Random House
Our Evenings
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From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Booker Prize, "an engrossing tale of one man's personal odyssey as he grows up, framed in exquisite language" (The New York Times Book Review)
"The finest novel yet from one of the great writers of our time."--The Guardian
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Town & Country, Slate, Good Housekeeping, Financial Times, The Economist, Chicago Public Library, Parade, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews
Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I'd lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice.
Dave Win, the son of a Burmese man he's never met and a British dressmaker, is thirteen years old when he gets a scholarship to a top boarding school. With the doors of elite English society cracked open for him, heady new possibilities emerge, even as Dave is exposed to the envy and viciousness of his wealthy classmates.
Alan Hollinghurst's new novel follows Dave from the 1960s on--through the possibilities that remained open for him, and others that proved to be illusory: as a working-class brown child in a decidedly white institution; a young man discovering queer culture and experiencing his first, formative love affairs; a talented but often overlooked actor, on the road with an experimental theater company; and an older Londoner whose late-in-life marriage fills his days with an unexpected sense of happiness and security.
From "one of our most gifted writers" (The Boston Globe), Our Evenings sweeps readers from our past to our present through the beauty, pain, and joy of one deeply observed life.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780593243060
EAN:
9780593243060
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
496
Authors:
Alan Hollinghurst
Publisher:
Random House
Published Date: 2024-08-10
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This story is so compelling and beautifully written I hated when I had to take a break from it. A boy at a disadvantage who rises above the blather. The narrator in the audio book was excellent.
It was a pleasure and privilege to read such a wonderful novel. Reading it is like sipping a drink you savor. Don’t expect excitement where none is needed.
A lovely story - interesting to see David’s character evolve and mature over the decades, as well as the relationships with his mother and husband. The themes certainly resonate with this 63 yo gay guy
Having read Hollinghurst’s other books, I expected the very fine prose and a certain kind of apparent effortlessness in the very well thought-out structure of the novel. But, in the end, this novel doesn’t add up to much. And the actual ending seems forced. “Out Evenings” was an elegant disappointment.
His prose are superb. It's just a boring book. I usually love slow burn novels like this. But the basic summary is a half Burmese kid gets a rick family to send him to private school. He doesn't love it. He joins a theater group in London. He's good. He dates a bunch of guys. The end.The epilogue is meaningful. It is one of those books where I think people are afraid to say it is boring. Kind of like The English Patient movie which was boring.If you like it, great. If not, it's painful.