Tiepolo Blue
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Tiepolo Blue
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Narrated by:
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Barnaby Edwards
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By:
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James Cahill
About this listen
A BBC Books of 2022 pick.
An exquisite debut novel. A mid-life coming-of-age story charting one man's sexual awakening and his spectacular fall from grace in 1990s London, raising questions about art and beauty, sex and censure.
Ben turns and grins ironically. 'When you stopped just now and looked at the sky, you weren't measuring it. You weren't thinking about classical proportion. You were feeling something.'
Cambridge, 1994. Professor Don Lamb is a revered art historian at the height of his powers, consumed by the book he is writing about the skies of the Venetian master Tiepolo. However, his academic brilliance belies a deep inexperience of life and love.
When an explosive piece of contemporary art is installed on the lawn of his college, it sets in motion Don's abrupt departure from Cambridge to take up a role at a south London museum. There he befriends Ben, a young artist who draws him into the anarchic 1990s British art scene and the nightlife of Soho.
Over the course of one long, hot summer, Don glimpses a liberating new existence. But his epiphany is also a moment of self-reckoning, as his oldest friendship—and his own unexamined past—are revealed to him in a devastating new light. As Don's life unravels, he suffers a fall from grace that that shatters his world into pieces.
©2022 James Cahill (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Tiepolo Blue
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hedgerley
- 17-12-22
Unmissable read
This is a wonderful book. Beautiful drawn characters in a disturbing story of love, loss and maybe revenge?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- the typist
- 13-06-22
A new classic
LGBTQ + literary fiction is niche to say the least. For some reason there seems to be an absolute dearth of intelligent gay stories. So this, unsurprisingly, is an absolute gem. The writing is sublime, the characterisation spot-on and the story heart wrenching. It works on so many levels, the themes layered like a delicious but ultimately deadly mille feuille. More than anything however, it speaks to the truth that being gay – even as recently as the 1990s – meant subterfuge and sometimes an entire masking of self. To boot, narrator couldn’t be more perfect for the job.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Chloe Rawlings
- 23-02-24
Interesting
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed listening and felt the performance was exceptional. But elements of the story and some of the characters were, I thought, highly implausible. Still, a good way to spend a few hours.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hemmel M.
- 09-06-22
Depressing
How to rate an unfinished novel? I recognized good penmanship and the narration was great. But the story is so depressing I dislike it. The foreboding feeling when following Don's lonely life, manipulated by a villainous character, was to strong for me. Don is a naive idiot and I don't want to know more about his life after listening 50%. I was waiting for the love interest but am afraid that will end depressing, too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nick Hart
- 06-04-23
Intriguing
Amusing and interesting story with some great characters. It’s extremely well read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tracey Nicholls
- 29-08-22
An intelligent read
A beautiful, often subtle, sometimes shocking read. Not your average book. A new masterpiece.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- davidmcewen
- 22-10-22
Great narration
Wonderful reading and great novel - I think I would get even more out of a second listening. It is certainly worth that
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- GC
- 24-02-23
Brilliant Debut Novel
I listened to this after reading a favourable review in the Times Literary Supplement. In somes ways the protagonist, Dr Don Lamb, reminds me of Lucky Jim, and there are a few genuinely funny episodes. However, this book is ultimately darker than Amis' novel. A very promising debut novel, that benefits from Barnaby Edwards' superb narration.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Gerard
- 29-09-23
Well made but not very interesting
A well made novel. Competent storytelling and well read by Barnaby Edwards. A little too transparent. Somewhat unlikely, set as it is in 1994. A bit dated for a first novel, not exactly a new voice on the literary scene. A pleasant enough way to pass the time waiting for a bus.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Chris
- 22-01-23
No Swimmingpool Library this ...
As a debut novel, one can only think that this writer will soon feel embarrassed by this painful farrago. With a main character who is so accident prone that one can only believe that the author does not like him, (I wonder which Oxford don Don is based on - guess who!); with a plot that has so many holes in it that, since it is not comedic, it is just not funny (who threatens to pull out of financing an exhibition that's already been paid for, and just because he's seen a strange incident involving the hapless hero?); and who could be surprised in 1994 that Caravaggio painted his young lovers, after Derek Jarman's 1986 movie about the artist? It is as though the novelist has not done his research - especially into unprotected sex in the decade when AIDS (which gets a mere one sentence mention) was all gay men thought about. This is dreck.
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