A Single Man is the story of George, a gay, middle-aged expatriate Englishman now teaching at a California university. Consumed with grief of the recent death of the young man he has lived with and loved, George resolutely persists in the routine of his daily life, which includes becoming very close with one of his students. Behind his British reserve, tides of grief, rage, and loneliness surge—but all this emotion reveals a man in love with being alive despite all the everyday injustices.
This is an undeniably overwhelming, unnerving, brilliant book. I found it a moving portrayal of a gay man in maturity and also a meditation on life as an outsider. Isherwood writes about love, loss, acceptance, and grief in a way that is as profound as it is engrossing. It eloquently speaks a message of accepting the uniqueness of each individual and living each day as if it is your last. Each time I read it I discover something new and wonderous.
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