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John Braine (1922–1986)

Author of Room at the Top

28+ Works 1,244 Members 19 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

John Braine, a Yorkshireman by birth and inclination, started to write Room at the Top (1957) while hospitalized and recovering from tuberculosis. It is the story of a man obsessed by the need for success. The film version of Room at the Top won film honors in Great Britain and was widely acclaimed show more in the United States. From the Hand of the Hunter deals with the fight against failure by a tubercular. Life at the Top (1962) is about the hero of Room at the Top after he marries the boss's daughter. Critics consider The Jealous God (1964), as Braine's best novel since Room at the Top. Waiting for Sheila (1976), Braine's most interesting formal experiment, occurs in a single evening during which the protagonist recounts the failures of his past and present. Braine's theme of aggressive ambition and determination to break through rigid social barriers, expressed in both Room at the Top and Life at the Top, identified him as one of the "angry young men" of the 1950s. Braine died in 1986. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by John Braine

Room at the Top (1957) — Author — 648 copies
Life at the Top (1962) 156 copies
The Vodi (1959) 59 copies
The Jealous God (1963) 52 copies
The Crying Game (1968) 42 copies
Stay with Me Till Morning (1970) 38 copies
Waiting for Sheila (1976) 18 copies
The Pious Agent (1975) 16 copies
Room at the Top [1959 film] (1959) — Screenwriter — 15 copies
One and Last Love (1981) 11 copies
The Two of Us (1984) 10 copies
These Golden Days (1985) 8 copies
Finger of Fire (1977) 6 copies

Associated Works

Becoming a Writer (1934) — Foreword, some editions — 1,315 copies

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Reviews

Well written and interesting post-war novel about class and ambition. Enjoyed, but struggled to like the main character and their attitudes.
 
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PhilOnTheHill | 12 other reviews | Sep 8, 2019 |
'Life at the Top' is the sequel to 'Room at the Top' in which we met local Government official and social climber Joe Lampton as he courted Susan Brown, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, whilst he has an affair with an older married woman. In this book time has moved along ten years and on the surface Joe has got everything that he thought he wanted, an upper-class wife, a nice house, a sports car, two children, and an executive job with the biggest firm in town. Yet despite his material possessions, Joe’s life is empty. His boss is his father-in-law who treats him like a lackey, his wife is having an affair and even his son dislikes him.

When Joe falls in love with the pretty Norah Hauxley, his discontentment with the life that he has built for himself only deepens. When Norah moves to London Joe sees it as an opportunity to escape Warley and start a new life. But soon realises that this new promise of happiness is as illusory as what he left behind.

Written in 1962 this like the previous book is something of a social commentary and gives an interesting insight into a man having a mid-life (35) crisis. I actually enjoyed the author's writing style more in this book, Braine had obviously learnt from experience, but whilst in RatT I found Joe a difficult character to like in this book I simply found him annoying. I found him a whining pain in the backside and wanted to shout at him to 'man up'. That said and done I still felt that the book an interesting read which had it's merits even if it is a little dated, I was glad to be able to read what had become of Joe and Susan.
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½
 
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PilgrimJess | 1 other review | Jun 2, 2019 |
Set in post-war Britain, Joe Lampton, is a young ex-service man from a modest background. He moves from his home-town of Dufton to the more affluent wool rich town of Warley to pursue a career in local Government. Joe is handsome with an athletic figure and is a hit with the ladies but he is socially ambitious and after something more than he was born into.

When Joe moves to Warley he takes a room in a large house and joins the local amateur theatrical group where he meets Susan - a young, naive, attractive, girl from a wealthy family and Alice, a married woman some years his senior. Joe begins an affair with Alice but continues to see Susan also. Whereas his love for Susan is shallow, initially non-sexual and more about personal ambition, he finds that he has a real connection with Alice. It is soon very obvious that Joe is heading for heartache, will love or ambition win out?

First published in 1957 and set just after WWII when rationing was still in place and social mobility was difficult, this then is an example of social realism in literature and it's unsurprising that the luxuries afforded the wealthy were coveted by the many. Dufton, is a grimy, stagnant place, whose inhabitants go about their business with no thought of a better life whereas Warley is far brighter and more affluent, its inhabitants more ambitious but it is also obvious, that despite his social pretensions, Joe is unable to shake off his small-town up-bringing.

Joe is a difficult character to empathise with, although his frustration with the world around him is no doubt shared by a lot of young men even today, but is on the whole well drawn. However, Joe is playing against a system which is stacked against him in a game that he cannot possibly win. In contrast the women are rather sketchy and lack real depth character.

Overall I found this is a reasonable look at the class system of the time in Britain but I failed to get really excited about this novel. I found Braine's writing functional rather than gritty and the dialogue felt clunky, annoying and unreal at times. I suspect that it's literary merit at the time of publication just doesn't really compute with today's modern world. However, I do hope to read the follow up novel, 'Life at the Top', sooner rather than later.
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½
 
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PilgrimJess | 12 other reviews | May 28, 2019 |
"I was moving into the attack and no one had better try to stop me"
By sally tarbox on 8 December 2017
Format: Paperback
Grabs you from the first page: narrated by fiercely ambitious young Joe Lampton, an intelligent lad from a humble background. It's just after WW2 and accountant Joe has broken away from his grim northern hometown of Dufton for an accountancy position in the much more salubrious Warley. He appreciates his new, elegant lodgings,the middle class folk around him; he starts mixing with the select types who make up the local dramatic society; but he's constantly aware that he can never be the equal of the local bigwigs.
And while he begins a love affair with older, married Alice, he's also studiedly making up to wealthy, innocent young Susan Brown:
"A Grade A lovely...the daughter of a factory-owner...the means of obtaining the key to the Aladdin's cave of my ambitions."
Compelling reading.
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starbox | 12 other reviews | Dec 7, 2017 |

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