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A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 9780417028507 Books

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A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 9780417028507 Books

George is an outsider in just about every way possible. He is an English transplant living in California during the early 1960's. He is a 50 something-year-old intellectual surrounded by the youthful students of the college he teaches at. Perhaps most egregious, George is gay. His otherness used to not bother him much, especially because his partner Jim loved him unconditionally for who he was. But then Jim was killed in an accident.

Now, there are two sides to George. One side is the outer George, the one who dresses impeccably each day, teaches his students, and makes polite small talk with the neighbors. The other is the internal George, the one who longs for an escape from the monotony of day to day life and contemplates the loaded pistol that's never too far from reach. It is this internal/external dichotomy that fuels the pages of Isherwood's novel.

A Single Man is a tremendous novel. It is the kind of work that should be required reading, but it usually gets passed over for more standard works. Within less than 200 pages, Isherwood writes about love, loss, acceptance, and grief in a way that is as profound as it is engrossing. In George, Isherwood captures the essence of any person labeled 'other' from the crowd, and creates a timeless message of accepting the uniqueness of each individual and living each day as if it is your last. I was completely blown away by this novel.


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A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 9780417028507 Books Reviews

After hearing the buzz about the upcoming movie adaptation I was excited to read anything that was considered great in the gay fiction genre, and how happy I am that I did! I must admit I'd never heard of this book or its acclaimed author, which makes me sad. Irsherwood's prose is so poignant and intelligent I don't see how he isn't more well known.

A Single Man all takes place in a day, some time after George's lover has died. Isherwood describes everything very honestly, making no attempt to romanticize anything, and presents everything with blunt accuracy. Though the novel is short, there is a lot that happens during this one day with George, even if most of it is in his mind. Personally I'm very interested in how the movie is going to be done because so much of the novel is the thoughts of George, and there aren't a lot of scenes per se. Every written word is brilliant and beautiful, however. If you are in college, teach college, or have been in college you will relish the detailed descriptions as George teaches his class and goes about the campus. Like I said, this is a very intellectual novel, and if you are only interested in sweeping romance or blockbuster scenes, this isn't the book for you. It is smart, but not hard to read, though, so even if you are one of those people, I think it'd be hard not to enjoy the heartbreaking honesty. It is about love, it's about life, it's about hardship, it's about society.. I really can't justify how good it is in a review, except that I assure you will gain something from reading this book. Whether you are gay or straight, male or female, or anyone in the world, it is powerful and you will feel moved by it.
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

This is a tale of grieving and redemption.

This is a day in the life of George, a British English schoolteacher at San Tomas Sate College in Southern California, who is mourning the loss of his life partner, Jim. We see him get out of bed, perform his daily routine, and try to cope with his terrible loss.

Jim died at a car accident in Mexico when he was traveling with his mistress, Doris. Doris survived the accident but she's in a vegetative state. George visits her once a week - mostly because is the only thing left that is purely Jim.

Charlotte is George's best friend. Also a British, Charlotte is mourning her failed marriage with Buddy and an empty nest - as her son, Fred has finally left her to live with his girlfriend.

But redemption comes to George, Kenny Potter, one of his students, follows George to his favorite bar - a dive where he and Jim met. Kenny flirts with George and because they are so drunk, they end up together. Although George knows that this will probably be a one time thing, the redemption comes with the knowledge that George is helping Kenny deal with his homosexuality.

Beautifully told from an universal point of view, the story deals with the loss of a loved one, even one who clearly broke the trust between a couple. George clearly blames Doris for Jim's death, yet one wonders if he had lost Jim irregardless.

Isherwood is clearly aware that gays are being persecuted and presents a clear perspective of the gay man in the 1960's "A minority has its own kind of aggression. It absolutely dares the majority to attack it. It hates the majority - not without a cause, I grant you. It even hates the other minorities, because all minorities are in competition each one proclaims that its sufferings are the worst and its wrongs are the blackest. And the more they all hate, and the more they're all persecuted, the nastier they become! Do you think it makes people nasty to be loved? You know it doesn't! Then why should it make them nice to be loathed? While you're being persecuted, you hate what's happening to you, you hate the people who are making it happen; you're in a world of hate. Why, you wouldn't recognize love if you met it! You'd suspect love! You'd think there was something behind it - some motive - some trick...."

I wonder if the book would had a different ending, now that gays are more accepted by society....
A Single Man begins with prose so painfully and exquisitely beautiful that I re-read the first couple pages a few times in a row. George, a gay middle-aged English professor in the 1960s, is grieving the loss of his lover, Jim.

He gets up. He goes to work. He visits his best friend Charlotte for dinner, and finishes out the day with a surprising encounter with one of his students. The entire slim novel takes place over the course of this one day.

Though the middle parts of this book are notably less poignant than the beginning and end, there is such profound elegance in the opening pages and final third that I feel awed by it as a whole.

Isherwood digs deep into the tender heart of existential loneliness with a character who longs for meaning and connection amid the cruel indifference of the world.

A Single Man is a deeply moving novel, life-affirming in its own melancholy way.
George is an outsider in just about every way possible. He is an English transplant living in California during the early 1960's. He is a 50 something-year-old intellectual surrounded by the youthful students of the college he teaches at. Perhaps most egregious, George is gay. His otherness used to not bother him much, especially because his partner Jim loved him unconditionally for who he was. But then Jim was killed in an accident.

Now, there are two sides to George. One side is the outer George, the one who dresses impeccably each day, teaches his students, and makes polite small talk with the neighbors. The other is the internal George, the one who longs for an escape from the monotony of day to day life and contemplates the loaded pistol that's never too far from reach. It is this internal/external dichotomy that fuels the pages of Isherwood's novel.

A Single Man is a tremendous novel. It is the kind of work that should be required reading, but it usually gets passed over for more standard works. Within less than 200 pages, Isherwood writes about love, loss, acceptance, and grief in a way that is as profound as it is engrossing. In George, Isherwood captures the essence of any person labeled 'other' from the crowd, and creates a timeless message of accepting the uniqueness of each individual and living each day as if it is your last. I was completely blown away by this novel.