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Available
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Collection
Publication
Flamingo (1985), Edition: New edition, 176 pages
Description
A Borstal boy and his audacious companions are fresh from reform school and ready to take on the world. Members of the British lower class, they are out to beat the system anyway they can. Nine darkly comic stories of working-class men in 1950s Nottingham.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
The story of a young "Borstal" boy told almost entirely from the boy's point of view is a riveting novella about overcoming both your heritage and your self through courage and persistence. The long-distance runner - we learn eventually that his name is Smith - is at war with the governor of the
The Governor, who treats the boy like a prize race horse, is counting on him winning the long-distance 'All England' running cup for his Borstal. The boy seems to go along with this although we are privy to his inner thoughts which contradict his responses to the Governor. " And I swear under my breath: . . . No, I won't get them that cup, even though the stupid tash-twitching bastard has all his hopes on me." He goes out every morning 'frozen stiff with nothing to get me warm except a couple of hours' long-distance running before breakfast' and feels 'like the first bloke in the world . . . fifty times better than when I'm cooped up in the dormitory with three hundred others'. What is more, he has a plan. 'Cunning is what counts in this life,' he tells us at the outset, 'and even that you've got to use in the sliest way you can.'
When the day of the race comes we are there with him on the run, with his thoughts of his plan, his situation, memories of his deceased father (also an outlaw), and hints of his future. It is as if his short life is going on there in his head and before our eyes. The result of the race is not really the important thing in this gripping story. Rather; it is the presence of the mind of a teenage rebel who ruminates on his life and his self. The result is profoundly thought-provoking and utterly readable. Three years after it was published the author penned the screenplay for a film version that won several awards.
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Borstal to which he has been sent as a result of the "bakery job". His conflict with the warden is a matter of honesty; that is whether the 'outlaw' brand of it is more valid that the governor's 'in-law' brand.The Governor, who treats the boy like a prize race horse, is counting on him winning the long-distance 'All England' running cup for his Borstal. The boy seems to go along with this although we are privy to his inner thoughts which contradict his responses to the Governor. " And I swear under my breath: . . . No, I won't get them that cup, even though the stupid tash-twitching bastard has all his hopes on me." He goes out every morning 'frozen stiff with nothing to get me warm except a couple of hours' long-distance running before breakfast' and feels 'like the first bloke in the world . . . fifty times better than when I'm cooped up in the dormitory with three hundred others'. What is more, he has a plan. 'Cunning is what counts in this life,' he tells us at the outset, 'and even that you've got to use in the sliest way you can.'
When the day of the race comes we are there with him on the run, with his thoughts of his plan, his situation, memories of his deceased father (also an outlaw), and hints of his future. It is as if his short life is going on there in his head and before our eyes. The result of the race is not really the important thing in this gripping story. Rather; it is the presence of the mind of a teenage rebel who ruminates on his life and his self. The result is profoundly thought-provoking and utterly readable. Three years after it was published the author penned the screenplay for a film version that won several awards.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I struggled through the title story - it was too long and I didn't like living inside the head of a juvenile delinquent for so long - and gave up a few pages from the end, ironically enough. Then, a few months later, I decided to give it all another try, and discovered that Sillitoe's other stories
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are actually quite good. I've been having a lot of discussions and debates about the class system in Britain lately, and this is a very good example of how it's always existed even when we tried to ignore it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Greatrakes
This is a book of short stories, of which the title story is the longest and best known. Alan Sillitoe is one of my favourite writers but Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is one of my least favourite of his short stories, it feels too much like hard work. My favourite stories in the book
1. The Fishing-boat Picture - a curious story about a passive postman and his wasted life.
2. On Saturday Afternoon - a young boy is a dispassionate witness of an attempted suicide.
3. The Match - a losing game is a catalyst for domestic violence and separation.
These three stories are all set in Nottingham, and mainly written in East Midland dialect. These are people I knew and the language of the book takes me back in time.
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are:1. The Fishing-boat Picture - a curious story about a passive postman and his wasted life.
2. On Saturday Afternoon - a young boy is a dispassionate witness of an attempted suicide.
3. The Match - a losing game is a catalyst for domestic violence and separation.
These three stories are all set in Nottingham, and mainly written in East Midland dialect. These are people I knew and the language of the book takes me back in time.
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LibraryThing member rvolenti
This compilation of short stories was neither good nor bad. It tells of the strife of working class in early 20th century England.
LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
I see why this is a modern classic, but I was slightly disappointed
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
The title short story is a magnificent summing up of the psychology created by the English Class system. You will learn a very great deal by reading it more than two years of formal sociology. But, the story may inspire you to try formal sociology as a mental discipline. In short, out hero is given
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an opportunity to get a small reward for involving himself in one of the activities of a society that gives him precious little other outlet. But, running does give him a platform for a political act which is now one of his ambitions. Do not pass up this insightful experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member charlie68
A set of gritty and a shade dark stories of working class England between the wars, the prose is excellent.
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
I picked this up because I so liked the movie adapted from the title story in this collection, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. The narrator of this story is an inmate at a Borstal (juvenile detention facility). When it was discovered that he was a talented runner he was given leave by
There is also a selection of other stories, most of which consider the same themes, and most of which are also very good. Recommended.
3 1/2 stars
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the Chief Warden to exit the facility each morning in the freezing predawn hours to train. The Chief Warden is hopeful his Borstal will win the annual sports day competition with this runner. Most of the story consists of the narrator's thoughts while running--what led to his incarceration, is he to blame or is it society's fault? And of course, because of who the author is (one of the group of writers known as the Angry Young Men) and the time at which this was written, the focus is on class inequalities. Had I read this story before seeing the movie, I'm not sure I could have imagined making a movie of this story, which consists mostly of interior monologue. But both the story and the movie are excellent.There is also a selection of other stories, most of which consider the same themes, and most of which are also very good. Recommended.
3 1/2 stars
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Awards
Hawthornden Prize (1960)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1959
ISBN
9780586065037
Local notes
horn