Our Evenings
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Our Evenings
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Narrated by:
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Prasanna Puwanarajah
About this listen
A ‘Book of the Year’ for The Guardian, The Observer, The Times, Daily Express, The Spectator, The Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman and the I
Featured on Radio 4's 'Book at Bedtime'
'The best novel that’s been written about contemporary Britain in the past ten years. It’s funny but desperately moving too' – The Sunday Times
Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty, brings us a dark, luminous and wickedly funny portrait of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience. It is a story of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence, from one of the finest writers of our age.
Dave Win is thirteen years old when he first goes to stay with the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school. This weekend, with its games and challenges and surprising encounters, will open up heady new possibilities, even as it exposes him to their son Giles’ envy and violence.
As their lives unfold over the next half a century, the two boys’ careers will diverge dramatically: Dave, a gifted actor struggling with convention and discrimination, Giles an increasingly powerful and dangerous politician.
Our Evenings is the intimate and touching story of Dave Win’s life as a schoolboy and student, his first love affairs, in London, and on the road with an experimental theatre company, and of a late-life affair, which transforms his sixties with a new sense of happiness and a perilous security.
Our Evenings entered the Sunday Times Fiction Hardback chart at #9 w/b 07-10-24.
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Our Evenings
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- the typist
- 11-10-24
Achingly beautiful as always
I’m still not 100% convinced that the author is the right person to tell the story of a biracial protagonist. However, the writing is so sublime and engaging that this feels like a very petty point to make. I’m sure it would be a lot less petty where I am person of colour reading this. I’m also confused by the marketing of the book. It’s pitched as a story of two individuals interconnecting lives. But Giles is merely a ghost in the proceedings. David on the other hand is a richly drawn, hugely likable character. I wasn’t as moved as I possibly should’ve been towards the end as I felt quite a substantial amount of historical events were given scant attention. However, the writing is so good at times that I genuinely feel I could’ve listened to 100 hours more of this story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- debbieg
- 10-10-24
Episodic journey through the life of a typical Hollinghurst protagonist
A bit disappointed - writing and narration excellent but some episodes worked better than mothers - many scenarios over long and repetitive. No
Surprises - feel
Like I’ve read it before.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jackjustreading
- 05-12-24
Best book yet
I’ve read all of Alan Hollinghursts novels and I think Our Evenings is his best yet. Very moving and magical. Would love to see this adapted to tv/film.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 31-10-24
Epic
Brilliant descriptions of the experiences of life. Fascinating characters and a clever ending. Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms
- 23-10-24
Magnificent
Wonderful, delicate narration of exquisite prose. The writing is slow,, detailed observation of a life unfolding across time. Poignant and profound.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mulberry
- 02-11-24
Public school life …
Loved it all. Hollinghurst is contemporary to me so lots of his writing reflects my life- starting from the YMCA pool portrayed in The swimming Pool Library. The detailed description of many things in Our Evenings may result in a slow story for some but for me it provides the richness of British social history of the past 60 years. Brilliant and extremely well narrated by Prasanna Puwanarajah.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Rumpf
- 22-10-24
Perfect - makes you despair for England
Such an elegant, delicate, amazing book, just like his main character. Made me laugh out loud, made me angry and made me sobbing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- cath hindmarch
- 02-12-24
Memorable beyond words
What a fabulous listen The character portrayal of David grows across the book in a gentle way and he becomes the person every reader wants to meet. As a result of this every reader will be floored at the end
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dean Rudland
- 13-11-24
Dull. Dull. Dull
Disliked the story which had no content, the characters were not fully formed and the narration was very poor. Not at all the usual standard of Hollinghurst.
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