- Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (Jun 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140041516
- ISBN-13: 978-0140041514
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 10.6 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 589,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Ending Up (Penguin Modern Classics)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Beset by boredom and the decay of old age, the septuagenarian inhabitants of Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage find that malice is the best recipe for keeping their spirits alive. And when the grandchildren arrive to do their duty on Christmas Day, the festivities degenerate into an unforeseen riot.
About the Author
Kingsley Amis's (1922-95) works take a humorous yet highly critical look at British society, especially in the period following the end of World War II. Born in London, Amis explored his disillusionment in novels such as That Uncertain Feeling (1955). His other works include The Green Man (1970), Stanley and the Women (1984), and The Old Devils (1986), which won the Booker Prize. Amis also wrote poetry, criticism, and short stories.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Green Man was the first novel in which Amis began to express intimations of mortality. In Ending Up, he faced the topic of death head-on, more than in any of his other books. (By comparison The Old Devils, for example, is light reading.) When I first read it, over 30 years ago, I found it depressing enough, and it rings even truer now. As always with Amis, there is brilliant humour, but here it is unremittingly black.
The story describes the final stages of the lives of five old people, each connected with one or two of the others, but (in some cases reluctantly) forced to share an isolated country cottage through lack of money. It could be described as one of Amis' genre books, as the format is classical Greek tragedy. Aristotle's unities are more or less obeyed; all the action takes place in or around the cottage, and the only other characters are very much bit-parts.
Of the five ill-assorted characters, three are unselfish and likeable; a fourth, Marigold, is vain and selfish, but wins the reader's sympathy for her desperate attempts to "keep up appearances". The fifth, Bernard, is the villain; he is unable to control his distaste for a life he feels is wasted, and for the lifestyle now enforced on him. His only diversion is to take out his bile on the others, with his success depending on their strength of character. Adela, his long-suffering sister, and George, his bedridden, aphasic brother-in-law, are quite unable to fight his psychological bullying. Marigold is better able to resist Bernard's venom, but it has almost no impact on Shorty, who is - literally - the "eternal squaddie". (When Bernard was an Army officer, Shorty was his batman; they had a brief affair with each other, which is long since water under the bridge, but which caused Bernard to be cashiered.)
As the plot progresses, each character - even, at some stages, the disillusioned Bernard - intermittently tries in their own way to hang on, or even win back, self-respect. The exception is the irrepressible Shorty, who is more than happy with a modest ration of fags, whisky, etc. When Bernard, feeling that he has little else for live for, and realising that the others are starting to cope with his behaviour, finally escalates his campaign against them, the results are terminally disastrous.
This is possibly Amis' best book. For once, he manages to forget to be Kingsley Amis, and just writes.
However, probably one to avoid if you fear the prospect of getting old ...
The story describes the final stages of the lives of five old people, each connected with one or two of the others, but (in some cases reluctantly) forced to share an isolated country cottage through lack of money. It could be described as one of Amis' genre books, as the format is classical Greek tragedy. Aristotle's unities are more or less obeyed; all the action takes place in or around the cottage, and the only other characters are very much bit-parts.
Of the five ill-assorted characters, three are unselfish and likeable; a fourth, Marigold, is vain and selfish, but wins the reader's sympathy for her desperate attempts to "keep up appearances". The fifth, Bernard, is the villain; he is unable to control his distaste for a life he feels is wasted, and for the lifestyle now enforced on him. His only diversion is to take out his bile on the others, with his success depending on their strength of character. Adela, his long-suffering sister, and George, his bedridden, aphasic brother-in-law, are quite unable to fight his psychological bullying. Marigold is better able to resist Bernard's venom, but it has almost no impact on Shorty, who is - literally - the "eternal squaddie". (When Bernard was an Army officer, Shorty was his batman; they had a brief affair with each other, which is long since water under the bridge, but which caused Bernard to be cashiered.)
As the plot progresses, each character - even, at some stages, the disillusioned Bernard - intermittently tries in their own way to hang on, or even win back, self-respect. The exception is the irrepressible Shorty, who is more than happy with a modest ration of fags, whisky, etc. When Bernard, feeling that he has little else for live for, and realising that the others are starting to cope with his behaviour, finally escalates his campaign against them, the results are terminally disastrous.
This is possibly Amis' best book. For once, he manages to forget to be Kingsley Amis, and just writes.
However, probably one to avoid if you fear the prospect of getting old ...
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I last read this book aged 21 and it has left me with such a great feeling about the book.
It is set in an old folks home and lets you imagine the faces of the people in the place. It is set around their daily lives and just remember we all get old. We also, forget that death is the only thing guaranteed in life and in these places there is only one way too leave...
Funny to the point of crying with laughter. Do not be put off by the subject, it is a short compulsive read and for me one of Kingsley Amis's best books.
It is set in an old folks home and lets you imagine the faces of the people in the place. It is set around their daily lives and just remember we all get old. We also, forget that death is the only thing guaranteed in life and in these places there is only one way too leave...
Funny to the point of crying with laughter. Do not be put off by the subject, it is a short compulsive read and for me one of Kingsley Amis's best books.
2 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I Wanted to read this book as I saw the television play years ago and thought it very funning. I do not find the book as funny - but - amusing nevertheless.
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