The Abomination

by Paul Golding

Book Overview

A fierce, powerful first novel--disturbing and darkly humorous--that tells of an extraordinary life lived first in innocence, then in alienation and defiance and, finally, in anger. Santiago Moore... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375410554
• ISBN13: 9780375410550
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 433 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.6" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Clever, disturbing, dark...

The Abomination is one of the darkest, most disturbing novels I have read in a while. The plot, language and dialogue are disarming from beginning to end. This novel is about a half English, half Spaniard homosexual male who finds himself in an existential crisis when it comes to his relationships with men. He looks back into the days in an English boarding school after his arrival from Spain. That is where his relationships with men begin and how his confusion in a world where heterosexuality is the only thing acceptable in today's society and what has to be done in order to be accepted as a gay man in the modern world. There are various twists throughout the novel. Santiago Moore Zamora is not a sympathetic character in the slightest. He is the proverbial anti-hero in more ways than one. Coming from an aristocratic Spanish mother, his homosexuality is more of a taboo in the eyes of the people closest to him. But his childhood memories are not an attempt at gaining sympathy from the readers. Santiago's language is dark and apathetic from beginning to end. It is difficult to describe just how impassive the character is -- suffice it to say that his recollection of his first sexual encounter with a teacher at the tender age of nine are disturbing to the max. And things get all the darker as the novel progresses. The Abomination is the sort of novel that does not sugarcoat the events and instead illustrates the underbelly of the human condition. Paul Golding is quite a gifted author. He reminds me of the authors Corene Lemaitre and Kate Christensen in that the characters are quite flawed. I recommend this great novel and look forward to reading more books by this talented British author.

A ferocious and intelligent debut by an exciting new voice

Paul Golding's superb first novel is a coming-of-age story of an extremely wealthy gay man whose upbringing amidst servants on a country estate on a Spanish island and then at the best Catholic British public chools would seem to an outsider one of exceptional privilege. But the story Golding's protagonist, James Moore, has to tell is one of considerable horror: virtually ignored by his self-indulgent and spoiled parents, he finds his boarding schools nightmares where his peers mericlessly attack or shun him, and his teachers either abet his tormentors or corrupt him sexually. The novel's superb titles carries multiple meanings: while James is eventually termed an "abomination" by his own father (following the words of Leviticus in its injunction against men sleeping with other men), more abominations might more readily those practised against James in his childhood. And yet by the time James is an adult, and narrates the novel for us, he had become something of a moral abomination himself, and of course not at all in the sense either his father or the writers of Leviticus meant. His voice has become full of rancor and venom, his snobbery ruthless and cruel, his capacity to love almost entirely stunted. Golding is quite unsparing in his treatment of his protagonist, and seems clear (through his use of Moore's purpled and poisonous narrating voice) that not all of James's failings can be laid at the feet of his parents, teachers, or tormentors.This is one of the most exciting and intelligent debuts in gay fiction since Alan Hollinghurst's THE SWIMMING-POOL LIBRARY, and the two works can be justly compared. Golding's James Moore and Hollinghurst's William Beckwith share much in common: in their expensive British educations, their sexual promiscuities, and their savage snobbism. But whereas Hollinghurst attempted to critique his protagonist's character via context (showing how obtuse beckwith was to anything but himself or his pleasures), Golding more convincingly and bravely allows his protagonist's lurid furies to stand as a more direct means of critiquing his excesses. The novel's framework, though interesting (showing an adult James becoming enamored of a male prostitute, and primping himself elaborately before their hired tryst), perhaps does not come across wholly as Golding intends: we seem to lose a good deal of understanding as to what has happened to Moore in the intervening fifteen years between leaving for Oxford and the framing sequence that needs elaboration. Still, the debut is magnificent; this may be the best new gay novel to come down the pike in years.

Exceptionally Written Book That Falters At The End

Golding's prose is like a verbal feast. Every sentence is so packed it leaves you no time to relax or barely take a breath. It is demanding and exacting and if you're looking for a light beach read this is definitely not the book. Told in flashback, the main bulk of the story is about a half Spanish half English gay man's coming of age in an English boarding school. The relationship that develops with one of his teachers begins a torturous journey into his young adult life. And although verbally plodding in some points I found it so well written I was able to excuse the sometimes involved stream of consciousness of the character. The story is then book ended by our protagonist in the present day searching for love and connecting with a hustler he finds in a magazine ad. This is where the book veered off course for me. It certainly didn't end where I expected, but after building to a climax both figuratively and literally I expected more and was left feeling very dissatisfied and somewhat cheated.Stylistically if you read either "The God In Flight" or Michael Arditti's "Pagen's Father" and enjoyed those you may want to give this a go.

Why a loser?

Excellent is the only word appropriated to this book. I'm a female French student who found this book by chance and who immediately had the idea to do a research work on it.But why should James be a loser; why not a winner. I almost wanted to cry by the end of the book.

Brilliant but so very Dark

Golding's novel is gripping, like a catastrophe happening in slow motion. His cynically humorous exploration of the London's queer netherworld is gorgeously wrought. Nostalgic reflections of childhood and adolescence are painfully interspersed with intrigues and betrayals. While the protagonist/narrator is sympathetic (if prematurely jaded), I'd like to have kicked his behind a few times during the course of the book. Read this if you long ago realized "boy meets boy" is no longer adequate reason for a novel. The prose is stellar and the author's verbosity a pleasure. Detail piled on detail create a relentess dissection of current gay (post-gay?) urban culture. The reader must be patient, though. This novel is not for the hurried - or the delicate for that matter.