The Swimming-Pool Library Audio CD – Unabridged, August 5, 2014

In Alan Hollinghurst's debut novel, The Swimming-Pool Library, Will, a promiscuous, self-absorbed layabout, finds his upper-class world both shaken and stirred after he saves the life of an elderly gay aristocrat in a public lavatory. Both grateful, and believing his life story to be one worthy of a written biography, Lord Nantwich asks that Will assume authorship of his project. Refusing to make a commitment, Will agrees to research Nantwich's life through the man's diaries and many years worth of letters, and then come to a decison. As the 25-year old's friendship with the elder man develops, Will finds it difficult to concentrate much on research; he's much too busy cruising the showers at the clubby gym where he swims, partying with best (and only?) friend, James, picking up various young men (emphasis on the "young") around town and chumming around with his preternaturally mature 6-year old nephew, Rupert, a character who is not only endearing but exceedingly wise and sophisticated. Meanwhile, Will's teenage black boyfriend, Arthur, a recent refugee from the drug-related violence of public housing, has disappeared without a trace so that's one more thing occupying Will's mind, if not his time. Set in the pre-AIDS London of the early 80's, The Swimming-Pool Library vividly depicts the free-spirited camaraderie of openly gay men (particularly the relationship between Lord Nantwich and Will) while examining issues pertaining to class, racism, police entrapment and homophobia, all presented with an edgy urgency that pulls the reader further into the tale Alan Hollinghurst so skillfully weaves. There is a lot of (often explicit) sex going on in The Swimming-Pool Library but the book never feels exploitative or smutty; indeed, it is sins of the distant past that cause the novel's protagonists to question their place in the world, and to re-examine themselves and their privileged lifestyles.I first read Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty several years ago and immediately found myself admiring the quality of his writing and storytelling. I find that I enjoyed The Swimming-Pool Library at least as much, if not more. My familiarity with the world portrayed in both novels, and of the wonderful characters inhabiting this world only enhances my appreciation for his work: reading his books gives me a genuine sense of a place and time when I was, for better and for worse, a lot like the young men he writes about. I highly recommend The Swimming-Pool Library as a precursor to The Line of Beauty, both of which are among my favorite works of modern fiction.

I've managed to avoid reading this for so long because of my aversion to ghetto-fied culture. Instead of gay novels, gay movies or gay plays, I'd prefer novels and movies and plays with gay people in them. I like my representation desegregated, thanks.But while definitely a gay novel, "The Swimming Pool Library" is extremely well-written and -crafted; it's also stuffed to the gills with lewd and graphic sex. It's Maugham with a dirty mind, Waugh with a lascivious smile.In pre-AIDS London, William Beckwith is a young, idle Adonis who's drawn to barely-legal working class men. He's a faithless, promiscuous narcissist who demands fidelity while being incapable of it himself.His misanthropy is barely concealed under a shallow veneer of insincere smiles and sarcasm (a trait I recognize from more than a few upper class British twits I've met in my professional life).Beckwith makes a daily habit of picking up lower class men and cruising the showers at the local health club, a routine interrupted by a blooming friendship with an aging member of the house of lords.For lack of anything better to do, he begins to explore the gay past (via the journals and letters of his new octogenarian friend). It's quickly apparent that white gay history can be summarized by a host of c-words: classism, colonialism, condescension, cruelty, complacency.A big reveal toward the end implicating Beckwith's legacy with the systemic oppression of gay people upsets him for an afternoon, but his mood lifts in the gym shower when he encounters his next fresh, hungry distraction.It's brave writing, not just because of the unapologetically explicit sex, but also in its fairly ruthless depiction of white privilege in gay culture.It's gutsy of Hollinghurst to build a world around this unsavory guy, but we follow because it's a well-told tale, worthwhile despite (and because of) the unflattering image reflected in the gilt-framed mirror he hands us.

I enjoyed Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty so much, that I purchased this. This book actually wasn't as engaging for me. I actually like reading fiction by authors who identify as homosexual, even though I am not one. I enjoy reading about that alternate world of experience, I feel as if I am learning something and I am also intrigued by lifestyles so different and foreign to my own. However, I didn't like the main character of Will. I found him to be lazy, promiscuous, predatory, vain, entitled.., actually there wasn't anything that I liked about his personality at all. The story did have an interesting moralistic twist that sort of taught the egocentric, pleasure seeking and shallow Will a real life lesson. I don't like to reveal plot details, I feel it spoils the book for the potential reader, but I will say that Hollinghurst is a gifted author and the book is worth a shot.