An interesting reflection on loneliness, occasionally the stream of consciousness gets a bit much but that does also bring reality to the internal dialogue of lonely people.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I desperately wanted to like this more. Yes, Holleran is an excellent writer, but I just found the incessant rambling a little too much, so much so that I found myself skipping whole swathes of text just to get through.

The story, the theme, is important and universal, but I struggled with it, it's fair to say. 3 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

Rather a slow paced novel exploring death, ageing and loneliness. There are repetitions of actions and phrases throughout, creating a strong sense of monotony and sadness. I can’t recall reading a book that so honestly addresses the life of an older gay man, including dissatisfying blow jobs from unattractive strangers…I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it per se, but i finished it a few days ago and the lingering air of quiet, restrained grief has stayed with me.

Andrew Holleran’s 1978 debut “Dancer From The Dance” was amongst the first prominent novels written from the gay male experience which infiltrated the mainstream. I read it probably before I was ready for it and it’s a novel I thought I would revisit one day as it is now established within the gay writing canon and is pretty rare as it was both written and set in the hedonistic post-Stonewall pre-AIDS era.
In a career where publications have been sporadic I was surprised by the news of this his 5th novel and was very interested to explore this writer’s perspectives 44 years on from that debut. I cannot fault the quality of the writing but from my personal standpoint this is one of the most depressing books I have ever read.
It is a raw, brutally honest study of gay men, loneliness and death. This is the generation who survived the epidemic which emerged a few years after Holleran’s debut and here they are decades on being snuffed out one by one in barren, lonely lives in small town America.
The starting point is the narrator’s invitation from his sister to spend Christmas with her. This would mean a departure from his rituals and routines carries out in his dead parent’s house to which he has returned and cannot move on from. The novel is a meditation of getting old, of still not being able to fit in, of loneliness and a paranoid fear of the future for that can only involve greater isolation, sickness and death. Much of it features the slow demise of the narrator’s friend, Earl, ten years his senior and surviving to get through his pile of old movie DVDs whilst being observed closely by the narrator for parallels to his own situation and what this would mean for him in the not too distant future.
There’s no real physical decline in the narrator. His home environment has shrunk him to a fearful shadow roaming the streets at night, even though he has friends, seems to regularly travel to Washington and still functions as a sexual being but for him his outlook is totally bleak.
Such nihilistic writing might have really appealed were I not on the wrong side of 50. There’s too many nerves being touched and too much triggering going on for this to be anything but a difficult read. There’s also the issue of lightness and shade. There’s little lightness here, where there is humour it is so black it actually drags the reader down further rather than providing relief. Writers like Douglas Stuart have very successfully shown huge ability recently in making difficult subjects not only readable but very entertaining. There’s a balance to be struck, I feel, but Holleran does not permit this here. I’m wondering if this could at least be partly down to the difference between American and British viewpoints where we have a tendency to seek for humour in the darkest times. I can’t just say this book is not for me and leave it at that because this book is exactly for me, but like when I read “Dancer From The Dance” all those years ago, I’m not sure I’m ready for it.
However, all this being said there are very important issues Holleran raises here and he is doing so in a style which will linger on in the reader’s mind and his writing is engrossing and actually really quite seductive (okay, it can be repetitive but I’m putting this down to emphasis). It is no way a disappointment and has the potential to garner much critical praises and win awards but it is just very difficult to see things laid so bare and I felt quite relieved when I finished this book.
The Kingdom Of Sand is published on 9th June 2022 in the UK by Jonathan Cape. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Having loved Dancer from the Dance I was extremely excited to have been granted my request to read this one! Holleran handles with such precision and care the life of an aging gay man. A truly wonderful insight and deep dive into the inner workings of his mind, the loneliness, the anxiety, the fears. Holleran manages to convey all this in such a way that you feel fully connected to the character yet not bogged down by it all, and also has such wonderful elements of guttural funny moments that uplift the piece.
-
A true delight and I couldn’t be more thankful to Netgalley & the publisher for the ARC!

The Kingdom of Sand by Andrew Holleran is a moving novel about aging, being left behind and loneliness.

This is a book about friendship, desire, ageing and contemplating about past and future. It is emotive.

The Kingdom of Sand is a novel about ageing, friendship, and sex, as an unnamed narrator, an older gay man living in rural Florida, reflects on his past and present. Told in episodes, including a central one about the slow death of a close friend, the narrator considers his position in the world: living alone in the house his parents bought, having to go to his sister's for the holidays because he doesn't want to tell her he'd rather be alone, visiting cruising spots, and remembering the past, parties in New York and AIDS and how he ended up staying in Florida.

This is a highly readable book that I felt drawn into, with some initial shorter sections and then a much longer section in the middle that focuses on the narrator's older friend who is dying, and their shared love of movies. The book reflects a lot on ageing as a gay man in America, especially in terms of loneliness and connections, but also on knowing and supporting people who are ill and dealing with what you are left with when people die. That does make it pretty melancholy, but it's not entirely tragic, and the narrator's ways of fitting in and around the world in which he lives, even as it changes, brings a perspective that is complex and contemplative.

I can't think of many other books that explore the lives, friendships, and sex of older gay men, and this one brings to life not only the protagonist, but the Florida setting as well, exploring a place known for old people and retirement. I'm not always one for books made of different length 'episodes' rather than a single plot, but I found this one easy to get into thanks to the writing style and perspective.

I had to DNF at 25%. I couldn't get into this at all, which is a real shame as I was excited to read it.