I Look Divine

I never realized that this book would be "lost" so soon. Nor did I know that it is supposed to be homoerotic novel while reading it. Since I don't play for that team it didn't occur to me. I Look Divine by Christopher Coe is so much more than that. A hidden gem of a book that is well worth the trouble of finding a used copy. A great tale of one man's obsession with himself through his loving brother's eyes.

"I Look Divine" is a eulogy of mixed feeling narrated by one man of many good qualities about his brilliant, beautiful and rich brother, Nicholas, whose gift and curse is that he possesses to too great an excess too many "good" qualities. Reading the book is like looking at a series of snapshots, a family album arranged as a narrative, and the marriage of writing and photography in the novel is absolutely successful. Many wrenchingly funny moments counterbalance, but do not distract from, the tragedy that is the life of a man who has too much. The gay sensibility of the novel is exquisite. Each sentence charms. This is the most tightly written book I have ever encountered.