'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. ( )

When I discovered that there was a sequel to [b:Room At The Top|1775733|Room At The Top|John Braine|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337622789s/1775733.jpg|1774077], I couldn't resist getting hold of a copy to find out what happened next to Joe Lampton. 10 years have passed, and things have turned out pretty much as one would have expected. Joe is now married to the boss' daughter, they have two children and a very comfortable life. And even though he now carries some middle aged spread he still has, or at least tries to have, his way with the ladies. But in spite of all that, Joe isn't happy.

As other reviewers have noted, the story takes a while to develop and isn't quite as dramatic as its predecessor. A nice, not very taxing read.

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