wanderstruck's review against another edition
4.0
I was introduced to The City and the Pillar as a work of gay literature. Viewed through that lens, the novel is deeply unpleasant and disheartening. Like [b:The Charioteer|67699|The Charioteer|Mary Renault|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389484698s/67699.jpg|2758240], the attitude the book displays toward the queer subculture its traditionally masculine hero moves through, in the course his soul-searching, is largely contemptuous. With its flashes of homophobia and misogyny, Vidal's novel reads as dated.
That being said, I thought Jim was a well-drawn character and, unlike other reviewers, I was not put off by his insouciance or the claustrophobic single mindedness of his inner life. I chose to read the novel as a portrait of an emotionally stunted young man, able to drift through life with ease by virtue of his handsomeness, and a blankness that allows those he encounters to project whatever qualities they like onto him.
I don't think readers are meant to take characters at face value when they praise Jim for his naturalness. He's not any more truthful, or simple, than Shaw or Paul Sullivan. His reserve, in combination with his talent for terse directness in certain situations, and the masculine ease with which he wears his discontent, bestow him with the illusion of affability. He will occasionally like someone, or sympathise with them, and when it costs him nothing he is capable of an amiable brand of kindness towards these people, but he never is moved. He never reveals himself to be anything less than fully self-interested.
Until the denouement, the possibility is dangled before us (and Jim) that his love for Bob will prove redeeming; that his pattern of passionless relationships has manifested because Bob has always been his soulmate -- or his "brother" and "twin" as Jim likes to put it. But even before you read the shocking ending it's evident that his obsession with Bob is juvenile and unhealthy. The ending's shocking for its coldness, but I didn't find it unearned. It's clearly foreshadowed; a mirror image of Jim's disturbing relationship with Ken. Like the best tragic endings, this one felt inevitable as soon as I'd absorbed it. Jim's "closed the circle." He's reached back and corrupted the idealized, innocent love that'd loomed large in his mind all those years, tormenting him. It's ugly, but it rang as true to me -- though if I'd read Jim as a representation of gay men, rather than an embittered and self-centered individual, I'd have felt differently. Even though I saw it coming, I really felt the ending. It made me physically ill for a few minutes there. Maybe for some of you, that kind of ending's repellent, but in my case it's a high recommendation. It's not often these days a book engages me so viscerally.
I loved Vidal's prose style. I'm not familiar with his other novels, but here it worked wonderfully as a reflection of Jim's curtness, and his myopic pattern of thinking. It was searing. Now that I've finished, I wish I'd gone through it with a highlighter, because there were so many delicious one-liners packed into each page.
Jim has a talent for dismissing people with brutally terse observations. Sometimes they hit the mark, and he cuts through another character's carefully constructed illusions with little more than a flick of his eyes and a bored, shrugging assessment. Other times you feel that his disdain of others says more about Jim than it does his companions. For this reason, I found myself thinking the novel would have worked better entirely in third person limited, without its occasional forays into the minds of characters like Sullivan, Verlaine, Shaw, and Jim's soon-to-be-widowed mother. The cutting narration was less amusing when Vidal spoke in omniscient. At these times, the cynicism was heaped on entirely too thick, and the characters felt little more than meanly drawn caricatures. I much preferred being in Jim's head as he tried to make sense of other people's motivations, so alien to him, and as he protected himself from having to feel by dismissing everyone around him as shallow and simpering.
I thought this was a great read, if not a great piece of gay lit. I'd recommend [b:Giovanni's Room|38462|Giovanni's Room|James Baldwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389658936s/38462.jpg|814207], [b:A Single Man|16842|A Single Man|Christopher Isherwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380688373s/16842.jpg|1802690], or even [b:Confessions of a Mask|62794|Confessions of a Mask|Yukio Mishima|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441790556s/62794.jpg|1788601] as better examples of the genre from the same era.
That being said, I thought Jim was a well-drawn character and, unlike other reviewers, I was not put off by his insouciance or the claustrophobic single mindedness of his inner life. I chose to read the novel as a portrait of an emotionally stunted young man, able to drift through life with ease by virtue of his handsomeness, and a blankness that allows those he encounters to project whatever qualities they like onto him.
I don't think readers are meant to take characters at face value when they praise Jim for his naturalness. He's not any more truthful, or simple, than Shaw or Paul Sullivan. His reserve, in combination with his talent for terse directness in certain situations, and the masculine ease with which he wears his discontent, bestow him with the illusion of affability. He will occasionally like someone, or sympathise with them, and when it costs him nothing he is capable of an amiable brand of kindness towards these people, but he never is moved. He never reveals himself to be anything less than fully self-interested.
