The Master – Colm Toibin

This is a kind of imaginary biography of Henry James that won universal plaudits but left me feeling somewhat cold. The narrative follows the author in the latter period of his career and details the various relationships in his life and how they affected his work. I may well have got more from this had I read more of James’ work. but I was more impressed intellectually than emotionally.

At one point the ambiguous role of the author as observer and user of his friends is described as “cold sympathy” – a great phrase and one which would also serve as my view of the book.