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A review by stumpymcknob
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe
4.0
I gave this book a wide berth for years because I had a cursory glance at the front cover and assumed it was some kind of jejune sports compendium. Later, when my fiancé told me that it was actually a collection of fictional stories written from the perspective of various working class men in mid-20th century Nottingham, I snatched it up.
The nine stories contained within the "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" provide a fascinating insight into the frustrations blighting the working class at that time. Alan Sillitoe was born to necessitous working-class parents in Nottingham in the 1920s, so his penurious upbringing is likely where he draws the inspiration for some of these stories from. He paints a bleak, socially unpropitious picture of the lives of his characters: the eponymous story features a rebellious Borstal inmate who deliberately loses a long distance running race to stick it to 'The Man'; a cautionary tale about a man who cannot escape his domineering mother despite his best efforts; and a story about a little boy who helps his neighbour hang himself, essentially, for something to do.
Sillitoe deftly condenses entire novels into short stories of roughly twenty to thirty pages. His writing style is frank and understated, yet authentic and evocative. He pulls no punches, so I keenly felt the characters' pessimism and hopelessness and totally sympathised with them without having to be told to. This may be in part because of the pessimism and hopelessness I feel towards the psychopathically capitalist hellscape I find myself enduring. As such, I feel it transcends time and distance. Anyone who has experienced firsthand the trials and tribulations poverty yields will find something to be partial to here.
The nine stories contained within the "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" provide a fascinating insight into the frustrations blighting the working class at that time. Alan Sillitoe was born to necessitous working-class parents in Nottingham in the 1920s, so his penurious upbringing is likely where he draws the inspiration for some of these stories from. He paints a bleak, socially unpropitious picture of the lives of his characters: the eponymous story features a rebellious Borstal inmate who deliberately loses a long distance running race to stick it to 'The Man'; a cautionary tale about a man who cannot escape his domineering mother despite his best efforts; and a story about a little boy who helps his neighbour hang himself, essentially, for something to do.
Sillitoe deftly condenses entire novels into short stories of roughly twenty to thirty pages. His writing style is frank and understated, yet authentic and evocative. He pulls no punches, so I keenly felt the characters' pessimism and hopelessness and totally sympathised with them without having to be told to. This may be in part because of the pessimism and hopelessness I feel towards the psychopathically capitalist hellscape I find myself enduring. As such, I feel it transcends time and distance. Anyone who has experienced firsthand the trials and tribulations poverty yields will find something to be partial to here.