Author: Edward St. Aubyn
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Farrar, Straus And Giroux
Publication Date: June 1st, 2021
Book Description: Double Blind follows three close friends and their circle through a year of extraordinary transformation. Set inLondon, Cap d’Antibes, Big Sur, and a rewilded corner of Sussex, this thrilling, ambitious novel is about the headlong pursuit of knowledge—for the purposes of pleasure, revelation, money, sanity, or survival—and the consequences of fleeing from what we know about others and ourselves.
When Olivia meets a new lover just as she is welcoming her best friend, Lucy, back from New York, her dedicated academic life expands precipitously. Her connection to Francis, a committed naturalist living off the grid, is immediate and startling. Eager to involve Lucy in her joy, Olivia introduces the two—but Lucy has received shocking news of her own that binds the trio unusually close. Over the months that follow, Lucy’s boss, Hunter, Olivia’s psychoanalyst parents, and a young man named Sebastian are pulled into the friends’ orbit, and not one of them will emerge unchanged.
Expansive, playful, and compassionate, Edward St. Aubyn’s Double Blind investigates themes of inheritance, determinism, freedom, consciousness, and the stories we tell about ourselves. It is as compelling about ecology, psychoanalysis, genetics, and neuroscience as it is about love, fear, and courage. Most of all, it is a perfect expression of the interconnections it sets out to examine, and a moving evocation of an imagined world that is deeply intelligent, often tender, curious, and very much alive.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review: Centered around four main characters, this is the story of friendship and love while in your 30’s. Lucy has just moved to England to run the London office of eccentric billionaire and businessman Hunter. In England she is excited to be close to her best friend Olivia who has just started a relationship with Francis, a naturalist living off the grid.
Early on Lucy gets a horrible diagnosis of brain cancer after suffering leg spasms. Hunter becomes enthralled by Lucy and they eventually start a relationship, and along with Olivia they will do anything to support her.
St. Aubyn, writes so many themes in this book there is a lot to analyze, however in it it’s simplest forms, this is a story of relationships. There is a lot of side characters throughout, that can be a little bit annoying, as I wanted to focus on our four protagonists. Overall I enjoyed this one. I think this would be an excellent book to read in a group setting to breakdown all the elements St. Aubyn is trying to convey.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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