Our Evenings buy Alan Hollinghurst

Picador, 2024

Why?

I'm a devotee, but hadn't yet read his latest (I can't believe it's been two years).

Enjoyment factor

The "Oxford novel" - in the great tradition of Brideshead - is Hollinghurst's stock in trade. This one has all the hallmarks, and for the first half, I was as absorbed in his world as always.

But this novel tries to do too much. Whilst the "outsider" theme is always a key feature of the genre, this one skewers in race, single parenthood, class, sexuality and ..... Brexit.

It left me thinking ....

How disappointing it is that a novelist who is so subtle that he can highlight anything without making it obvious feels the need to force so many different issues into one novel.

And why on earth a certain cohort has to make everything about Brexit, even when it has no relevance to the story, and in this case 8 years after the event ...