The lonely Londoners (original 1956; edition 2006)

For a short book, it felt looooong. The mix of first & third person stream-of-consciousness, in dialect, was at times difficult and distancing and at times involving. But overall, I didn't particularly care for it. ( )

2.5
[b:The Lonely Londoners|612888|The Lonely Londoners|Samuel Selvon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176321905s/612888.jpg|599344] is a small novel that is really made up of several short stories about different West Indians who come to London in search of employment and with dreams of a better life. I think Selvon captures a sense of loneliness in these characters as he shows what it's like to be miles away from anyone who cares about you in a city full of white people who automatically believe you're a criminal. I love London, but I can easily see how it's the kind of city that can be exhilarating or sad depending on the circumstances it finds you in.

This story is set in the 1950s, a time when Britain opened its doors to all citizens of British colonies and invited them to come to the country without needing a visa. At this time, there were more jobs available in Britain than could be filled and these employment opportunities were advertised to many West Indians. In response, thousands accepted the invitation only to discover that they were not being welcomed with open arms when they arrived. The vast majority were young men who came alone, often with the intention of finding a home and a steady job so they could send for their family later.

The main problem with [b:The Lonely Londoners|612888|The Lonely Londoners|Samuel Selvon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176321905s/612888.jpg|599344] for me was that it needed to be about double the size and perhaps focus on less characters. Though this latter may not have been a problem if the book was longer and allowed room to fully explore each individual's story. As it was, I felt like I read four prologues, they were all missing something, they seemed incomplete. I understand the necessity to tell a few different stories because not every immigrant during this time would have had the same experience, but none of the stories were told fully enough to properly engage me with any of the characters. Like I said, four prologues.

Another thing I disliked was the narrative voice. I'm sure this won't bother some people and I know why the author did it - to make it sound authentically like a West Indian speaking English when they are not that familiar with the language - but it bothered me because the novel is written in third person. If it had been written in first person it would make sense for the narrator to speak/think in this way: "He had was to get up from a nice warm bed and meet a fellar that he didn't even know."

The narrative voice aside, if someone had presented me with this and told me it was a prologue to a novel then I would be interested in reading the rest. On it's own, though, I think it is lacking. The one thing I can say for definite that it did do was communicate the promise in the title of loneliness. There is something very sad about being alone and Selvon's characters are on their own in an unfamiliar world that doesn't want them. ( )

Sam Selvon (Trinidad, 1929) is credited with the title of "the father of black writing" in the UK. Soon after his own arrival in London, he started chronicling the life and experiences of other Caribbean immigrants into Britain. His works are characterized by the use of the typical vernacular of the immigrants.

Published in 1956, The lonely Londoners was the first of his London novels. It shows Moses Aloetta as the pin in a network of immigrants from Trinidad, Jamaica, etc arriving in the UK and finding work and accommodation, initially through Moses. This structure enables to author to present a kaleidoscopic image of the experience of various individuals coming ti London, and being met by Moses. Each immigrant is described with wit and excellent characterization.

Unforgettable is the arrival of Tolroy's family at Waterloo Station. Expecting to meet a single family member, Tolroy is baffled by the arrival of his whole family, including an auntie, nicked Tanty.

Moses' is not much better off, as he receives yet another acquaintance (people he has never met, referred to him) with the arrival of Henry Oliver Esquire, alias Sir Galahad, completely destitute without any luggage or even warm clothes, let alone money.

The adventures are described warmly and entirely authentic. The quaint vernacular of the immigrants enhances this sense of authenticity, fun and creates the sense of a closely-knit community. The greatest difficulty for the immigrants is how to shed their home culture of happy-go-lucky laid-backness and substitute it instantly with a much needed urban savyness required to fit into the fast-pacing reality of metropolitan London.

Having read Moses ascending (1975) a few years ago, I must say that The lonely Londoners offers a much more authentic, and in many ways more optimistic and pleasant read than the former.

The lonely Londoners is a light and very enjoyable read. Highly recommended. ( )

This story of a loosely-associated group of West Indian immigrants in London is a fast and entertaining, but ultimately thought-provoking, read. Selvon makes a sympathetic portrait of the troubles that immigrants from the colonies face, written in an episodic manner that uses Trinidadian slang and irregular sentence structures. The dialect the book is written in is easy to get used to and really added to the narrative.

As a fan of British "kitchen sink drama" writing and film from this time period (late 50s, early 60s), I was very interested to read this book as "another side" of the famous emergent youth culture of the time. The second world war and postwar austerity hang heavy over the story (several characters are veterans), but as the characters cruise the streets of London ("liming") looking for girls and good times, there are some lighter moments as well. However, Selvon concludes by hinting that all their hearty camaraderie masks a pain that can never be assuaged.

In some ways the book reads similar to such works as Alan Sillitoe's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" and John Braine's "Room at the Top," which critique the conformity and starkness of postwar Britain. ("The Lonely Londoners" predates both those books, interestingly.) The deep sadness at the heart of the book isn't that different from that which afflicts Arthur Seaton or Joe Lampton, though it's exacerbated by overt racism and prejudice. In the end, the "lonely" Londoners' pain is both specific to their time and place and universally human: the fear of our own powerlessness in the face of time:

"The old Moses, standing on the banks of the Thames. Sometimes he think he see some sort of profound realisation in his life, as if all that happen to him was experience that make him a better man, as if now he could draw apart from any hustling and just sit down and watch other people fight to live. Under the kiff-kiff laughter, behind the ballad and the episode, the what-happening, the summer-is-hearts, he could see a great aimlessness, a great restless, swaying movement that leaving you standing in the same spot." ( )

This is a quick read once you get used to the language of the narration. After rereading the first paragraph a few times to get started, I ended up finishing off the book in one sitting. Driven by character studies and a cynical humor, the narrative works on various levels to illustrate and critique the state of a divided 1950s London society. Exploring the admirable and the questionable among a group of immigrants/exiles/explorers from the Caribbean, Selvon creates a journey through daily passions and humors. It is fast, engaging, humorous, and ultimately mysterious in where lines can be drawn for fiction and documentation, character and stereotype, narrator and author and character, and ironic illustration and objective tale. In short, the tale is hard to pin down, becoming more complicated with each moment the reader spends questioning, for theapparent simplicity here is deceptive. Selvon's created a smart careful book here---one worth reading for pleasure and rereading for fuller thought. ( )