The Folks That Live On The Hill

Rating:
Summary: Not Amis' best
Review: I have been a great fan of Kingsley Amis from the days of "Lucky Jim." Nothing is more refreshing than his dry wit, his cynicism, and his hilarious descriptions of various people in various stages of intoxication. Probably the best English writer since Trollope, although completely different. This book was, I believe, written in Amis' later years and it shows. It contains an overwhelming number of rather poorly defined characters and a thin and hard-to-follow plot. Harry Caldecote, the main character, is fairly well developed but the many others appear and disappear with uncomfortable regularity. The plot seems to have been formulated (to borrow one of Amis' favorite phrases) by "a group of high-grade mental defectives unacquainted with each other." Nevertheless, it does provide some very enjoyable moments but is not up to par with his normal 5 star work.

Rating:
Summary: Not Amis' best
Review: I have been a great fan of Kingsley Amis from the days of "Lucky Jim." Nothing is more refreshing than his dry wit, his cynicism, and his hilarious descriptions of various people in various stages of intoxication. Probably the best English writer since Trollope, although completely different. This book was, I believe, written in Amis' later years and it shows. It contains an overwhelming number of rather poorly defined characters and a thin and hard-to-follow plot. Harry Caldecote, the main character, is fairly well developed but the many others appear and disappear with uncomfortable regularity. The plot seems to have been formulated (to borrow one of Amis' favorite phrases) by "a group of high-grade mental defectives unacquainted with each other." Nevertheless, it does provide some very enjoyable moments but is not up to par with his normal 5 star work.

Rating:
Summary: Not Amis' best
Review: I have been a great fan of Kingsley Amis from the days of "Lucky Jim." Nothing is more refreshing than his dry wit, his cynicism, and his hilarious descriptions of various people in various stages of intoxication. Probably the best English writer since Trollope, although completely different. This book was, I believe, written in Amis' later years and it shows. It contains an overwhelming number of rather poorly defined characters and a thin and hard-to-follow plot. Harry Caldecote, the main character, is fairly well developed but the many others appear and disappear with uncomfortable regularity. The plot seems to have been formulated (to borrow one of Amis' favorite phrases) by "a group of high-grade mental defectives unacquainted with each other." Nevertheless, it does provide some very enjoyable moments but is not up to par with his normal 5 star work.

Rating:
Summary: Hazards and haplessness in a London neighborhood
Review: I picked up this novel with a preconceived notion about what I would find. After all, I had read the maverick son's works and assumed that their dark, contemporary atmosphere was a reaction to the father's stalwart British character. Consequently, just from the title alone, I gleaned an image of the happy goings-on of a small, gregarious community who might meet for tea and air their church-oriented disagreements at the local garden sale, tra la, tra la. NO WAY.

The writing is immediately engaging, especially the dialog which moves fasts and twists sharply. Nothing is what it seems. No one is content. Everyone is getting on with their daily business while covering a deeply discordant nature. The most dramatic example of this desolate irony is when the three very adult children take a taxi to lunch with their aged mother still living nearby where they grew up. It's an awful afternoon: no wants to be there, they don't enjoy each other's company; everyone participates in the charade of a happy family gathering. The author's voice is terribly, that is, fiercely, strong in his cynical and ironic commentary on these people. It is sometimes droll but never funny. In sum, the major characters are trapped in and dependent upon the machinations of their humdrum, small everyday lives. It's delightful writing in a very tough, nearly hideous story. There are wonderful and often scathing depictions: the widow Clare and the cumbersome dog left behind by her late husband, the desperate alcoholic Fiona, the bit-on-the-side Maureen and, most memorably, the more-English-than-the-English Pakistani shopkeepers. Just when I thought the whole things was going to end disastrously, these people are all gathered in the neighborhood pub (but of course, where else?) and accept or resolve their differences while Amis's authorial voice becomes almost paternal and loving. It worked for me: I heartily enjoyed this story with its fussy weave of banal hazards and haplessness, and its finely tuned emotional climax when Harry decides not to accept a promising job in the USA because he and his sister Clare, quite simply, need each other.

Rating:
Summary: What`s more important?
Review: The Folks That Live on the Hill is one of Amis` last novels and definitely not the best one.It`s pale in comparison with Lucky Jim.
This novel shows some of Amis` characteristics such as describing life through a combination of humour and sadness,though the funny side of the novel is always emphasized.
We can notice that the writer is aware of numerous shortcomings that this society and life in it have.Still,he describes the people from Shepherd`s Hill with a certain warmth,a feeling of a man who is comfortable there.
Through the character of Harry Caldecote Amis expresses his hatred towards both diverse sorts of modern art and people who are self-centered.Harry is a sort of person that Amis respects:an honest and unselfish man.
The writer poses a serious moral question in this book:what should be more important to us,pleasing ourselves or helping the others? but deals with it in his typically comic manner.His answer,naturally,is opposition to all kinds of selfishness and praise for those rare people who don`t think just about themselves.