The Charioteer/Mary Renault/380 pp.

A lot of the books I read and review (including this one) are what I've referred to as MULSA book sale rejects. This simply means that the book has gone through the book sale shelves (Ellis copy service area, by the way) and, for whatever reason, have not been purchased. I grab some of them, read them, review them, and return them to be run through the sale again.
Most of Mary Renault's novels have been on classical history themes - Alexander the Great, Greek mythology, etc. In contrast, this story takes place in World War II-era Britain. Laurie Odell is a British soldier, injured at Dunkirk and recovering in a military hospital. He becomes friends with Andrew, a young conscientious objector who is working at the hospital; as their friendship progresses, Laurie begins to find himself attracted to Andrew, but is afraid to act on his feelings; in 1940s Britain, being a homosexual is still against the law, and he would face court-martial if his sexuality were discovered. Laurie is sent to a hospital in a neighboring town to undergo medical treatment; while there he becomes reacquainted with Ralph, a classmate from his public-school days. Ralph had been kicked out of school under a cloud of suspicion, and Laurie discovers that the reason for his expulsion was that he had been in a relationship with another male student. Laurie is torn between his feelings for Ralph and his affections for Andrew. The novel also deals with feelings toward homosexuals in the mid-20th century, and shows the fine line that gays (in and out of uniform) had to walk during this time.
While I enjoyed reading this book, there are parts that were confusing to me. Some of the slang that was used by various groups in the book (public-school students, soldiers, gays) and even, to some extent, everyday British speech were difficult to understand, and made for slow going at the beginning of the book. The very British habit of not speaking of "difficult" subjects leads to a lot of vague and confusing conversations; I tried to work some of these things out through the surrounding context, but in some instances I was left wondering what was being discussed. One of Laurie's fellow patients attempts to let Laurie know that he's aware of Laurie's sexuality and his relationship with Andrew, and that he's OK with it, but I only figured this out a couple chapters later, by other conversations they have. In fact, the reasons for Laurie's final decision between his two suitors is still a bit cloudy for me due to the vagueness of dialogue.
Overall, though, I did enjoy this book, for the way it tackled such difficult subjects as homosexuality and conscientious objection.