Room at the Top

Written in 1957, but set a little earlier, this is the story of a shameless social climber.

Orphaned Joe was raised by his working class aunt and uncle in a grim northern industrial town. Whilst a PoW, he studied for accountancy qualifications and after the war moves to a more prosperous town. He lodges with a well-to-do middle aged couple, gets involved with the local amateur dramatic group ands sets about bettering himself (whilst ensuring he gets plenty of sex too - it was probably pretty racy for its time).

He considers the cost, quality and availability of everything, including women, with disarming honesty to the reader, though rarely to those he meets in the story. He is very manipulative and aware of the fact, yet despite this, show more there is enough charm to draw the reader into collusion.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ****

It is only as all his plotting seems to be coming to fruition that there is a glimpse of any remorse, and the only inkling of any unselfishness is just before that, when it looks as if everything is hopeless.

I feel a little guilty for enjoying this book as much as I did. Perhaps it's just as well I've never met anyone like Joe in real life? show less

"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, show more 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. show less

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.

Joe Lampton is one of the archetypal 'angry young men' who emerged in post war English novels and drama. A handsome, charismatic young man, imprisoned during the war, and working as an accountant in local government, he's sharp enough and canny enough to know that he can get what he wants - affluence, social respect, opportunities - through 'marrying up'. He's cynical enough to go for it, but not amoral enough to achieve it without causing pain and suffering to himself and, worse still, to the woman he really loves. Braine's portrait of post-war northern England is fascinating - the emergence of a 'bohemian' set of amateur thespians, alongside mill owners and local bureaucrats; women who are sexually active and powerful in their own show more right; the hidden impact of war experiences - all expertly narrated through a very flawed first person narrative. Romance, tragedy, comedy and social commentary - well worth reading show less

This novel has become celebrated as a tale of ambition and drive, and the manner in which obsession can be deleterious to the enjoyment of the very goals that drives its subject on.

The story is narrated by Joe Lampton, and starts with his arrival in Warley where he takes up a job as accounts clerk on the Town Council. These circumstances have led to him being determined to better himself. The greater part of the book centres on Joe's efforts to secure a future he can take pride in.

In Warley, he takes lodgings with the Thompsons, a middle-class couple living in the better part of town, known locally as "T'top". Lampton is delighted to find himself already socially advantaged by taking, quite literally, a "Room at the top", and this show more serves as a metaphor for his ambition to better himself and to leave behind any vestige of his former life and acquaintances, many of whom he characterises as "zombies", lacking any trace of genuine life and character.

He is introduced to the local amateur dramatic society (always desperate for new cast members). There he encounters, and is smitten by, Susan Brown, the only daughter of a very successful local businessman. However, he also meets the apparently cold and standoffish Alice Aisgill, who plays many of the leading lady parts. Alice and Joe are drawn together and soon start a passionate though clandestine affair..

The novel is strangely dispassionate, even when some pretty awful things happen. Lampton's ambition is finely drawn, but the female characters all stretch credibility beyond comfortable limits. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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. :)