Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (original 1958; edition 1966)by Alan Sillitoe1   PilgrimJess | Jan 7, 2015 |    ) mari_reads | May 3, 2023 | It's shortly after the end of World War II; Arthur is a worker at a Nottingham factory, still living at home, biding his time until the weekends. He spends his evenings at the pub, and is having sex with Brenda, the wife of one of his friends at the factory who works the night shift. He chooses married women because he knows they will make no demands on him. As I was reading this, I was struck by how much Arthur reminded me of Michael Caine's Alfie. Of course, the good times can't last forever. And despite Arthur's perception of "good times," Silitoe does a masterful job of showing us the limitations of the dead end lives of the working class in Great Britain after the war. This was his debut novel (made into a well-regarded movie starring Albert Finley), and we are made to see the disillusionment and lack of opportunities facing the young working class, even if, like Arthur, they don't recognize it themselves. Recommended. 3 1/2 stars (  ) arubabookwoman | Feb 1, 2023 | ) burritapal | Oct 23, 2022 | This is a post war book (50-60s) of a young British man who is a single, working class male who enjoys making money at his lathe and drinking and carousing the pubs with married women. This offers little to make him endearing but he does like to fish and seems to love his family so I guess he's not all bad. This is the author's debut novel and it won the Author's Club First Novel Award. It was also made into a film. The title gives the structure of the book; the first part is Saturday night (the introduction to Arthur) and the second part Sunday Morning; the shorter part brings Arthur to a more settled mature chapter in his life as he quits running from commitment which he compares to being caught like a fish on a hook. Quotes; "...both became sad, as if they had taken on a happiness that could not be sustained." "...whatever people think I am or say I am, that’s what I’m not," "Once a rebel, always a rebel. You can’t help being one. You can’t deny that. And it’s best to be a rebel so as to show ’em it don’t pay to try to do you down. Factories and labour exchanges and insurance offices keep us alive and kicking—so they say—but they’re booby-traps and will suck you under like sinking-sands if you aren’t careful. Factories sweat you to death, labour exchanges talk you to death, insurance and income-tax offices milk money from your wage packets and rob you to death." "Mostly you were like a fish: you swam about with freedom, thinking how good it was to be left alone, doing anything you wanted to do and caring about no one, when suddenly: SPLUTCH! the big hook clapped itself into your mouth and you were caught." The author was called one of the "angry young men" which he didn't like. He definitely is a 50 60s guy. And maybe angry is a good description. It is a post war novel. Men and some women are working and making money and buying TVs. That's what you did in the 50s -- bought a car, bought a TV. (  ) Kristelh | Aug 19, 2022 | read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/2016/11/saturday-night-and-sunday-morning-ala... ( ) mongoosenamedt | Nov 23, 2016 | This is Alan Sillitoe's first book and probably the most well known. Written in 1958 against the backdrop of the Cold War it tells the tale of the mundane nature of working-class life in a Northern English town, Nottingham, and features an anti-hero Arthur Seaton. Arthur works in a bicycle factory doing back breaking piecework at a lathe Monday to Friday. He is 22,still lives at home,earns a decent wage and looks forward to the weekend when he goes binge drinking(no its not a new phenomenon surprise surprise) and having affairs with two married sisters. He is a well drawn character and despite being described by his own brother Fred as 'not a very nice bloke' you still end up rooting for him right to the very end. Arthur is constantly fighting against authority whether that be father,foreman, the Police and the Army but is not so daft to realise that ultimately cannot win. By having affairs with married women his is also battling against the perceived norms of courtship and hence ultimately marriage until he is beaten up by the soldier husband of one of his conquests. Yet he also enjoys fishing suggesting he is also able to appreciate the quieter elements of life. Despite this being set at the end of the 1950's, when youth was coming to the fore after WWII with new suits hung in the bedroom ready to wear at the weekend, Arthur is in many respects just like his father and grandfather before him. Thus this becomes a comment on the class system within Britain, Arthur seems reasonably smart yet has only received a rudimentary education and is stuck in a monotonous job with seemingly little chance of advancement. The prose is beautifully written with occasional streams of colloquialisms mainly from Arthur giving it a real authentic feel but despite giving his initials to his hero and after having himself worked in a factory the author has also insisted this was not autobiographical. Writers like Dickens have written about the realities of working class life in Britain but this marked the start of a new age of literary realism and should be more widely read. ( )1 PilgrimJess | Jan 7, 2015 | ) DinadansFriend | Nov 25, 2014 | Sillitoe makes him human by talking about his childhood poverty before the war. Hearing the air raid sirens, his whole family would have to climb into the bomb shelter and wait for the bombs to land. After this upbringing, he's basically happy to have food on the