Customer Reviews:
 'Nowt but drizzle and mist' May 27, 2008
Kitchen sink realism provided Post-war British culture with some of its finest moments in film and TV drama and fiction. David Storey's 1960 novel falls very much into that era and genre. The story takes place in the mud-and-macho world of rugby league in a grimy northern industrial town and opens with the narrator Arthur Machin getting his teeth knocked out during a match. He then double backs on his life to his initial trials for his local club side and we follow him through his years of ambition, struggle and low-level success. He continues to work at the local factory, though, the owner of which is one of the of the small-time capitalists who runs the club. Arthur lives in dingy lodgings where he develops a kind of inept physical relationship with his landlady, the recently widowed Mrs Hammond. As a rugby league professional he is a `glamour' figure to the locals and earns enough money to provide her and her two young children with a decent standard of living. However, Mrs Hammond, a pitiful and desperate woman, fails to understand or appreciate the sincerity of the affection that he gives her. Their pathetic and volatile relationship is the most frustrating and moving part of the book. Most of the other characters, mainly players, are, like Machin himself; ambitious, greedy, macho and insensitive (in public, at least). Women's role in society at that period is made cynically clear by Arthur Machin: `Women are never anything but mothers. There's never a wife been born yet...Mothers or prostitutes - that's women.'
The author writes with the typical gritty, straight-talking style associated with that part of England and cleverly portrays the subtle nuances and petty snobberies that used to exist within the working classes until the 1980s, as well as the emerging (at that time) clash between generations. It is, though, a rather depressing and dated book and depicts a vision of northern life and people that they are still struggling to shake off today.
Very good read June 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this novel. I have played rugby and so I have decent knowledge of the sport, but this didn't make a difference, as the book is primarily about the main character's relationships, mainly with his landlady. The book is gripping from beginning to end, and has a suitably depressing feel, as Arther (A rugby league player) struggles to deal with his life, whilst continuing in the same unaffected manner, often quite destructively. This is what is so fascinating about the character, and I must admit that David Storey is very good at writing fascinating but believable characters. Thoroughly recommended.
Neglected Classic October 22, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have never played rugby, I don't watch the game, and I only have a vague grasp of the rules, but I found this novel interesting and absorbing - and I read almost all of it standing up on crowded trains. Few people seem to know of the book, and those that do only know that it exists because they have seen the film. This is a shame. The novel deserves more attention.
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