Strangely enough though not surprisingly I felt no further forward in my understanding of this novel, the 1986 Booker Winner, than when I had first started. This isn't to say it isn't well written with some really quite funny moments, the descriptive passages in it are very good indeed. But I always felt I was missing something important; that a page had fallen from the book or something. Set as it is in early 80's Wales with its characters all in retirement drinking Wales dry as it said in the blurb. Drinking features heavily indeed with most of the dialogue in pubs, over drinks after pubs, over another scotch and soda, after another glass of wine, whilst opening a bottle of wine or even driving to a pub. Rekindling lost romance and old friendships the characters appear to stumble from one drinks party to another, so the reader unless drunk oneself soon loses all cognitive reason.
I doubt that this novel has really stood the test of time, concerned as it is with South Wales and its change from industrial heartland to tourist trap. The rise of the welsh language on signs along with its English counterparts is the basis for some quite funny passages, the characters are all born in Wales but are university educated with the main protagonist being a scholar, TV personality and one time Poet who has followed in the footsteps of an earlier Welsh poet who has now become popular and the reason for much of the local tourism. They see themselves as Welsh but the attempted return to Celtic heritage, with the rise of the language and the tourists leaves them ostracised, with sometimes hilarious consequences especially when they try to find the pubs they used to enjoy but find them either ultra modern for modern times or turned into old fashioned themed pubs. There are some quite funny passages about welsh culture & language that may not go down too well nowadays but they are funny.
All this said the dialogue and the many different characters make it hard to see what the author is trying to get across. The people in their twilight years attempt to rekindle their past but it is all so confusing and intertwined that I found it almost impossible to find out what actually what was going on. The humorous passages barely making up for the times when only a very large Scotch or at least a couple of glasses of wine would have helped with understanding. Trying to understand what was the earlier relationship between the characters muddles what little plot there is and makes the narrative slow and unwieldy. I understand the Kingsley Amis had written many many books before his death in 1995 but this in my honest opinion may have got the Booker as a lifetime achievement award. I doubt now that this is his best work, I didn't enjoy it and doubt that it will find much resonance with today's readers.
I doubt that this novel has really stood the test of time, concerned as it is with South Wales and its change from industrial heartland to tourist trap. The rise of the welsh language on signs along with its English counterparts is the basis for some quite funny passages, the characters are all born in Wales but are university educated with the main protagonist being a scholar, TV personality and one time Poet who has followed in the footsteps of an earlier Welsh poet who has now become popular and the reason for much of the local tourism. They see themselves as Welsh but the attempted return to Celtic heritage, with the rise of the language and the tourists leaves them ostracised, with sometimes hilarious consequences especially when they try to find the pubs they used to enjoy but find them either ultra modern for modern times or turned into old fashioned themed pubs. There are some quite funny passages about welsh culture & language that may not go down too well nowadays but they are funny.
All this said the dialogue and the many different characters make it hard to see what the author is trying to get across. The people in their twilight years attempt to rekindle their past but it is all so confusing and intertwined that I found it almost impossible to find out what actually what was going on. The humorous passages barely making up for the times when only a very large Scotch or at least a couple of glasses of wine would have helped with understanding. Trying to understand what was the earlier relationship between the characters muddles what little plot there is and makes the narrative slow and unwieldy. I understand the Kingsley Amis had written many many books before his death in 1995 but this in my honest opinion may have got the Booker as a lifetime achievement award. I doubt now that this is his best work, I didn't enjoy it and doubt that it will find much resonance with today's readers.
