This is my second contribution to the 1962 Club, hosted by Simon and Kaggsy, which is running all week. Do check out all the wonderful posts!
I picked up Life at the Top by John Braine because it is the sequel to Room at the Top (1957) which I really rated, with its depiction of the postwar north of England and Joe Lampton’s determination to leave his working -class life behind, whilst juggling complex sexual relationships. Life at the Top I didn’t find as compelling, but there was still a lot to enjoy.
Set ten years after Room at the Top, the novel follows Joe as he lives the life he thought he always wanted. Even if you’ve not read the first novel, take a guess as to how that’s working out for him 😀
“The truth was that I actually wanted a drink now, I wanted something to blur things slightly, to put a haze between me and the pink wallpaper and the pink cupboards and the white refrigerator and the electric oven and the mixing machine and the pink wall table and the pink covered stool; it was too bright and shiny and hygienic at eight o’clock on a March morning with Harling Crescent quiet under the weight of Sunday, it reminded me rather too coldly that I was thirty-five and a father of two children and at least ten pounds overweight.”
Joe adores his young daughter Barbara but feels alienated from his son Harry, who has been sent away to a school of his grandfather’s choosing. He and his wife Susan still sexually desire one another, but there seems to be little intimacy. Working at the family firm (Susan’s family), Joe is frustrated:
“I had stopped wanting things. I wanted power, power to put through my own ideas; I wanted to be taken seriously, I wanted to be something more than the boss’s son-in-law.”
He is going to become a local councillor, but that doesn’t suggest fulfilment to him (nor should it, bloomin’ Tory! 😀 )
“The prosperous middle-aged grumblers, the solid sensible citizens; I would sit here or in the committee room listening to them; taking great care not to offend them, and without my realising it, I would become exactly like them. Waiting my turn to grumble, waiting my turn for thrombosis, waiting my turn for death.”
So what does Joe do? Talk honestly with his nearest and dearest? Seek out a life of authenticity? Reflect honestly on the deep-rooted cause of his dissatisfaction and what he can do to make his life more fulfilling? No, of course not. He starts an affair with an attractive young journalist named Norah Hauxley and runs away to London. The shadow of his former lover (from Room at the Top) still looms large, and I felt Alice was really the only woman Joe had loved:
“She was grown up. I hadn’t met a grown up woman in ten years, and for ten years I hadn’t felt the need to be with one. And Alice, even Alice, had been broken somewhere, she had lost the habit of happiness.”
Joe is not likable. He takes decisions that hurt others. He behaves selfishly. He’s a bit of a misogynist.But still I found myself staying alongside him as narrator, because he’s so honest. He doesn’t ask the reader to like him, because he doesn’t much like himself. I thought Braine did a brilliant job of presenting a man so of his time, and so completely believable.
Life at the Top doesn’t have a huge amount of plot, but I found it a compelling read in its honesty, particularly around flawed human relationships.
“I looked at her in surprise; I had not felt so close to her since we were first married. But I made no move to comfort her.”
Life at the Top is a short read, and I may not have stuck with it had it been longer. But as it was it was well-judged, and there are some developments in Joe’s familial relationships toward the end that I found truly moving. I’m glad the 1962 Club prompted me to finally pick this one up after it had been languishing in the TBR for many a year.
Life at the Top was adapted into a film in 1965, with the magnetic Laurence Harvey, who also starred in Room at the Top. Unfortunately the director changed from the first excellent film, and although I tried to watch the sequel, I found it so heavy-handed and unsubtle compared to the book that I gave up. But it did make me appreciate the book more!
So rather than a trailer for the film, here’s a 1962 song about rain, which the West Yorkshire town of Warley would be no stranger to:
I had forgotten all about this but I was very taken up with 50’s/’60’s lit and film when I was in my 20’s, thanks for the reminder. I love that cold, shiny description!
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Yes me too Jane! I watched a lot of the kitchen sink dramas in my 20s – and weirdly, I absolutely loved The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner when I was about six years old, I’ve no idea what I took from it then 😀
That cold shiny description is very evocative isn’t it? I could absolutely picture the kitchen.
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Well your review was very interesting–got me wanting to read the first book. I wonder how a real life guy like that would have dealt with a son shipped off to boarding school at a young age. Such a horrific practice
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Just recently I was listening to Ade Edmondson on Desert Island Discs and he was describing a deeply-felt, enduring sense of abandonment from being sent to boarding school. It was really moving. I have a friend who loved it, but I know I would have found it impossible as a child to manage as a boarder.
I hope you enjoy the first book! The film is a faithful adaptation too.
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Lord Spencer (Di’s brother) has a new book about to come out on being sent away to school. I won’t buy it, but I will read it. I can’t imagine how that feels if you don’t want to go.
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I didn’t know that – it does sound interesting. Like you I won’t buy it, but I’ll look out for the interviews he’s bound to do!
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Fascinating choice Madame B, and a book that really does sound of its time! I’ve not read Braine, although I think Eldest Child studied him at Uni (which makes me feel very old…)
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It’s definitely of it’s time! It’s an interesting piece of social commentary in that way. That is astonishing that he’s being studied at Uni now!
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I think Room at the Top was directed by Jack Clayton (who also made The Pumpkin Eater and The Innocents). What a shame he didn’t direct this sequel and it sounds like an interesting book. I loved the earlier novel (and Clayton’s film – Simone Signoret is terrific!), so I’ll keep an eye out for Braine’s follow-up. Your first quote is terrific – I can just imagine Joe Lampton saying that!
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It’s such a shame he didn’t direct the sequel too! I could be being unfair as I gave up after about 20 mins but it was disappointing. Simone Signoret is completely wonderful in that first film! I didn’t know he’d also directed The Pumpkin Eater – it is one I want to see.
I hope you enjoy this if you get to it Jacqui 🙂
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Thanks! I think you would love the film of The Pumpkin Eater. It’s terrific. I think it popped up on Talking Pictures a few years ago, so maybe they’ll show it again. 🤞
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I have read the first one but not this one – I have to say what a fab edition you have there, too. I went through a phase of these, too, a long while ago now. I wonder what older me would think of them!
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Yes I don’t normally like film tie-in covers but I quite liked this one! I’m sure the casual misogyny of those works would hit me a lot more now than it did then. I wouldn’t mind a revisit though…
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You have me interested enough to want to look up the first book certainly. Not sure how much I will get along with Joe, but at least the journey should be an interesting one.
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Joe’s not very likeable for sure, but he is totally believable. I hope you enjoy the book if you get to it Mallika, and the film adaptation is good too!
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What an incredible choice for the 1962 club, I haven’t read either this or the earlier novel but you’ve sparked my interest.
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They are very much of their time, and interesting in that way. The earlier book I felt was stronger, but Joe is always engaging, even though not always very likeable!
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I went through a phase of reading the “angry young men” back in my twenties, when they were still relatively contemporary. I’ve often wondered if they have held up so I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this one. Maybe I’ll revisit one or two…
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This did seem very much of its time, but I think the believable characterisation meant it was still an interesting read all these years later.
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