The Line of Beauty- Alan Hollinghurst.
The Line of Beauty follows Nick Guest, a gifted young PhD student, during his four years lodging at the London family residence of his former Oxford class mate Toby Fedden. The Fedden household is made up of Toby's parents and siblings: the graceful but distant Rachel, the ambitious Gerald - newly appointed as a minister in Thatcher's Government; and Toby's troubled younger sister Catherine who is given to bouts of depression and self harm. Nick arrives at the Feddens on the flimsiest of invitations. He is an unremarkable personality who earns his place in the household by being un-contentious and helpful. It's refreshing to see that Hollinghurst does not resort to the traditional cuckoo in the nest story, he refrains from demonising Nick as a schemer or manipulative intruder. Rather, the author shows Nick's awareness of his tenuous connection with the Feddens and his understanding of how his own parochial background will garner him nothing more than the status of family pet. He accepts his position pragmatically and settles back to enjoy the benefits of life with a powerful family at a well-appointed London address.

That said, Nick is seduced by the Feddens. His Phd on Henry James suffers, and all the while his desire to be accepted within their inner sanctum intensifies. His access to the affluent set sees him indulge in reckless sexual escapades in a haze of alcohol and cocaine. In particular he develops a bond with a Lebanese heir, Wani, a closet homosexual, engaged to a girl of his family's choosing. He is spoilt in a manner typical of the nouveaux riche, on the one hand he funds and 'keeps' Nick much the same as he would a mistress and on the other he agrees to an engagement to appease his domineering father.
Although there is nothing 'contentious' about Nick's sexuality, he conceals it from the Feddens. After all this was the Eighties and although homosexuality was acceptable people still carried certain notions fueled by the emergence of AIDS. Indeed AIDS makes a fatal debut in the novel but Nick, being a survivor, comes out unscathed both physically and emotionally.

British politics also makes its presence felt but only as a backdrop. It is class that takes center stage, orbited by entitlement, opportunism, exploitation and decadence. Wealth and opportunity are used by Wani as a way of ironing out the differences between himself and the Feddens. Nick is used to add authenticity to Wani, with his refinement and cultural insight. The Feddens and Wani are used in turn by Nick to further his lifestyle and sense of himself. And the Feddens use Nick to make up the numbers, amuse themselves and finally to provide them with a scapegoat to avoid any hint of self recrimination. Yes, there is a comeuppance, a fantastic, scandal-ridden comeuppance, characteristic of the Conservative government of the 80s.

Despite the intricacies of plot and the dark motivations at work, Hollinghurst manages to keep a light hand and allows the characters to speak for themselves. The writing is beautiful, erudite and free of ponderous explanations or excessive analysis. Alan Hollinghurst's style, for fear of descending into hyperbole, is nothing short of breathtaking.

Booker Prize 2008 shortlist
While many a Pakistani held their breath hoping Mohammad Hanif's A Case of Exploding Mangoes would make it to the Booker Prize shortlist, the list sparked quite a reaction with its omission of favourite Joseph O' Neill's Netherland and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie (Salman's long-listed book, The Enchantress of Florence didn't even get considered by the judges, as the story goes). Judges, chaired by Michael Portillo, have described this year's shortlist as "intensely readable" and "page-turning", but this doesn't seem to be an opinion shared by many book buyers. This year's short-list has been marred by low book sales, due to the star author-free shortlist.

The 50,000 pound Booker Prize featured six nominees on the shortlist: Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies, Philip Hensher's The Northern Clemency, Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole, Linda Grant's The Clothes on Their Backs, Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture and The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.
Amitav Ghosh, author of the Sea of Poppies (reviewed above) talks to Reuters about his book and what the Booker prize means to him.

Q: Can you describe your book and why should people read it?

A: "Sea of Poppies tells a simple story: it follows an assortment of characters who find their way on to a ship called the Ibis, which is sailing from India to the island of Mauritius. The year is 1838, and most of the passengers on the Ibis are indentured migrants from northern Bihar, an area that was, under the rule of British East India Company, the world's most important opium-producing region: the poppy is thus the star that rules the migrants' destiny. Along with the migrants, the Ibis is also carrying a few convicts and stowaways, as well as a contingent of Indian guards and overseers. She is manned by a crew of Asian sailors -- 'lascars' as they were then known -- and her officers consist of three 'Europeans'.
"Once at sea, the Ibis becomes a crucible in which people of different classes, races, castes and nationalities find themselves thrown together with consequences that are sometimes absurd, sometimes murderous and even, possibly, redemptive. It is my hope that the reader will find here a story of transformation, one that I imagine all too many of our forebears had to live through."

Q: What does the Man Booker Prize mean to you?

A: "The Man Booker prize has been hugely successful in generating interest in contemporary fiction and in expanding readership. For a book to be on the shortlist is already to have won a kind of prize and I am delighted that Sea of Poppies has been accorded this privilege.

However, this year's Man Booker Prize went to Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger, a first novel by the Indian author.

Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies is the first in a trilogy of books based on the Opium Wars, when the British fought to continue smuggling opium from British India into China inspite of Chinese drug laws. Sea of Poppies is a meticulously researched novel putting you in the midst of history as it happens. The attention to detail can take some getting used to, in particular the seafaring minglish employed by crew members that I found myself re-reading. However once you get a handle on the language, it's a rewarding page-turner that will leave you yearning for more.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst follows Nick Guest, a gifted young PhD student, during his four years lodging at the London family residence of his former Oxford class mate Toby Fedden. British politics also makes its presence felt but only as a backdrop. It is class that takes center stage, orbited by entitlement, opportunism, exploitation and decadence. There is a comeuppance exhibited in the book, a fantastic, scandal-ridden comeuppance, characteristic of the Conservative government of the 80s.
Despite the intricacies of plot and the dark motivations at work, Hollinghurst manages to keep a light hand and allows the characters to speak for themselves.