The Old Devils (1986)
Who wrote it?
Sir Kingsley William Amis CBE (1922-95, active 1947-95), born Clapham, London. Martin’s dad. Author of some 20 novels, including his wildly successful and acclaimed debut Lucky Jim, written more than 30 years before The Old Devils. Poet. Bon viveur. Critic. James Bond connoisseur. Sometime communist who turned vocally conservative in his old age (what a cliché), holder of “very mild” anti-Semitic views (his words, not mine.) Possible product of his time, if we’re being generous.
What's it about
Some old chaps getting drunk in various locations and moaning a lot.
Oh, you want more than that? OK, I’ll at least give it a go. It’s about the lives and relationships of a bunch of old men (and their wives, to a lesser extent) in Wales. Central among these are Peter - mainly notable for being larger than he was before; Malcolm - likes jazz and talking about his bowels; and Charlie - I honestly can’t remember but not especially pleasant either. Their routine of going to the pub, getting slowly larger around the waist, and seemingly not a whole lot else, is interrupted by the arrival of their former friend Alun, back from “that London” a minor TV celebrity and writer, largely peddling a quaint and simplistic touristified version of “Wales” that his erstwhile buddies don’t recognise, and in thrall to a thinly veiled Dylan Thomas proxy.
It turns out Alun has relationships (largely bedroom based) to rekindle with most of the primary male characters’ wives, and most of the primary male characters have past history with Alun’s wife Rhiannon. Mild shenanigans ensue, largely involving copious quantities of alcohol, before Alun drops suddenly dead and the mildly incestuous circle of life continues as Peter’s clever son marries Rhiannon’s posh daughter.
What I liked
There are occasional laugh out loud moments, which isn’t always the case in these Booker winners.
If you’re in a certain mood - angry at everyone and everything around you, tired of life and looking for fault in everything you encounter, you will doubtless find a lot to love in here. I’ve been there, plenty of times, and certainly can imagine having enjoyed this a lot more in my youth. I can imagine it might also be relatable at an even later point in life. Perhaps the trouble here is that I’m at the wrong stage (late thirties) in the “interval of time between two bouts of vomiting” to appreciate this properly.
If there’s one thing you can say for Amis here, it’s that he’s pretty even-handed with his criticism. Pretty much nobody here comes off well, and everyone comes in for some well-deserved criticism. It’s not entirely a Boys’ Own adventure for pissed old farts, either (though of course it is largely that) - the wives are also allowed to have their fun with all-day Soave-sozzled soirees.
The chronicling of (and inevitably, moaning about) a changing landscape of pubs, is an interesting curiosity, as is the storytelling around boozing. (Though I suspect that describing intoxication and its after-effects wasn’t something Amis especially struggled with.)
The novel does settle down a little at the end, following Alun’s death, entering a slightly more thoughtful and wistful phase in which much more focus is placed on Peter. It’s a little late in the day, though.
What I didn't like
I found it incredibly difficult to care about anyone or anything in this novel. I tried, I swear I tried. I love a funny miserable old bastard as much as the next person (I’ve been one most of my life, I think) - but these characters felt under-developed and hard to engage with.
There are too many characters with too little differentiation between them. It’s actually a relief when a character that isn’t part of the “main cast” shows up (such as the amusingly awful Welsh-American) as they actually bring a brief moment of something different to the novel. Similarly the William and Rosemary story shows flashes of intrigue, of the world looked at through the eyes of a younger generation, but it’s hardly explored at all.
It veers into gratuitous nastiness on occasion. Fine if the supporting material is great, but among so much tedium, it just grates.
Although the female characters are given quite a lot of time in the novel, you never get the impression you’re supposed to care about them as much as the allegedly complex and interesting husbands.
Most importantly, for me, I just found the rambling, theatrical style of the narrative too frustrating to follow. This novel took far longer than it should have for me to finish. Too many digressions, interruptions and conversations about nothing for my liking. Perhaps that’s the point, and I’m missing it. I can live with that.
