For a long while I have had an interest in one day reading the works of Christopher Isherwood. While performing in 'Cabaret', which stems from Isherwood's famed 'Berlin Stories', I learned that the author had several works available, and he became one of my 'someday' reads.
Someday finally arrived recently, with a wonderful read in the form of 'The World in the Evening'. The book explores the life of a troubled man before and during the WWII years.
Stephen Monk, raised by a family friend, his 'Aunt' Sarah, runs from his life in California after discovering the infidelity of his second wife, Jane. Finding little to no 'solace' there he prepares to leave, when an accident of sorts leaves him housebound for several weeks.
Stephen is then forced to confront his past, and present, and contemplate his future, when he is figuratively and literally left unable to run from them any longer.
Examining the events that led to his marriage to his first wife, the novelist Elizabeth Rydal, Stephen relives, through a series of her letters to her friend Mary Scriven, their meeting, falling in love, and Elizabeth's ultimate demise. This unveiling of their life together encompasses much of the rest of the book.
But along the way, many surprises await in the form of revelations about Stephen himself. Was his 'accident' really that? What leads people to question the 'validity' of his marriage to Elizabeth? And how long can a person run from the truth before it eventually overtakes them?
The novel is peppered with many lively and entertaining characters; Aunt Sarah, the sage, benevolent voice of reason; Gerda, grieving wife of a missing soldier; Bob Wood and Charles Kennedy; a 1950's style gay couple; the two wives of Stephen Monk; and all the folks they meet along the way.
Jumping back and forth from past to present, the book is an excellent study of a man faced with finding himself, of the intricacies of making a marriage work, and of attitudes and actions regarding the treatment of homosexuals in the 1950's.
An excellent starting point for any newcomer to Isherwood, this novel at once charms and endears.
