Quickie Book Review: Any Human Heart by William Boyd (A-)

The first 100 pages of this book or so made me both smile and grimace. The book seemed like a rip-off of The Catcher in the Rye, but set in England with a slightly more social protagonist. Yet, I couldn’t put it down; it was rather entertaining. My only other complaint of the book is that it is so Forrest Gump-esque. The main character, Logan Mountstuart (great name, eh?), is an upper-class boy who becomes a moderately-successful writer and then proceeds to meet like every famous writer and painter of the early to mid-20th century, including Hemmingway, Picasso, Warhol, Ian Fleming and Virginia Woolf (whom he hates). With the help of his writings and a comfortable, though not outrageous, income, he continues to live a rather extraordinary, though under the radar, life. There’s a very interesting thread regarding Logan’s interactions with the Duke of Windsor (the one who abdicated so he could be with Mrs. Wallace Simpson). The relationship that begins sweetly, ends rather bitterly and had me rather intrigued. So much so, that today I’m going to do some research on the Duke’s time in the Bahamas and see if some of the stuff in the book could be true (I’m assuming he had the famous people in the right places at the right times, even if their interactions with the main character were fictional). The book is written like a true memoir and on more than one occasion I had to check myself -- It seems like it’s a real piece of non-fiction. Despite my criticisms, I thought this book was amazing -- Very enjoyable, very honest, and an interesting snapshot of the passing of the 20th century from someone who had “lived in every decade.” It was fun to read about him living in NYC in the 50’s, to hear of what it was like in locations so close to my own apartment just a half century ago. I also appreciated the very real actions of the “hero,” especially in terms of his libido. Heroes are often made a bit too morally pure. This man was no villain, he was just human. There is the occasional beautiful line in the book as well; the kind that always makes me reach for a pen and underline them (though I rarely come back to read what I’ve deemed so noteworthy). I’ll leave one of them for you just below. It’s a bit romantic and stuff, but so am I. Enjoy.

“Funny, these sensual fingerprints left on your imagination, only revealing themselves much later. Like invisible ink emerging when warmed by a light bulb or candleflame. What was it about [her] that sneaked its way into my sexual archive?”