Well written and interesting post-war novel about class and ambition. Enjoyed, but struggled to like the main character and their attitudes. ( )

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. ( )

"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. ( )

3-3.5 stars. Very good writing (and hot smex scenes!), but I'm more of a HEA girl than the HFN ending that we got. I actually felt sorry for Liam because I didn't feel that Austin and Jay really loved him. More like they loved the idea of having him around with the benefits of sex thrown in. I'm sure they were fond of him, but they definitely put their relationship first and with a threesome book, I felt they should be a bit more equal on the feelings with each other.

But, like any other review, that's just my opinion. :) ( )

Very cynical. Very good. It started slowly, rather haltingly and seemed quite old fashioned at first. But it got better and better and packed quite a punch at the end.

The sneering arrogance and mercenary attitude of the main character, a regular ladies' man, did make me cringe a bit. But I loved the realism.

After reading this article it is quite clear that the author wrote about what he knew.
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