The Stranger's Child
Jan. 17th, 2023 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst is a sprawling novel, which covers nearly one hundred years, following the changing fortunes, relationships and connections of one family.
Over the course of 560 pages, it jumps from 1913 to 1926, to 1967, to 1980, to 2008 - and each section only describes a fairly brief period. The transitions are not given much initial context, so it takes a while each time to orient the narrative in time and space, and to establish the relevance of new characters, as well as what has befallen the existing ones in the interim. But it does all connect together eventually, into an impressive whole. It's certainly a fascinating exploration of the massive changes wrought in society over the course of the 20th century.
The prose is quite arch in an entertaining way - it makes fun of certain characters at the same time as portraying them in a lot of depth.
The penultimate section lost me a bit, as it focused very much on one character (where previously there had perhaps been a few too many viewpoints given) and also included a lot of extracts from various books within the book. But the final pages provided an interesting sense of urgency that led to an unexpected but satisfying anti-climax.
Overall, a good read.
Over the course of 560 pages, it jumps from 1913 to 1926, to 1967, to 1980, to 2008 - and each section only describes a fairly brief period. The transitions are not given much initial context, so it takes a while each time to orient the narrative in time and space, and to establish the relevance of new characters, as well as what has befallen the existing ones in the interim. But it does all connect together eventually, into an impressive whole. It's certainly a fascinating exploration of the massive changes wrought in society over the course of the 20th century.
The prose is quite arch in an entertaining way - it makes fun of certain characters at the same time as portraying them in a lot of depth.
The penultimate section lost me a bit, as it focused very much on one character (where previously there had perhaps been a few too many viewpoints given) and also included a lot of extracts from various books within the book. But the final pages provided an interesting sense of urgency that led to an unexpected but satisfying anti-climax.
Overall, a good read.
