Reviews

Craven House by Patrick Hamilton

grubstlodger's review

4.0

(Before I start with the novel itself, my Abacus copy of Craven House is yet another book that has spontaneously grown an inexplicable, and unintelligible Will Self introduction.)

Craven House is Patrick Hamilton’s second novel, written in his early twenties and yet maps out many of the territories which he will later master, including the boarding house, self-destructive pub crawls, falling in love with an unsuitable woman and includes the first depiction of ‘the bore’, a character-type he is the master of. Lighter than his later work (especially those written after a speeding car disfigured him) it is actually more hopeful than his first novel Monday Morning.

Miss Hatt owns a large house she shares with Mr and Mrs Spicer. The three have been a unit since their school days and, in Miss Hatt’s opinion, it was only a fluke that she was not Mrs Spicer. She decides to rent out the large house to other people, not because she needs the money (though she does) but because the three of them have run out of conversation. Judging by the stiltedness of many of the conversations in the novel, more people doesn’t necessarily lead to more conversation.

The first people that the house is rented out to is Mrs Nixon and her young daughter Elsie and a little later they are joined by Major Wildman and his slightly older son (referred to as Master Wildman). The Wildman’s have a very good relationship, there’s a sweet moment when the boy pretends to be asleep and feels his father kisses him on the forehead and he thrills to being loved. Poor old Elsie is in a different position. She is described as ‘a victim of bringing up’, fearing the overbearing raising of her mother, especially the ultimate sanction of The Stick. While Master Wildman is realising his father loves him, Elsie is sent to bed early, where she has to undress with extreme neatness, prays on her knees and goes to an unwarmed bed as “a little white bundle of self-chastened original sin.”

Mr and Mrs Spicer, despite being a married couple have little in the way of intimacy or a relationship. Mr Spicer uses his nightshirt to hide his undressing and the two simply lay alongside each other, tussling over the sheet. Occasionally, Mr Spicer goes on a little ‘Trudge’ which he often returns from a little tottery. We join him on once of these when a sailor asks if he is lonely and joins him for a drink, I was seriously expecting this scene to develop into a gay pickup but it never quite does although I do wonder if that is Hamilton’s intention.

The first (and my favourite) section of the book sets up these characters and shows their routines and interactions before the advent of World War One. The section ends with Elsie having to face The Stick for a misdemeanour and as very sweet chapter where Master Wildman comforts her with a story he makes up on the spot.

The second section is the shortest and deals with the war, Mr Spicer’s small involvement in it, and the slightly lost feeling of those left at home. In this section Major Wildman dies in a very poignant scene.

The third section is about the differences in the post war world. The two children have grown up, Master, now Mr, Wildman gets a job, falls in love and writes a play. Poor Elsie is stuck in the same position, a hanger-on of a mother who controls her and treats her like a child. There’s a moment after she invites a friend round where she is sent to bed because it’s past her bedtime and she watches out of her window as Wildman and her friend linger and flirt by the front door. This friend is Wildman’s first love and she is of-course unsuitable for him, declaring many times that she doesn’t feel for him at all.

There’s an instability in the post-war section, the servants dare to answer back, Mrs Spicer finds out exactly what Mr Spicer does on his trudges (leading to the wonderful line, “Mr Spicer limply requests not to be punched in the face.”), Elsie finally stands up to her mother and Miss Hatt has enough and kicks them all out.

The last chapter, with Wildman and Elsie saying goodbye to the old house and the past, to move on to a shared future is probably the most unambiguously happy of Patrick Hamilton’s endings and I left the book very satisfied indeed.

It’s not a perfect book, as Hamilton himself said in a preface for a later edition. There’s a strange attempt to give characterisation to the streetlamp outside the house that should have either been expanded upon or dropped. There’s also the typical Hamilton thing of capitalising things. A person in the book works in ‘Rum’, or in ‘Galvanised Sheet Metal Tanks’; Mr Spicer has ‘Ideas’, ‘Little Thoughts’ or ‘Notions’, Elsie is ruled by ‘The Stick’. While it is a neat and funny little trick which Hamilton uses in most of his work, it’s leaned on a little too heavily. That said, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable book and I particularly felt for Elsie and was rooting for her to escape and was delighted when she does.

bent's review

2.0

Although this book had its moments, I found it to overall be a frustrating read. Although a relatively short book (250 pages), it took me a while to read as at times I found I could only read a few pages at a time. The arch manner in which Hamilton writes begins to grate after a bit and one wishes he'd just get on with the story. But alas! 'tis not to be, and so, with the exception of a few scenes that are quite good, the book itself comes off as an example of style over substance, and not a particularly winning style. I've only read one other Patrick Hamilton book before, The Slaves of Solitude, and I recommend reading that one and giving this a miss.

elsie07's review

funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0