The Swimming-Pool Library in Queereaders

Aug 01, 2011 Jamie rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbt, read-in-2012

UPDATE: 2014 re-read

Still not sold on this. Perhaps had I read it before reading his other work, specifically The Line of Beauty, which I increasingly believe to be one of the premiere masterpieces in the queer canon, TSPL might feel less flimsy and unpolished to me. I understand the interest in writing a highly erotic novel about the pre-AIDS period, but it's been done before and better, and in fact, Hollinghurst himself does it better in the early part of The Line of Beauty!

I think I liked it UPDATE: 2014 re-read

Still not sold on this. Perhaps had I read it before reading his other work, specifically The Line of Beauty, which I increasingly believe to be one of the premiere masterpieces in the queer canon, TSPL might feel less flimsy and unpolished to me. I understand the interest in writing a highly erotic novel about the pre-AIDS period, but it's been done before and better, and in fact, Hollinghurst himself does it better in the early part of The Line of Beauty!

I think I liked it just slightly better this go round, largely because I've been sort of thirsty (wink!) for some gay fiction lately, and you can see germinating the things that eventually make Hollinghurst great, but it just feels like immature and redundant to me. Ah well.

**

2012 reading

Three stars feels very insulting w/r/t Hollinghurst, but I suppose the gist of what I have to say is this: The Swimming Pool Library is v obviously a debut novel; meandering & bloated & trying to figure out why it might maybe sort of kind of be important.

The novel follows two central threads - Will, a young gay man in late-century (is it clear what decade precisely? Any rate, it's pre-AIDS) England, whose nearly exclusive purpose is to shag as many dudes at the local gym as possible; and Nantwich, an ancient gay who spent time in Africa & for some reason is all famous and shit.

Hollinghurst's big problem lies right there: both of these figures not only believe themselves to be important, but Hollinghurst also obviously wants his readership to believe this; to find them important and glamorous, even though this glamour is vaguely and self-referentially camp/silly/mockable. It's as if he realized by the time he finished the book that neither is actually all that interesting, & so undercut critiques of that by including some humor about their narcissism and self-interest. Unfortunately, he never fleshes either Will or Nantwich enough - well, excepting the actual manipulation of their naughty flesh, no-no bits, etc. - to warrant 330 pages of this. They're both basically pseudo-intelligent fucksticks, & yes, the dirty stuff is kind of hot, and line-by-line, Hollinghurst really is an incomparable writer in a stylistic sense, but it's patently clear to me that he simply hadn't quite figured out narrative pacing, formal play, or, well, storytelling! to carry this off.

The diary entries are profoundly tedious until the very very end, and there comes a point when you realize that Will has watched just about every man in England covertly, or not so covertly, stroke his cock on the subway, in the gym, at hotel bars, in the pool, on the street, in the woods (???), and along apartment building stairwells - so even this begins to feel overcooked, flashy to cover up some other failure. James is once in a while a lovable character, but his self-debasement grows thin & you find yourself thinking, "Now we know why no one wants to fuck you, kid!" And that itself then becomes unbelievable, because his friendship with Will has no context, no emotional core - so ultimately, who will put faith in some deep affective bond between a studly, huge-dicked cad & a pathetic uggo who hates himself & pines for dozens of men who don't notice him.

All that said, I'm being real shady to this novel, & this review sounds as if I wouldn't even award it a single star! This is untrue & unfair. It's an enjoyable read (except the diary bits - these I actually *skimmed* in the final 100 pages - something I NEVER do with pleasure reads!), and as I said, Hollinghurst's actual prose is nearly as astonishing here as it continues to be today. There are great bits, and the end reveal is actually quite wonderful. I think, had I read this earlier in my Hollinghurst experience, I might have given it the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, I just have to admit that "The Stranger's Child" seems to do everything that this novel tries to do, and does so perfectly, beautifully, critically. And there's a lot more going on in that novel beyond this, to boot.

Oh, & lastly: do people talk about Hollinghurst's bizarre neo-exoticism? This goes on in "Line of Beauty" (and in "Line of Booty," my Nobel-winning fanfic porno v of that novel!), and is almost vom-worthy here. There are some seriously fucked up mandingo fetishes happening that, like, *almost* seem to be examined, but aren't, really. I can't tell if Hollinghurst is being a bit tight-lipped-ly critical of his protagonists' obsessions with objectifying non-white bodies, or if he needs someone to be like, "Yo, stop the minstrel show!"

ANYWHO. Bit camp, bit tawdry, bit bloated. Worth the read, sure, but I would personally recommend Line of Beauty or Stranger's Child over this one. ...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Rob rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay-fiction

Read this for the writing. You may not like all the characters. If you're like me, you'll find one that you identify with. The book does an excellent job exploring gay life in London right before AIDS. It's not an easy book to follow at first, but keep reading. If I could change something it would be to edit the diary entries of Charles. ...more

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