I don’t like the cover of the edition I read. A petty concern maybe, but it’s a sad picture of a dirty empty beer glass. I guess it’s representative of the contents.
Somehow it beat The Handmaid’s Tale.
I should probably add that I wasn’t expecting to be so down on this. I remember loving Lucky Jim when I was younger and have enjoyed some of the younger Amis’ work (whether or not that should be relevant) so I was probably expecting more than I got from this one.
Food & drink pairings
Well, where to start? Equip yourself with a full liquor cabinet because you’re in for a busy one here. Every alcohol under the sun is an option, but you’ll probably be having a whisky and water if you’re a chap or a bottle or two of Soave if you’re of the female persuasion.
One of my favourite passages in the novel was Peter’s delight at the lovingly described Welsh wedding-buffet, towards the end of the novel. Three kinds of pickled onion! Lots of cheese! There is, oddly, more joy in this one paragraph than most of the rest of the book.
Fun facts
This was Amis’ third nomination, having lost out previously in 1974 (Middleton/Gordimer) and 1978 (Murdoch.)
Despite my own lack of love for it, The Old Devils was seemingly a popular winner, with little sign of it being seen as a controversial choice. The book is evidently popular (or at least was at the time,) is viewed as a genuine highlight of Amis’ career, and apparently not one of those “lifetime achievement by any other name” occasions.
Despite being a famous and prodigious boozehound, Amis insisted that he never wrote under the influence. "Whatever part drink may play in the writer's life, it must play none in his or her work," he apparently said. Like characters in this novel, drinking began around lunchtime, but only after he’d completed a strict daily wordcount.
Vanquished Foes
Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Paul Bailey (Gabriel’s Lament)
Robertson Davies (What’s Bred in Bone)
Kazuo Ishiguro (An Artist of the Floating Worldi)
Timothy Mo (An Insular Possession)
Even more surprising for me is how strong this looks as a shortlist - clearly some brilliant authors in there. I haven’t read all that many, though. Were any of them genuinely less interesting than this?
Context
In 1986:
Gorbachev makes his "Glasnost" and "Perestroika" speech
Chernobyl disaster
Spain and Portugal join the European Community (later EU)
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Swedish PM Olof Palme is shot and killed in Stockholm
Berlin discotheque bombing (blamed on Libya)
USSR launches Mir space station
Marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in London
Opening of the M25 London Orbital Motorway
Maradona "Hand of God" incident in England v Argentina Football World Cup
Opening of The Phantom of the Opera in London
Foundation of Pixar animation studio
Top Gun
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Stephen King, It
Madonna, True Blue
The Smiths play their final gig
First Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame inductions]
Life Lessons
Alcoholism isn’t always interesting.
The Booker in the 80s doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Score
4
I apologize to any fans of Sir Kingsley (I know there are many) but this one did not do it for me at all.
Ranking to date:
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (1981) - 9.5
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978) - 9
Life & Times of Michael K. - J. M. Coetzee (1983) - 9
Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982) - 9
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985) - 8.5
Troubles - J.G. Farrell (1970, "Lost Booker") - 8.5
Saville - David Storey (1976) - 8
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell (1973) - 8
Rites of Passage - William Golding (1980) - 7.5
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) - 7.5
The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens (1970) - 7
The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974) - 7
Holiday - Stanley Middleton (1974) - 7 .
Heat & Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) - 6.5
In a Free State* - V.S. Naipaul (1971) - 6.5
G. - John Berger (1972) - 6
Something to Answer For - P. H. Newby (1969) - 5.5
Staying On - Paul Scott (1977) - 5
Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (1984) - 4.5
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis (1986) - 4
*Read in later condensed edition.
Next up
Penelope Lively’s 1987 winner Moon Tiger. I just moved house and inexplicably put Moon Tiger in a totally different box to all my other Booker-related books. I’d nearly given up and then… I found it at the last minute! Let’s hope the novel is as gripping as that story, eh?
