CANNONBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Wish I’d liked the read better…
“Someone has to ask you a question,” George continues meaningly, “before you can answer it. But it’s so seldom you find anyone who’ll ask the right questions. Most people aren’t that much interested….”
George is a middle aged gay man in 1962 whose partner, Jim, recently died in a car accident. While George is devastated he is determined to maintain his routine. For the most part George hides his sexual identity since homosexuality is still considered deviant behavior in the ’60s. The novel takes place within a 24 hour time period in which both nothing and too much takes place. There are the mundane daily activities like George’s neighbors and their children, his “auto pilot” drive to work and the college he is a professor at; then he goes to a dying friend’s hospital bed, another friend’s for an hours long dinner and then a strange experience at a bar that leads back to his home. There is just too much going on after George leaves the hospital that I spent the second half thinking isn’t it tomorrow yet, how is he still awake?
A Single Man is a beautifully written piece of literature. Unfortunately, it is a beautifully written piece of literature that I didn’t really “get.” The ending in particular drove me crazy.
