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sparky_sparky_boom_man's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
steve_h's review against another edition
2.0
I found this book a bit tedious and hard to feel much empathy for any of the characters. Plus, they didn't even drink decent booze?
biaseelaender's review against another edition
2.0
"Somebody's got to say all those things."
"Oh no they haven't. Well wait a minute, perhaps they have. There's an awful lot of filling-in to be done in life, isn't there?"
There's an awful lot of filling-in between the covers of this book. I understand that this is a novel about retired people getting drunk and cheating on each other, and a lot of the monotony was showing us just how empty their lives are. I was just so bored.
After "Lucky Jim", this was especially disappointing. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, such as when the men reflect upon the couple who can never be found at the same place at the same time ("see, if we were in a detective story, there'd only be one of them"), or one particularly nice chapter which focuses on the events of one night. There were some great lines in here, it just didn't hold together as a novel.
Altogether, I just wanted it to end. So badly. Anyway, here are some characters whose POV we did not get who would have made this much more fun:
- NELLY, the black lab puppy. Amis' descriptions of her actions were so spot-on, she made everything better and got me temporarily interested.
-VICTOR, Charlie's gay brother who is the only sane person in this town and also drove I don't know how many miles in the middle of the night to give him his anxiety meds after Al*m screwed up. He is also solely responsible for the restaurant that's supposed to be his and Charlie's.
-DOROTHY, the drunken old lady who just wants to share her encyclopaedic knowledge about New Zealand and Russian and everything but gets shut off because all everyone ever wants to talk about is who is cheating on whom.
-PERCY, Dorothy's husband.
-DUNCAN, Al*m's deaf brother who "doesn't like to be spoken to because people expect him to say things back". Same.
Final thoughts, so I never have to think of this book again:
- I want to free Nelly the lab from those pages
-Rhiannon is like an elderly version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Manic Pixie Dream Senior Citizen.
-Peter and Rhiannon are actually perfect for each other, as they both seem to not care about anything in particular. Neutral Neutrals.
-Charlie's roasting of Al*m's book was spot-on.
"Oh no they haven't. Well wait a minute, perhaps they have. There's an awful lot of filling-in to be done in life, isn't there?"
There's an awful lot of filling-in between the covers of this book. I understand that this is a novel about retired people getting drunk and cheating on each other, and a lot of the monotony was showing us just how empty their lives are. I was just so bored.
After "Lucky Jim", this was especially disappointing. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, such as when the men reflect upon the couple who can never be found at the same place at the same time ("see, if we were in a detective story, there'd only be one of them"), or one particularly nice chapter which focuses on the events of one night. There were some great lines in here, it just didn't hold together as a novel.
Altogether, I just wanted it to end. So badly. Anyway, here are some characters whose POV we did not get who would have made this much more fun:
- NELLY, the black lab puppy. Amis' descriptions of her actions were so spot-on, she made everything better and got me temporarily interested.
-VICTOR, Charlie's gay brother who is the only sane person in this town and also drove I don't know how many miles in the middle of the night to give him his anxiety meds after Al*m screwed up. He is also solely responsible for the restaurant that's supposed to be his and Charlie's.
-DOROTHY, the drunken old lady who just wants to share her encyclopaedic knowledge about New Zealand and Russian and everything but gets shut off because all everyone ever wants to talk about is who is cheating on whom.
-PERCY, Dorothy's husband.
-DUNCAN, Al*m's deaf brother who "doesn't like to be spoken to because people expect him to say things back". Same.
Final thoughts, so I never have to think of this book again:
- I want to free Nelly the lab from those pages
-Rhiannon is like an elderly version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Manic Pixie Dream Senior Citizen.
-Peter and Rhiannon are actually perfect for each other, as they both seem to not care about anything in particular. Neutral Neutrals.
-Charlie's roasting of Al*m's book was spot-on.
lisa_setepenre's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't mind this, but I didn't like it. I won't be keeping a copy on my shelves.
thebobsphere's review against another edition
3.0
Like many others, my first Kingsley Amis was Lucky Jim , which I remember reading in the summer of 1998. I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished it off in one sitting. So I was glad to have the chance to tackle another one.
Ah well
I was very disappointed with The Old Devils – yes it’s a satire on Welsh mentality and academia but I found the prose so dry and stilted that the humour didn’t even have an affect on me anymore.
Basically the novel revolves a group of ageing friends and their wives who booze around all day, that is until local hero Alun returns to Wales with his wife. What ensues are affairs , meditations on art, how modern life is rubbish and values. Eventually something happens to Alun which changes the lives these men lead.
I really wanted to love this book but I couldn’t. Maybe a second reading in ten years time?
Ah well
I was very disappointed with The Old Devils – yes it’s a satire on Welsh mentality and academia but I found the prose so dry and stilted that the humour didn’t even have an affect on me anymore.
Basically the novel revolves a group of ageing friends and their wives who booze around all day, that is until local hero Alun returns to Wales with his wife. What ensues are affairs , meditations on art, how modern life is rubbish and values. Eventually something happens to Alun which changes the lives these men lead.
I really wanted to love this book but I couldn’t. Maybe a second reading in ten years time?
eddie's review against another edition
4.0
Dear Goodreads
I confess the Amises father & son are two writers I have an implacable, irrational block against. This is the first Kingsley I’ve read & I only read it because I am working my way through all the Booker Prize Winners & I picked up a cheap first edition at Any Amount of Books.
Loved it.
He writes English like an angel. The novel chronicles the misadventures of a group of well-to-do aging 1980s reprobates, with nothing to do but drink themselves silly and gossip idly. The narrative follows their aimless and chaotic existence but is anything but chaotic itself: structure, plot, character, language all as tight as a drum and delivering sharply accurate observation. This really is a master firing at peak ability.
Amis really doesn’t miss a single human frailty to mock, frequently harshly: but there is warmth and human sympathy there as well. A quick glance at Kingsley’s own life will suggest just how much of this novel is autobiographical, and made of searing regrets. I felt the last couple of lines were addressed directly to his ex-wife, but who can really say. This won the Booker Prize in 1986.
I confess the Amises father & son are two writers I have an implacable, irrational block against. This is the first Kingsley I’ve read & I only read it because I am working my way through all the Booker Prize Winners & I picked up a cheap first edition at Any Amount of Books.
Loved it.
He writes English like an angel. The novel chronicles the misadventures of a group of well-to-do aging 1980s reprobates, with nothing to do but drink themselves silly and gossip idly. The narrative follows their aimless and chaotic existence but is anything but chaotic itself: structure, plot, character, language all as tight as a drum and delivering sharply accurate observation. This really is a master firing at peak ability.
Amis really doesn’t miss a single human frailty to mock, frequently harshly: but there is warmth and human sympathy there as well. A quick glance at Kingsley’s own life will suggest just how much of this novel is autobiographical, and made of searing regrets. I felt the last couple of lines were addressed directly to his ex-wife, but who can really say. This won the Booker Prize in 1986.