table and enough money for beer. At the beginning of the book he's sleeping with married women and hiding from their husbands. He doesn't want to get married. But towards the end the idea of having a woman in his bed every night, and not having to hide from or fight their husbands starts to appeal to him. It was a testament to Sillitoe's beautiful writing that I made it through this book at all. I want to dislike it, but I can't because it makes the whole class mentality understandable. It's that gritty realism. It doesn't glorify violence, or affairs, or factory work, it makes them seem quite squalid really, but human. I wanted him to leave Nottingham, get a wider perspective on life and maybe strive for something better. It's hard for me to accept that this is what this character's whole life may be. I have to look to Sillitoe himself to see that he did escape from these circumstances and survive to write many books, this one of which was really great. It could almost be called 'How poor Republicans are made.' ( ) kylekatz | Mar 7, 2011 | Good writing in a setting that still feels relevant today - you can't ask for much more than that. A real great read. ( ) DRFP | Nov 18, 2010 | Saturday Night...is such a well-written book and still holds surprises for the modern reader. Yes, Arthur is a pint-swilling troublemaker who not only gets married Brenda into "trouble", but sneaks around with her sister when Brenda is too busy to see him. He gets into drunken brawls and lies to just about everyone. He also takes pride in his work and loves his family. Sillitoe writes a complex character who vents, apologizes, looks forward to his future but is frightened of it too. (  ) mstrust | Dec 20, 2009 | jon1lambert | Oct 14, 2009 | ) xine2009 | Oct 6, 2009 | I pulled this book off the shelf to re-read, as Alan Sillitoe wrote a sequel in 2001, Birthdays, which I've just got round to ordering. (  ) Greatrakes | Mar 6, 2008 | ) burnit99 | Feb 20, 2007 | Read from September 02 to 09, 2013 "Don't let the bastards get you down" The Theme tune BBC BLURB: 'Angry young man' Arthur Seaton rages against the boredom of his factory machinist job and home life with 'dead from the neck up' parents. Determined to avoid a similar slide into domestic drudgery, Arthur is a risk-taking womaniser, enduring each tedious week in the knowledge that the weekend's thrills are to come. But Arthur takes a risk too far, inflicting life-shattering consequences on those around him. Sound Design: David Chilton Spot Effects: Alison McKenzie Production Manager: Sarah Tombling Director: Carl Prekopp Producer: Lucinda Mason Brown A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4. Arthur Seaton Joe Dempsie Aunt Ada Shirley Anne Field Brenda Natalie Grady Winnie Sarah Smart Harold Seaton Philip Fox Vera Seaton Julia Hills Fred Seaton Ashley Cook Barman Ashley Cook Margaret Seaton Victoria Brazier Soldier Victoria Brazier Mrs Bull Rachel Atkins Robboe Stephen Critchlow Loudmouth Stephen Critchlow Jack Graeme Hawley Policeman Graeme Hawley Em’ler Lorna Jones Undertaker Man Sean Baker Bus Conductor Paul Stonehouse Billy Felix Lailey Fantastic Production this, with a music-of-the-times as a backdrop. Arthur Seaton is a solipsistic wide-boy just a smidgeon short of full-blown sociopath and masterly crafted by Sillitoe. 3* The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner 4* Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 3* Collected Stories 1 like ( ) mimal | Sep 9, 2013 | |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.73)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
1
This is Alan Sillitoe's first book and probably the most well known. Written in 1958 against the backdrop of the Cold War it tells the tale of the mundane nature of working-class life in a Northern English town, Nottingham, and features an anti-hero Arthur Seaton. Arthur works in a bicycle factory doing back breaking piecework at a lathe Monday to Friday. He is 22,still lives at home,earns a decent wage and looks forward to the weekend when he goes binge drinking(no its not a new phenomenon surprise surprise) and having affairs with two married sisters. He is a well drawn character and despite being described by his own brother Fred as 'not a very nice bloke' you still end up rooting for him right to the very end. Arthur is constantly fighting against authority whether that be father,foreman, the Police and the Army but is not so daft to realise that ultimately cannot win. By having affairs with married women his is also battling against the perceived norms of courtship and hence ultimately marriage until he is beaten up by the soldier husband of one of his conquests. Yet he also enjoys fishing suggesting he is also able to appreciate the quieter elements of life.
Despite this being set at the end of the 1950's, when youth was coming to the fore after WWII with new suits hung in the bedroom ready to wear at the weekend, Arthur is in many respects just like his father and grandfather before him. Thus this becomes a comment on the class system within Britain, Arthur seems reasonably smart yet has only received a rudimentary education and is stuck in a monotonous job with seemingly little chance of advancement.
The prose is beautifully written with occasional streams of colloquialisms mainly from Arthur giving it a real authentic feel but despite giving his initials to his hero and after having himself worked in a factory the author has also insisted this was not autobiographical. Writers like Dickens have written about the realities of working class life in Britain but this marked the start of a new age of literary realism and should be more widely read. (