Book Review: "Down There on a Visit" by Christopher Isherwood

I have read many books by Christopher Isherwood in my time, including the books: Mr Norris Changes Trains, The Berlin Trilogy, A Single Man, The Memorial, Prater Violet and Christopher and His Kind. Honestly, I have never really found a bad book written by him. More often than not, the books are engrossing with references to the decadent and slightly dark glamour of his lifestyle and travels, a back and forth of conversations with a twist of philosophical speculation and finally, a critique on the on-coming social upheavals of the average person. In this book Down There on a Visit, I saw that there was a hint of this yet again, mixed with the sense that there are four different narrators all with the same name. Again, this is the mystery of Christopher Isherwood - the narrator is always changing in their years and their perspective from place to place.

In London, 1928 - the title of the chapter is Mr Lancaster and the narrator is 'Christopher'. It is about a travel to Germany upon a vessell called the Coriolanus - supposedly after the Shakespeare play. As Christopher gets to know Mr Lancaster, it is clear there is something horribly wrong and, as Mr Lancaster becomes more and more like a father gigure to Christopher, it becomes more and more apparent that the man is spiralling into some kind of depression. Complete with brilliant narration and darkness clouding reasonable thought, there is a hint as to why some people call this Christopher Isherwood's greatest book.

The second part entitled Ambrose, is about Christopher Isherwood's travels to Greek Islands with his friend. There is a rumour to who Ambrose is based on and people seem to conclude that the person he is based on is WH Auden. Complete with snakes, insects and mischief, there is a lot to be said about the differences between the Cambridge location and the beauty of the Greek Islands. Again the narration is fantastic and always tinted with this want for meaning - Christopher Isherwood kind of makes you glad to be alive even though the world may be falling to pieces.

"After the short, furious sunset breeze, it gets so still that the night doesn’t seem external; it’s more like being in a huge room without a ceiling..."

1938 and beginning in Dover, the part entitled Waldemar is about how Christopher Isherwood contemplates the role of class comes into everyday life. He wants to bring his friend home and is saddened when his family treat his friend as a lower-class man with no social standing as opposed to their son's friend. It seems to be set after a trip to China and yet again, our narrator is a different person - a little bit more emotional than the previous section. This, out of all of the parts, is probably the weakest if I had to put them in order of how good they were.

In 1940 in Los Angeles, the part entitled Paul begins. As Christopher Isherwood investigates Buddhism, he tries to also connect on a more emotional level with a male prostitute he meets. Many people think this is the worst part of the book but honestly, I think it gives more of an insight into Christopher's own life than any of the other parts give about our narrator especially. After all, it is Paul who makes the joke for which the book is named: Down There on a Visit. - Ultimately, I think this part of the book is possibly the saddest, and also the most intriguing of Christopher Isherwood's character.

In conlusion, I found this book to be witty, tense and sad all at the same time, there are several instances where you do need to just stop reading to reflect and paragraphs in which severe contemplation is reserved by the narrator, pushed out towards the reader and requiring of understanding. It really does feel like the narrator, whoever they are and whichever Christopher they are, is talking right to you, explaining the ups and downs of their life as the Second World War begins to take shape.