THE LINE OF BEAUTY

Nick is a Jamesian scholar, obsessed with aesthetic beauty, who is coming of age against the backdrop of Thatcher-era England. He's an outsider--gay, living with the wealthy family of an Oxford mate whose father, Gerald, is a Tory MP--and often doesn't engage with the world around him so much as observe it. Alex Jennings's smooth, pleasant voice easily conveys Nick's internal observations, as well as all the class distinctions of a large cast of British characters--Gerald's upper-crust brusqueness; decadent Wani's lazy drawl; the Caribbean-tinged accent of Leo, Nick's first male lover. Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel is compelling, and Jennings navigates the waters of national, personal, and sexual politics with ease. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]