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A review by cais
Down There on a Visit by Christopher Isherwood
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
In the first volume of his diaries, Isherwood repeatedly mentions the difficulties he was having writing what became Down There On A Visit. The book had many different forms before he realized what he needed to do. Namely, he had to write about his own experiences in a slightly altered way.
As the character "Christopher Isherwood" says of himself in the beginning of this book, "To reassure himself, he converts [his life] into epic myth as fast as it happens. He is forever play acting." This is something the real Isherwood did. In fact, the Isherwood of this book is a very thinly-disguised version of the real one, and all of the characters and events are fictionalized versions of real people and events in his life. Some of this fictionalization is so slight that it is obvious who is who e.g. which characters are Isherwood's real life friends W.H. Auden or Gerald Heard. Some of it is more heavily disguised, because though in the 1950s Isherwood was pretty openly living as a gay man in California (he lived with his various boyfriends and toured the emerging gay scene), he didn't seem ready to write about it for public consumption, even in a fictionalized form. But queerness is a major subtext throughout this book.
A lot of the characters here are awful people who do awful things. Sometimes Isherwood is strangely passive about this, as though he recognizes the wrongness of some of it but likes the drama of it all and wants to see what happens next. He wants experience and seems drawn to people who can offer it, even if the costs are high.
The book covers four stages of his life starting in 1928 and ending in 1953 and each section focuses on one or two significant male friendships that shaped him in some way. He starts off as a cocky young man rebelling against his privileged background, coming from a wealthy, landed family and having a Cambridge education. He ends the book as a man in his forties pulled in two directions, seeking a deeper, spiritual meaning to his life while also craving the pleasures of the world.
Having read his diaries, much of this was familiar to me, but it was fascinating to see what details Isherwood chose to alter and to compare a real person, as he wrote about them in his diaries, with his fictional version of them. At times this book felt like Isherwood trying to understand why certain people were so important to him at various times in his life.
Isherwood is very funny, often in a cutting, critical way. But he points his critical lens at himself as much as at others. He is just a really good storyteller, a great scene-setter. His observations about people and their motivations are sharp. I found much of this book funny. Some of this book is, not quite infuriating, but there were situations and dialog that are disturbing on various levels. You don't have to have read his diaries or be familiar with much of his life to enjoy this book.
As the character "Christopher Isherwood" says of himself in the beginning of this book, "To reassure himself, he converts [his life] into epic myth as fast as it happens. He is forever play acting." This is something the real Isherwood did. In fact, the Isherwood of this book is a very thinly-disguised version of the real one, and all of the characters and events are fictionalized versions of real people and events in his life. Some of this fictionalization is so slight that it is obvious who is who e.g. which characters are Isherwood's real life friends W.H. Auden or Gerald Heard. Some of it is more heavily disguised, because though in the 1950s Isherwood was pretty openly living as a gay man in California (he lived with his various boyfriends and toured the emerging gay scene), he didn't seem ready to write about it for public consumption, even in a fictionalized form. But queerness is a major subtext throughout this book.
A lot of the characters here are awful people who do awful things. Sometimes Isherwood is strangely passive about this, as though he recognizes the wrongness of some of it but likes the drama of it all and wants to see what happens next. He wants experience and seems drawn to people who can offer it, even if the costs are high.
The book covers four stages of his life starting in 1928 and ending in 1953 and each section focuses on one or two significant male friendships that shaped him in some way. He starts off as a cocky young man rebelling against his privileged background, coming from a wealthy, landed family and having a Cambridge education. He ends the book as a man in his forties pulled in two directions, seeking a deeper, spiritual meaning to his life while also craving the pleasures of the world.
Having read his diaries, much of this was familiar to me, but it was fascinating to see what details Isherwood chose to alter and to compare a real person, as he wrote about them in his diaries, with his fictional version of them. At times this book felt like Isherwood trying to understand why certain people were so important to him at various times in his life.
Isherwood is very funny, often in a cutting, critical way. But he points his critical lens at himself as much as at others. He is just a really good storyteller, a great scene-setter. His observations about people and their motivations are sharp. I found much of this book funny. Some of this book is, not quite infuriating, but there were situations and dialog that are disturbing on various levels. You don't have to have read his diaries or be familiar with much of his life to enjoy this book.