The only downside really is that I found a couple of bits a little sexist and racist. And there’s a very realistic feel to George’s confusion of contradictory emotions and actions-at one minute joy, the next anger. One of the most striking things is the way that George carries on with his life in stubborn determination not to appear as a recent widower, but it’s clear from the way he has got rid of all his partner’s pets, the way he visits his partner’s one time lover in hospital, even though he hates her, the way he haunts their old meeting places, how profoundly he is affected. It’s sad to think that books this length are now rejected out of hand.

A Single Man is a very short book, but it is exactly the right length. I enjoyed the simple, pared down style, and hands-off observational approach. I grew up reading books written by Isherwood’s generation, though this is the first of his books I’ve read. George finds joy in unexpected little things, and in the company of others. The day takes him from rage to joy to sorrow, and is beautiful in the way that Isherwood observes and captures small moments. At different times, George does and does not confront his grief and loss.

The story follows George through ordinary scenes of his working life in the local university, to the death bed of his late partner’s one time lover, to night swimming on a local beach. A Single Man follows a day in the life of George Falconer, a middle-aged gay Englishman, living in LA, who has lost his lover.

A single man book review