The Old Devils (New York Review Books Classics)

Kingsley Amis and his son Martin considered this his best novel. In the introduction to this edition, John Banville notes the same ranking. That is saying a lot considering Amis' other novels.It is a merciless book, filled with humor and despair. And booze. Lordy, do these people like to drink. One can speculate if that is an attempt to numb the sense that the grim reaper is approaching, but it is constant. And the memories of love affairs, divorces, pompous spouses, and a life in Wales, are droll. Banville describes this as a single strain which runs through all British comic novels of the last century: despair. There is that in full measure.The writing is superb, of course, filled with great descriptions of landscapes and bars. Characters are related intricately, and need to be closely read to keep track. And some are quite crazy. These are close friends and some have been lovers. But the relationships don't seem warm. It is a lonely book.The end surprised me, and perhaps speaks at the end of all, of redemption.

I enjoyed the book ... almost every page had some sardonic comment that was worth a chuckle.In different sections you follow a different elderly character from a revolving cast of long-time friends. Many of the scenes are written very well, capturing the tiny implications, inferences and innuendo that lie beneath the surface of even the most casual conversation.One problem I had was trying to keep track of the secondary characters, in the end I gave up trying and enjoyed the cynical sarcasm, regardless of what character was supposedly mouthing it.But if you're looking for highly developed characters - or any character development at all - this isn't the book. The men, with one exception, are very similar. Actually, there is one character who surprisingly becomes somewhat sympathetic towards the end of the book, but I think I should pause now and erect the ...======================================SPOILERS ALERT LINE======================================There! Now that we're past that I can talk more freely. At the end it would have been interesting to see how Peter and Rhiannon got on, reunited as lovers (or not?) after all these years. Instead we only hear about it from the outside. Then again, anything more revealing may have been too big a departure from how the rest of the story has been presented. And was Alun's sudden death just a way to get Peter and Rhiannon together again? One senses the meddling of the authorial hand becoming a bit too obvious.

If Amis means only Lucky Jim to you, this book will open your eyes to how he also handles dialogue that is sharp, funny and pointed.The exploitation of each of the characters, their interactions and emotions that whilst buried deep over the years are easily brought to the surface. A darn good read and a lovely book. A refreshing new insight to the traditional 'grumpy' Amis.

In THE OLD DEVILS, Kingsley Amis examines the complex social dependencies that exist among six boozing sixty-something couples. In doing so, he creates three remarkable male characters that seem to originate from aspects of his own personality. These are Alun Weaver, a charming rogue and intellectual operator; Charlie Norris, a phobic alcoholic; and Peter, a fat man weary of modern life who eventually returns to his first love.In writing TOD, Amis developed a book with 10 "parts". While there are exceptions, most of these "parts" are multi-chapter narratives that follow one or two characters through a few hours of their day. Part One, for example, is entitled "Malcolm, Charlie, Peter, and Others" and shows several major characters in TOD as they move towards, and then enjoy, the day's first drink. Meanwhile, Part Two, "Rhiannon and Alun", shows these characters return to Wales, after only second-tier celebrity in England, and reestablish old friendships. Part Three, "Charlie", shows the alcoholic Charlie Weaver on a pub crawl. Here, the reader learns about Charlie's friends and can see how the libertine Alun uses his friends to have and conceal liaisons with their wives. Here, my point is that each "part" exists in a very specific time and place and clearly establishes aspects of Kingsley's characters. TOD, in other words, is a disciplined narrative.TOD is the third Amis novel that I've read. The others are  Lucky Jim (New York Review Books Classics)  and  That Uncertain Feeling (Penguin Modern Classics) , which were Amis's hilarious first and second novels. These are very British and carefully crafted, although Amis's son Martin famously declares that some of Kingsley's sentences, not only in these early novels, are fashioned in oak. In contrast, the sentences in TOD are often loose and even... well... maybe Kingsley wanted a drink and couldn't be bothered to tighten all the screws. For example:"One of Malcolm's troubles, and many others' too, was that he expected not only to follow conversations himself but that those around him should do the same, without any allowance for their being bored, mad, deaf, thick, or drunk without having been seen by him personally to set about becoming so.""... with the low cloud and heavy rain outside, the twilight seemed to closing in already. Never mind that by the calendar it was still summer, the local weather had always had its own ideas on that."This looser style sometimes enables Kingsley's funniest remarks. Even so, this style, which probably captures how certain Brits spoke in the 1980s, does also create occasional cloudiness in the text. For this reason, I think the greatest fans of TOD might well be Brits or those who have spent serious time in England and don't need to think about the shape or center of English phrasing.Regardless, TOD is a compassionate and very funny novel and a worthy winner of the Booker.Recommended.

