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A review by poisonenvy
A Marriage Below Zero by Alan Dale
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A Marriage Below Zero is one of the very first novels in English literature to feature a same-sex, male/male relationship in it.
In it, the young Elise falls in love with Arthur, a charming young man who is the very close friend of Captain Dillington. They are, in fact, so close that they are known jeeringly as Damon and Pythias.
Her marriage is not happy, though, and though she suspects another woman, all she finds is Captain Jack Dillington.
Elise is sometimes funny, though often caustic, and I suspect that Alan Dale/Alfred Cohen has never really spoken to a woman (not seriously, at least; the book is filled with thinly veiled misogyny). And it's not exactly a pro-gay, either. But it's not as egregious in either front as one might expect from a novel written in the Victorian Era, and it still managed to entertain me throughout.
In it, the young Elise falls in love with Arthur, a charming young man who is the very close friend of Captain Dillington. They are, in fact, so close that they are known jeeringly as Damon and Pythias.
Her marriage is not happy, though, and though she suspects another woman, all she finds is Captain Jack Dillington.
Elise is sometimes funny, though often caustic, and I suspect that Alan Dale/Alfred Cohen has never really spoken to a woman (not seriously, at least; the book is filled with thinly veiled misogyny). And it's not exactly a pro-gay, either. But it's not as egregious in either front as one might expect from a novel written in the Victorian Era, and it still managed to entertain me throughout.