The Broken Chariot - Softcover

Sillitoe, Alan

4.18

28 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 000649305X ISBN 13: 9780006493051

Publisher: Flamingo, 1999

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A superb creation of love, life and class in the post-war world.

When Herbert Thurgarton-Strang was seven, his parents – as loving, as doting as any parents of their generation – took him away from India and left him in a boarding school in England which had everything to recommend it except pity. Through the stifling, alarming years which follow, Herbert is held together by the notion of revenge on those loving parents, and by the knowledge that, over there, a new world beckons.

And when he’s seventeen, he steals away from school, steals away from Herbert, becomes a different boy; becomes, in Nottingham, Bert the lathe-worker, Bert the womaniser, Bert the soldier, Bert the sometime bruiser. Plunged into the louche life, he bobs like a cork, but eventually Bert/Herbert does lay his demons to rest.

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Review:

‘Rewarding novel. Nottingham scenes have considerable vitality, and will also have, for anyone unfamiliar with Sillitoe’s early work, considerable freshness.’
Scotsman

‘The Broken Chariot explores familiar themes for Sillitoe: working in factories, drinking in pubs and chasing women in post-war Nottingham. But the writer has found a fresh, new approach to his specialist subject; one that again allows him to tackle the issue of class in a way that is often surprising and always entertaining.’
Yorkshire Post

From the Back Cover:

Alan Sillitoes's first full-length novel for five years, 'The Broken Chariot' is funny, picaresque – a joy.

Through the stifling, alarming years which follow, Herbert is held together by his desire for revenge on those loving parents, and by the knowledge that, out there, a new world beckons.

And when he's seventeen, he steals away from school, steals away from Herbert, becomes a different boy; becomes, in Nottingham, Bert the lathe-worker, Bert the womanizer, Bert the soldier, Bert the sometime bruiser. Plunged into the louche life, he bobs like a cork.

Herbert/ Bert is one of Alan Sillitoe's most superb creations: through him we see love, life and class in post-war England.

"Sillitoe keeps on going... never flagging, never looking back, and writing with a vigour, clarity and humanity that should be the envy of all those novelists who were not even born when he started."
DAILY MAIL

"A fluent, easy delivery, untainted by mannerisms; well-honed dialogue; sharp characterisation; economy of narrative; generosity of outlook. It really is a delightful book."
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (of 'Alligator Playground')

"What impresses one, as ever, about Sillitoe, is the ease of a style which yet allows him to expose the most complex emotions, and his ability to bring to light what people hide from themselves, or choose not to admit. Sillitoe has a rare ability to look hard at life, and an even rarer sense of the mysterious inwardness of people."
THE SCOTSMAN

"Our staunchest provincial realist... a muscled prose that's craftsman-like in its efficiency."
OBSERVER

"One of Britain's most powerful and sophisticated fiction writers"
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

"A major writer who ought to be read."
MALCOLM BRADBURY

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