which they ultimately cross with painful and profound consequences. The Leaves on Grey is the story of Ireland, ‘maker of wounds, tormentor of youth, ultimately breaker of all that was sensitive and enriched by sun, rain, wind’. Sean and Liam, and the men and women who become part of their lives, are both the creators and victims of their birthright. This sensitive, passionate story is Desmond Hogan’s second novel, originally published in 1980. It is reissued here with a new afterword by the author

Genres: Fiction, Literature

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

For its simple purity, delicacy, and beauty; and its simmering emotion.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1987 notebook: liked the first bit, a writer concerned with detail, colours, description, feelings..
like it, a bit overloaded in places, but fresh and charming, resonant.

[Eoin Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hogan's writing sings and soars like a bird in full flight. If he was a painter i could imagine his canvases filled with rapid deft strokes of vivid colour in multiple overlapping layers. His prose 'moodscapes' leave an incredibly long lasting, sensuous and at times bittersweet and haunting impression. This is his second novel and the writing more than fulfills the brilliant promise left by his striking and impressionistic debut - The Ikon Maker. The characters in The Leaves on Grey are just that little bit more clearly and fully observed and rounded than in the previous book but there is a tragic air of sadness and rain soaked poignancy in their lives that overtakes some of them as the years whirl by that stays in your mind very much in the manner of 'the morning after' the great promise of the night before. The bright intense days don't last very long for some of the beautiful young people here and some of their glittering lights burn and splutter out far too early, too soon and in capturing that, Hogan shows his brilliance at destroying the very portraits he has been building up and painting so beautifully for you. I found myself rereading many passages and pages as I went along - so good were they. An intense, colourful and soulful novella which deserves to be read many times for its glorious use of visual, sharp eyed language.

[Tama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shit. This is a weird coincidence. I think this was likely written just before AIDs hysteria, but I have just finished watching ‘It’s A Sin’ this morning which spans a decade from when this book was published. I’m not sure what this book is about. This book first published 1980, and about London, written by a gay man. Close shave?

Elizabeth Kenneally looks similar and has a mad similar vibe to ‘Ikon Maker’s Sarah or Susan?

It got very sad for a few paragraphs and all was back to normal, but then it wasn’t. As this guy’s name may be revealed nonchalant as Sean and he becomes a lawyer with kids we now know. This page started with absolute damning depression for lost youth(s). Then showed how wonderful a journey it is to be reading this book. Ending in a one line, “The first time I realised they were speaking together was at Easter.” And when Liam jumps into that pool I’m certain this is Dark Academia. How long this academia aesthetic and vibe will last in this book, I’m not sure.

It’s less satisfying now that Sean is suddenly a part of the action. I assumed Sean would be the one to find himself alone. A spectator. An observer. A scribe. This would put them more in line with ‘Secret History’s protagonist.

In a perfect version these five are together for the whole book. This was not to be the case. Even Liam seen through the door, naked, in the sunlight, lying, ckhkdvehappebed with James as their friend.

And this third wheeling thing would rightfully follow the fifth wheeling. Separations would happen when people went overseas, and/or found spouses.

I guess it’s only partly Dark Academia—this period of the book is the time where not much action seems to be happening but you want to hear about it all.

When Liam has dialogue I don’t take it seriously. I take it as a pretentious attempt at something pretty, that doesn’t really match the truth of the situation.

I realised how similar this is to ‘On the Road’ at least half way in, lol. He wasn’t really in love with Mrs. Keneally solely because of her, but because she is strongly connected to his lifelong love, Liam. Bringing in a relationship not dissimilar to one between Diarmaid and his lover, though less sexual, and only subtextually homoerotic.

[Pádraig Mac Oscair · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's an intensity to the best of Desmond Hogan's prose that blows through any considerations as to plot or character (or indeed, syntax) to lacerate entire sentences into the mind and make criticism or a measured review redundant in the face of books like this or The Ikon Maker that can be read in two hours but stay in the mind for years after.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un cadeau de ma tantine: une magnifique ode à l'amitié, dans l'Irlande des années 50 à 80. Passionnant et mélancolique.

[Dave Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://electrichalibut.blogspot.com/2...

[David Vanness · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of nine while doing PT recovery. [large print--my favorite!]