The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
By turns heartbreaking, charming and painfully realistic - ‘The Sparsholt Affair’ is entirely consuming in it’s portrait of love, life and the queer reality
This is a multi-layered and very human account of infidelity, scandal, aging, queerness and the repercussions of lust, lies and betrayals. All on the backdrop of the London art world as it was and most probably still is as well as a country moving into the modern world unsure what the future holds.
The Book
‘The Sparsholt Affair’ is about love, infatuation, sex and power; focusing on gay relationships and how individuals within the queer world existed from the mid to late twentieth century with heterosexual relationships taking place in the background alongside a political sex scandal.
I began this book not expecting to like it and not really knowing what it was about, since the blurb gave nothing away and - now I come to look at it again - actually completely missed the point of the story which is not so much about Evert Dax and David Sparsholt’s relationship but really about queer relationships, love and lust in general through the twentieth century.
But I really enjoyed it. It is definitely a book which you have to be in the right mood for, and if you’re uncomfortable with gay sex scenes or the honest perspective and lives of gay men I wouldn’t recommend it. There is nothing gratuitous in the way that Hollinghurst wrote any of his scenes - since when I got the gist of the book that was what I was most worried about, feeling like some sort of voyeur in these men’s experiences. Instead all of the scenes are handled with a tender awareness that transforms what could potentially be almost seedy; into a book that is a delightful and informative read.
Hollinghurst manages to convey the difficulties of being queer in a society geared up to cis-gendered heteronormativity without being preachy or dull, it is done in a way where you can feel the social problems of the day without really experiencing them. Rather like the characters and indeed individuals in that time must have done. What could have gone into being another novel about the Second World War has instead become a novel about the London gay scene and the art world - a rich and entirely convincing read that deals with so many issues in a way that is kind, human and also entertaining.
The characters are three dimensional, aging in an unflattering way, flawed and yet delightful as they go through the wringer with their various personal problems all centring around a figure whose side we never actually hear from. This is a book that deals with queerness sensitively but realistically - allowing characters to have desires and wishes a well as experiencing the age-old truth that just because you love someone doesn’t mean they’ll love you back.
Tragic, funny, enthralling and entirely convincing; I enjoyed ‘The Sparsholt Affair’ and would recommend it to anyone trying to better understand how it is to be queer and navigate living openly in one’s queerness.
Ratings
Readability || *****
{ Readability: is the book easy to read, does it have simple yet effective language that is accessible and does it have a good flow}
Easy to read, understand and follow. I thought the language was sublime, the sentences well-constructed and the imagery flawless - I truly felt I was in every room listening to every conversation and experiencing it all beside the characters. Saying that there are a LOT of characters and sometimes I would have to go back and check who was who.
Structure || *****
A good structure in terms of breaking the book up (at over 450 pages it feels a tad daunting to begin with) and the chapters are not too long meaning you don’t feel overwhelmed at each reading. However while I understood why it was written the way it was, I felt that it jumped around quite a bit. There’s a lot to cover and a broad cast of characters which is realistic to how life really is, but quite confusing sometimes for a reader dipping their toe into the world then going out again for moments of time. I felt that everything happened at the right time and all the ends were tied up as needed. A very satisfying read.
Decadence || ****
At times so decadent and rich in language I felt like I had just eaten an especially rich chocolate pudding. However there are some parts, especially the bits in public toilets and clubs which I didn’t find decadent. Necessary to the story yes - but not exactly enjoyable to read. Saying that the imagery Hollinghurst uses for his scenes at Oxford, the first few visits to Evert Dax’s London home and the studio Johnny first works in after graduating from University is so enjoyable and heavy and fine like a glass of 2016 Mouton Cadeaux I cannot help but say that in those scenes it is quite the perfect book of unapologetic decadence.
Review Accuracy || **
I think it’s quite telling that some of the reviews I have read on this book have focused entirely on the sex scenes and blitzed over the depth and detail which this book offers of human life and the complexities of love. There is of course the accuracy that this book is ‘sweeping’, ‘written in five parts’ that ‘the actual scandal the plot revolves around happens off the page’… but nowhere or very rarely do I read that people loved seeing the characters age and mature. That the full span of love and all of the emotions that hang on its coat tails were wonderfully portrayed through the lives of the characters that Hollinghurst introduced us to. Perhaps that was what - as a queer woman - I got most from it so that is what I am focusing on… but I do feel that there is much more to the book than gay sex scenes.