Low Life: One Middle-Aged Man in Search of the Point
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Review
Frankly, I'm envious... a masterpiece of comic timing... worthy of Evelyn Waugh... his self-revelations are eyebrow-raising in their fearlessness --Nicholas Lezard, Spectator
Full of off-colour colour, Clarke is a charming, modest and thoughtful writer --Toby Clements, Book of the Year - Telegraph
Full of off-colour colour, Clarke is a charming, modest and thoughtful writer --Toby Clements, Book of the Year - Telegraph
Product Description
Two O levels. Three convictions for smash and grab in off licenses. Two for drunk driving. One for possession of amphetamine sulphate. General labouring and factory work.
Attended charismatic Baptist church. Made girlfriend pregnant. Resigned from job as refuse collector, resigned church membership, returned library books, sold house, went to the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire.
Came back altered. Conscious decision to join bourgeoisie. Night classes for a year in Torquay, then three at School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the Institute of Kiswahili, Zanzibar. Reviewed book by the late, great Dr Brian Plummer on ferret husbandry for University College London student literary magazine. Taken on by legendary editor Dr Karl Miller as his latest great white hope .
Book deal. Fifty grand advance. Spent advance. Failed to write book. Now, author of the Low Life column in the Spectator.
53 years old and a grandfather. Unmarried. Currently coughing and sneezing in a remote cottage on Dartmoor.
Meet Jeremy Clark...
Attended charismatic Baptist church. Made girlfriend pregnant. Resigned from job as refuse collector, resigned church membership, returned library books, sold house, went to the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire.
Came back altered. Conscious decision to join bourgeoisie. Night classes for a year in Torquay, then three at School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the Institute of Kiswahili, Zanzibar. Reviewed book by the late, great Dr Brian Plummer on ferret husbandry for University College London student literary magazine. Taken on by legendary editor Dr Karl Miller as his latest great white hope .
Book deal. Fifty grand advance. Spent advance. Failed to write book. Now, author of the Low Life column in the Spectator.
53 years old and a grandfather. Unmarried. Currently coughing and sneezing in a remote cottage on Dartmoor.
Meet Jeremy Clark...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Good Intent is the title of one of my favorite Low Life columns and I think it very suitably describes Mr Clarke's struggle to lead a heroic (or at least respectable) life all the while trying to keep at bay his inner demons.
Exceptionally clever, witty, and insightful I've enjoyed his writing for years. I don't understand quite all the references (I am from American southwest) yet I often find myself laughing aloud at his latest every Thursday.
Was disappointed to find Good Intent and Sea Weed (another classic detailing his struggle where one can almost envision an angel and a devil alternately speaking to him) lacking, and would have preferred the date for each article but that did not diminish the collection.
Exceptionally clever, witty, and insightful I've enjoyed his writing for years. I don't understand quite all the references (I am from American southwest) yet I often find myself laughing aloud at his latest every Thursday.
Was disappointed to find Good Intent and Sea Weed (another classic detailing his struggle where one can almost envision an angel and a devil alternately speaking to him) lacking, and would have preferred the date for each article but that did not diminish the collection.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
George Orwell said "" An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats. "
Clarke can clearly be trusted. His candour is both funny and sometimes excruciating but rarely disagreeable. I have read his Spectator columns for years, in fact I buy the magazine for them - here many of them are reprinted. I cannot think of a writer whom I enjoy more. Clarke struggles between the wind and the water but fortunately for us never fully capsizes. When he chooses to, his lightness of touch and poignant observation can bring tears to my eyes.
Clarke can clearly be trusted. His candour is both funny and sometimes excruciating but rarely disagreeable. I have read his Spectator columns for years, in fact I buy the magazine for them - here many of them are reprinted. I cannot think of a writer whom I enjoy more. Clarke struggles between the wind and the water but fortunately for us never fully capsizes. When he chooses to, his lightness of touch and poignant observation can bring tears to my eyes.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was surprised to see the star rating - then I realised that someone had given the book one star because she thought it was by the Clarkson person. Thus degrading poor Jeremy Clarke's star rating because of her own silly mistake, which is a pity. This book is a genuine rarity. JC says in one section that he has fews strong opinions left, and that seems to me exactly why this is such a valuable, as well as an entertaining, read. JC reports back from the front line of lives that I doubt so many Amazon reviewers are in touch with; of course, there's no way of knowing how much of this has actually happened to him, but it generally rings true to me. And he reports with an extraordinary degree of acceptance, taking people as they are, not throwing judgements around as so many of us do. His skill as a writer (he calls himself a hack - nonsense!) means he doesn't need to pass judgement or generalise. He simply reports back, wryly and calmly, and the events and people themselves say it all for him. He can leave me deeply moved, and then a couple of pages later I'm laughing out loud. He has that melancholy perception that the whole culture is going to hell, or even has done so, which conservatively-minded people often have - he writes about "civilisation" as a past event - but nearly all the time the perception only comes out through the description. And it's a pleasure to read the little essays consecutively, rather than once a week. His sense of the comic potential of human absurdity sometimes makes me think of Wodehouse, and his observational skill, and the immediacy of his contexts, makes me think of Orwell. No comparisons intended or needed. It's a cracking little book - varied, thought-provoking, very funny, sometimes disturbing.
If half of what he writes about himself is true, he really does need to take rather better care of himself - I'd love to read a sequel!
And NB it's got nothing to do with overgrown schoolboy petrol heads, for goodness sake.
If half of what he writes about himself is true, he really does need to take rather better care of himself - I'd love to read a sequel!
And NB it's got nothing to do with overgrown schoolboy petrol heads, for goodness sake.
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