The City and the Pillar

I wish I knew the name, so that I could thank him properly, of the handsome young man who lived in Powell Hall and took me to West Sands one night in October 2020 and recommended this book to me. He was so intellectual, and seemed like a devoted athlete too. I told him of Harvard's uncencored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and he said he thought Gore Vidal was like the Oscar Wilde of our era. I think I can see what he meant by that.
  I think this is a good book. There might be some interesting ideas in it. But I also think that I truly did not like the religious interest that Jim had for Bob. It remined me of Love in the Time of Cholera. At the time I really liked the religious interest that Florentino had for Fermina. But I was 16 years old then. Now I truly understand what Fermina meant when she exclaimed "Pobre hombre" when she saw Florentino again after many years of not seeing him. That idea of love is one that I now no longer find desirable. I was also surprised at how monosexual Jim seemed to be. I guess that is how most people think of themselves. Except, for some reason, I was expecting Jim to be... different.
  I do recommend this book. It might be the best I have read of its genre, whichever that might be.

"Everyone is by nature bisexual," said the gray-haired man. "Society, early conditioning, good or bad luck—depending on how you were told to look at it—determine the result. Nothing is 'right.' Only denial of instinct is wrong."
  (Vidal, G. The City and the Pillar. p. 200. United States of America: Vintage Books, 2018.)