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Samuel Park's Shakespeare's Sonnets is a brilliant novel of unconventional love and passion set in a milieu of privileged conformity. In a lean yet exquisite style, Park's story is set in 1948 at prestigious Harvard University. One young man, literature student Adam Standridge, is the scion of a wealthy, notable family. The other, Jean Hayman, a flamboyant student and actor, hails from a blue collar background. Yet, neither men fit cliche characterizations, as their personalities and decisions confound the reader's expectations. The story is rife with unexpected twists of love, dedication and inspiration to the very end. Park's debut novel is brilliantly woven through and around Shakespeare's great love sonnets and Oscar Wilde's long shunned "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." Further, Park's penetrating perceptions of love and human nature lend enduring depth to an irresistible story of love, personal turmoil, and commitment. Shakespeare's Sonnets is an absorbing read which does not disappoint.
Published posthumously, this is an exquisitely written novel about one man's acceptance of his homosexuality in a society and time that harshly proscribed it. Set in 1913 England among the privileged class, a broken relationship with another Oxford student leads Maurice through an inner maze of fear, doubt, and realization. A sudden, chance liaison with a young servant stunningly opens the door to acceptance and fulfillment. As a young gay man in 1972, Maurice had a profound effect upon my sense of identity and the potential of truth and love.
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Shakespeare's Sonnets by Samuel Park
staggo, January 16, 2008
Samuel Park's Shakespeare's Sonnets is a brilliant novel of unconventional love and passion set in a milieu of privileged conformity. In a lean yet exquisite style, Park's story is set in 1948 at prestigious Harvard University. One young man, literature student Adam Standridge, is the scion of a wealthy, notable family. The other, Jean Hayman, a flamboyant student and actor, hails from a blue collar background. Yet, neither men fit cliche characterizations, as their personalities and decisions confound the reader's expectations. The story is rife with unexpected twists of love, dedication and inspiration to the very end. Park's debut novel is brilliantly woven through and around Shakespeare's great love sonnets and Oscar Wilde's long shunned "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." Further, Park's penetrating perceptions of love and human nature lend enduring depth to an irresistible story of love, personal turmoil, and commitment. Shakespeare's Sonnets is an absorbing read which does not disappoint.Maurice by E M Forster
staggo, November 16, 2007
Published posthumously, this is an exquisitely written novel about one man's acceptance of his homosexuality in a society and time that harshly proscribed it. Set in 1913 England among the privileged class, a broken relationship with another Oxford student leads Maurice through an inner maze of fear, doubt, and realization. A sudden, chance liaison with a young servant stunningly opens the door to acceptance and fulfillment. As a young gay man in 1972, Maurice had a profound effect upon my sense of identity and the potential of truth and love.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)