Like Men Betrayed (1953)

by John Mortimer

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Like Men Betrayed is a vivid depiction of '50s England, from its sleepy rural idyll to its sleazy urban underworld. Blending the excitement of a thriller with the poignancy of a family divided and reconciled, this is one of Mortimer's brilliant early works.

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When it takes over a week to read 100 pages, it's a sign that I'm not really into it. I can't put my finger on it but it never engaged me in any way. Bound for BookCrossing.

amyem58 | Jul 3, 2014 |

Beneath the caricatures and wonderful comic vignettes this is a deeply serious book. Family, duty and the purpose of life itself flow through from start to finish. Kit Kennet is largely an enigma, until his Father's sacrifical love turns him to the contemplation of his own existence. Finally the two characters seem to merge. The tired and rather grubby landscape of London in the 50's is marvelllously evoked. (

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ChrisSterry | Aug 8, 2011 |

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1953

People/Characters

Christopher "Kit" Kennet

Kit "Christopher" Kennet, Jr.

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Action is transitory, a step, a blow / The motion nof a muscle, this way or that / 'is done, andd in the after vacancy / We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed... / WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Dedication

For Penelope Mortimer

First words

Two men faced eachother across the club table, the one cheerfully insensitive to the other's well-restrained dislike.

Quotations

The quiet streets, with the couples in stiff, dark clothes coming out of the park, the distant tinny summons to evensong in a neglected church, were heavy with the smell of Sundya. It made Kit shiver.

For he had walked her, during the morning, down the silent landscape of city streets, had shown her the ravens in the Tower and the wide, swollen river, and sought out the perfect spires and cupolas, the stone coats of arms and urbane, shadowy dorways of the churches of Wren and Gibbs, churches in which the alderman's prayers and the endless Carolean sermons still, like light and shdow, seemed to linger.

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Like Men Betrayed is a vivid depiction of '50s England, from its sleepy rural idyll to its sleazy urban underworld. Blending the excitement of a thriller with the poignancy of a family divided and reconciled, this is one of Mortimer's brilliant early works.

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