Name: The City and the Pillar
Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)

Gore Vidal

Jim Willard, a homosexual, is haunted by the memory of a childhood friendship, and is unable to find happiness in casual affairs.

The City and the Pillar

A Novel

Isabella Agostino

The perfect story for when you’re quite busy in other areas of your life and don’t want to be consumed by an intense plot but also don’t want to read nonfiction.

This was an easy read. The sentences were concise, the descriptions clear, and there was an easily accessible atmosphere about it.

Side note: great one for reading with other people, the chapters are digestible and there is enough material to talk about each time without being overwhelming. 

The only reason I’m giving this 4 stars (I’m a sucker for Gore Vidal, so keep that in mind) is that the characters seemed a bit flat. I couldn’t understand Jim until the last few pages…and, while epic (!) I wish I knew him the whole time. Great grounds for a second read though :)

Robert Vetter

Sol Kang

Jim Willard, former high-school athlete and clean-cut boy-next-door-, is haunted by the memory of a romanctic adolescent encounter with his friend Bob Ford. As Jim pursues his first love, in awe of the very same masculinity he possesses himself, his progresss through the secret gay world of 1940's America unveils surreptitious Hollywood affairs, the hidden life of the military in the Second World War and the underworld bar culture of New York City. With the publication of his daring thrid novel The City and the Pillar in 1948, Gore Vidal shocked the American public, which has just begun to hail him as their newest and brightest young writer. It remains not only an authentic and profoundly importatnt social document but also a serious exploration of the nature of idealistic love.

The City and the Pillar

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