Having read all of Martin Amis' output including his autobiography 'Experience' where he discussed, at length, his fathers novels, I felt it was about time I went into his writing beyond 'Lucky Jim'. I was aware of Kingsley's fearsome drinking reputation and being something of an old 'piss artist' myself, felt this one would be the place to start. It did not disappoint. I was unprepared for the 'Wales and the Welsh' axis of the novel, but this was integral to the alcoholic them, truly funny and wonderfully observed.The woes, aches and pains, frustrations and frailness of old age are hilariously and tellingly highlighted as an ongoing motif. In all a delightful and dryly hilarious novel, I will certainly be reading more Kingsley Amis.

I do generally like Amis, which is slightly odd with me being a lifelong teetotaller as many of his characters are often drink addled. This book is no exception in that– however this time the women are as pickled as the men.It’s Booker winning, so it must be good :-) , and I did enjoy it, but I do wonder what Welsh folk will have made of this when first published particularly with its South Wales setting but more North Wales feel. The English characters come off almost as badly as the Welsh so hopefully they were not too upset.I must watch the BBC adaption now – particularly as it has the wonderful Ray Smith in it. He won a posthumous BAFTA Cymru Award for his portrayal of Charlie Norris so Welsh folk must have at least liked the TV version.

An interesting range of reviews covering a spectrum from witty, perceptive and sadly truthful about aging, to flat, loosely structured and misogynistic.I recall, just about, the BBC adaptation with John Mills et al, which if memory serves me right – and it may well not – was loosely based on the book rather than attempting to follow the novel faithfully. In any event, I recall laughing uproariously at the time, whereas on finally getting to read the novel and a deal closer to the age of the principal characters, I found it witty at times, certainly, but more often depressing.I do think that the lack of any clear structure is a weakness and for me it is only in the final chapters that the book finally finds its sharp cutting edge. Although, like his erstwhile friend, Philip Larkin, Amis was not without a streak of misogyny, I’m not so sure that the male characters come off a great deal better than the women here. If Alun represents nothing else bar a handsome portion of egotism and spite, he demonstrates how a sharp mind, particularly when fired by regular hefty intakes of alcohol, can still be wedded to a predictable boor. Rhiannon seems to me the most sympathetic of the characters, though I admit there is plenty of room for discussion here. My feeling is that the whole might have had more impact had we known more of the characters’ early lives. Only Charlie really qualifies here, and even then rather sketchily.I very much admire Amis’ non-fiction, his wonderful essay on Jane Austen for example – much as I disagree with it – but have always found the novels have never quite lived up to expectations. Sadly, I’d much hoped for more,but this holds for “The Old Devils” as much as for his earlier more celebrated books.

Sandwiched among the book group’s season of between-the-wars writers, I have my own little season starting: novels with elderly protagonists (because I am writing one). First off the blocks is Amis and his old devils. I have a dim memory of finding this dull in 1987 – not much happening, bar-room bores pontificating, discussion of ailments. How wrong could I be? It is magic hilarity. Lots going on between the lines if you pause to decode it. The bores are brilliantly rendered and the few decent souls are rewarded. Fabulous.

This is a humorous insight into elderly, hard drinking men with ambivalent views of Wales and the welsh. It is very well written with acute observations of human nature. If you want a light read and a chuckle it would be hard to make a better choice.