Sophia C. reviewed on 5/17/2013 + 289 more book reviews

Im a little disappointed by The Strangers Child, the latest offering by Man Booker prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst. Spanning almost a century, the story revolves around Cecil Valance, a minor, aristocratic poet who perishes in World War I. We meet him briefly in Part I as he visits his college friend George Sawle; he writes a poem called Two Acres in the autograph album of Georges sister Daphne that later becomes famous. The story makes four discrete jumps in time, offering glimpses of the Valances and Sawles as Cecils legacy is continuously re-interpreted. I alternate between thinking that the story offers unsatisfactory continuity in the characters lives and that Hollinghurst has a greater message on how time, memory, and shifting perspectives affect the memory of a gay (or bisexual) poet.

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