Until the denouement, the possibility is dangled before us (and Jim) that his love for Bob will prove redeeming; that his pattern of passionless relationships has manifested because Bob has always been his soulmate -- or his "brother" and "twin" as Jim likes to put it. But even before you read the shocking ending it's evident that his obsession with Bob is juvenile and unhealthy. The ending's shocking for its coldness, but I didn't find it unearned. It's clearly foreshadowed; a mirror image of Jim's disturbing relationship with Ken. Like the best tragic endings, this one felt inevitable as soon as I'd absorbed it. Jim's "closed the circle." He's reached back and corrupted the idealized, innocent love that'd loomed large in his mind all those years, tormenting him. It's ugly, but it rang as true to me -- though if I'd read Jim as a representation of gay men, rather than an embittered and self-centered individual, I'd have felt differently. Even though I saw it coming, I really felt the ending. It made me physically ill for a few minutes there. Maybe for some of you, that kind of ending's repellent, but in my case it's a high recommendation. It's not often these days a book engages me so viscerally.
I loved Vidal's prose style. I'm not familiar with his other novels, but here it worked wonderfully as a reflection of Jim's curtness, and his myopic pattern of thinking. It was searing. Now that I've finished, I wish I'd gone through it with a highlighter, because there were so many delicious one-liners packed into each page.
Jim has a talent for dismissing people with brutally terse observations. Sometimes they hit the mark, and he cuts through another character's carefully constructed illusions with little more than a flick of his eyes and a bored, shrugging assessment. Other times you feel that his disdain of others says more about Jim than it does his companions. For this reason, I found myself thinking the novel would have worked better entirely in third person limited, without its occasional forays into the minds of characters like Sullivan, Verlaine, Shaw, and Jim's soon-to-be-widowed mother. The cutting narration was less amusing when Vidal spoke in omniscient. At these times, the cynicism was heaped on entirely too thick, and the characters felt little more than meanly drawn caricatures. I much preferred being in Jim's head as he tried to make sense of other people's motivations, so alien to him, and as he protected himself from having to feel by dismissing everyone around him as shallow and simpering.
I thought this was a great read, if not a great piece of gay lit. I'd recommend [b:Giovanni's Room|38462|Giovanni's Room|James Baldwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389658936s/38462.jpg|814207], [b:A Single Man|16842|A Single Man|Christopher Isherwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380688373s/16842.jpg|1802690], or even [b:Confessions of a Mask|62794|Confessions of a Mask|Yukio Mishima|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441790556s/62794.jpg|1788601] as better examples of the genre from the same era.
jezzajezza's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
calumreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
ewascibior's review against another edition
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
shesjamesevans's review against another edition
3.0
I'm here for all the LGTB books I can get. This one in particular it's not groundbreaking but it was light to read. It's an okay book; interesting characters and the story just keeps you going quite quick.
akeemakeem's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
600matt's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
pjv1013's review against another edition
5.0
COMENTÁRIO
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The City and the pillar"
Gore Vidal
Um dos livros que quero reler muitas vezes, um livro sobre o qual quero escrever - tem um capítulo perfeito sobre a geografia gay de New York -, um livro que marca a história da cultura LGBTI no pós guerra (juntamente com "The Charioteer" de Mary Renault e "O quarto de Giovanni" de James Baldwin).
Um livro potente. Sobre a perca de inocência no chegar à idade adulta. Sobre a descoberta da sexualidade. Sobre a impossibilidade do amor juvenil.
Na realidade na sociedade norte-americana do pós-guerra este é o livro possível (e por isso tão polémico) sobre o amor impossível entre dois homens numa sociedade marcadamente conservadora.
Numa nota pessoal fiquei "irritado" e "zangado" pelas dificuldades que o protagonista Jim Willard enfrenta. Mas, por outro lado encantado com o modo como constrói elementos de resistência ao longo do romance para que a sua vida tenha algum prazer e significado.
Uma história que vale a pena ler e reler. Até porque o estilo escorreito - é, tantas vezes, mordaz - de Gore Vidal ajuda a uma leitura que envolve o leitor. Em especial o leitor curioso com as vivências LGBTI pré-Stonewall.
Este é um dos muitos livros essenciais da cultura e literatura LGBTI que não está editado em Portugal. Porque será?
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The City and the pillar"
Gore Vidal
Um dos livros que quero reler muitas vezes, um livro sobre o qual quero escrever - tem um capítulo perfeito sobre a geografia gay de New York -, um livro que marca a história da cultura LGBTI no pós guerra (juntamente com "The Charioteer" de Mary Renault e "O quarto de Giovanni" de James Baldwin).
Um livro potente. Sobre a perca de inocência no chegar à idade adulta. Sobre a descoberta da sexualidade. Sobre a impossibilidade do amor juvenil.
Na realidade na sociedade norte-americana do pós-guerra este é o livro possível (e por isso tão polémico) sobre o amor impossível entre dois homens numa sociedade marcadamente conservadora.
Numa nota pessoal fiquei "irritado" e "zangado" pelas dificuldades que o protagonista Jim Willard enfrenta. Mas, por outro lado encantado com o modo como constrói elementos de resistência ao longo do romance para que a sua vida tenha algum prazer e significado.
Uma história que vale a pena ler e reler. Até porque o estilo escorreito - é, tantas vezes, mordaz - de Gore Vidal ajuda a uma leitura que envolve o leitor. Em especial o leitor curioso com as vivências LGBTI pré-Stonewall.
Este é um dos muitos livros essenciais da cultura e literatura LGBTI que não está editado em Portugal. Porque será?
shoulberg's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5