by Mary Renault
"Remorse, even the greatest, has the nature of a debt; if we could only clear the books we feel that we should be free. But a deep compassion has the nature of love, which keeps no balance sheet; we are no longer our own. So in the presence of this helpless forgiveness, Laurie seemed to himself to b...
"...Let us say, then, that the soul resembles the joined powers of a pair of winged horses and charioteer. Now the horses and the drivers of the gods are of equal temper and breed, but with men it is otherwise...." "The sun slanted deep into the wood, making hidden birds sing softly. The touch of ...
bookshelves: autumn-2013, published-1953, radio-4, fradio, glbt, wwii, winter-20132014 Read from November 25 to December 06, 2013 BABTBBC BLURB: fter an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as ...
Rating: 4.5/5Summary: Laurie Odell, injured during World War II, is transferred to a veterans hospital. There he meets and falls in love with a Quaker Hospital attendant, Andrew Raynes, an innocent young man who hasn’t figured himself out yet. To complicate matters fate brings back into his life an ...
Review when I have at least half a chance of putting anything coherent on paper.
My heart. Is it still there? Because I feel like someone tore it out and stomped on it.I stayed up way later than I usually do, last night, to finish this, because I couldn't wait any longer. The intense and emotional turmoil inside of me started with Andrew's letter and followed through to the end....
I really liked this. She has some amazing turns of phrase, and it was so dense. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a book in another language, and I had to focus more to parse it. Which sounds like this isn't a positive review, but I really liked it. I'll try to do a better review when I've got mor...
This book is often mentioned as a seminal work for many gay people. Set in a time when being gay was definitely something to be hidden, so much of the story is in what is not said as subtlety and misdirection have become a way of life for these men.It's a great story and well told. Very different fr...
[These notes were made in 1992:]. This is the first Mary Renault with a modern setting that I've read. Among other things (to put a crude label on it) it betrays her as a genuine fruit fly, who knows her gay - or rather, queer - community inside out. Yet she recoils from that community (as it existe...
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