'A Single Man' by Christopher Isherwood

The book is in-line with the modernist version of the Woolfish 'stream of consciousness' style, characteristic of two prominent members of the Bloomsbury group. I haven't embarked on the voyage of a book that 'Ulysees' by Joyce is, but I am aware of his writing style and look forward to it having read most of Virginia Woolf's works.

I absolutely loved the beginning of the book — it caught me off guard; it was so unique and unexpected a way to read about a character, and so poetic in its prose that I ended up highlighting most of the passages.

Very much like 'Mrs. Dalloway', the story follows the life of the protagonist, George, over the course of a single day. Unlike 'Mrs. Dalloway', however, it isn't elaborate in the backstories of the other characters in the novel, and doesn't focus too heavily on the other themes underlying the main story of a gay professor in '60s America.

There is some bit about the Vietnam War and minorities, but the subtle interweaving of conversations and observations around these topics makes the book and characters even more powerful: George is much too preoccupied with his loneliness and bitterness that he doesn't focus on politics the way his younger, more exuberant students do. He simply lives on, one day at a time, troubled by his reality, annoyed at the minor grievances people around him might commit, and as self-conscious as the rest of us.

This book very much fits the bill for why I love realistic fiction. I am convinced that a man like George really did exist somewhere, and he must've had similar thoughts and experiences as him. The beauty of this book is its writing and the very plausibility of events it occurring in the world. It makes a good case for character review — people in this book are as fleshed out as they can be, for strangers living on the same street, for students filing into a classroom, or for acquaintances making dinner plans.