I am a member of the ALA Carnegie Medal Committee. This title was suggested for the 2019 Award but it did not make the Longlist. See the complete longlist <a href="http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult/longlists/"> here.

I did not finish this novel, which always makes me loathe to review. But since I received the kind opportunity to review from Knopf, I feel the obligation to report something. Since this is a DNF, get out that grain of salt.

"The Sparsholt Affair" follows the spirit of many novels since Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited"--young men at university whose friendships will last beyond the college experience. Divided into a number of points of view, it covers seventy years of relationships.

I could not make headway. I didn't take to anyone and each page seemed harder and harder. Let's not forget, I'm not only a Greedy Reader, I'm a moody one. I might go back to this novel at some time in the future and love every page.

So, you will not be swept up and carried away by the story. Alan Hollinghurst is a fine stylist but "The Sparsholt Affair" takes effort to see it through.