Buy Used
Used - Good See details
Price: £2.74

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Trade in Yours
For a £0.30 Gift Card
Trade in
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Lowlife (London Writing) [Paperback]

Alexander Baron , Iain Sinclair
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback £6.89  
Paperback, 5 April 2001 --  
Audio, Cassette, Audiobook --  
Unknown Binding --  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

5 April 2001 London Writing
Harryboy is lowlife, scum. Trouble starts for him when the Deaners move into his boarding house. Quicker than he can place a bet on a dog, Harryboy finds himself the admired hero and evil genius of the family, particularly for the child Gregory. But Harryboy is also the victim of a secret guilt of his own, something unknown even to his doting sister. The complications resulting from this involve him and the Deaners in even deeper trouble and culminate in a thrilling chase when Harryboy's luck threatens to desert him.

The Lowlife, a cult novel long out of print, is published as part of the Harvill Press's new London Writing series.


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: The Harvill Press; New edition edition (5 April 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1860468292
  • ISBN-13: 978-1860468292
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 921,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, evocative, moving and compelling 20 April 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Alexander Baron isn't a well-known novelist nowadays, despite the fact that his first book sold over a million copies in its day. Some background I've researched - the author (born 1917) was brought up in East London, the setting of 'The Lowlife', and was active in the anti-fascist struggle of the 1930s. He fought six years in the war, and was in the first wave of landings on D-Day. This experience formed the subject of his first novel, 'From the City, From the Plough' (1948), which earned critical acclaim (one critic called it "the only war book that has conveyed any sense of reality to me") and became an instant best seller. It has often compared to the classic, 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. It has recently been re-issued and is available through Amazon.co.uk.

After three war novels, Baron turned to another topic familiar to him - London life and the personalities, destinies, hopes and tragedies of the metropolis. 'The Lowlife' (1963) is one of these novels. It is a gripping narrative of the ups and downs of an East End gambler. Harryboy Boas is intelligent and able, and yet is listless and driven by a secret guilt from his past to escape emotional attachment or responsibility in wild rushes of excitement on the dog tracks or racecourse, in loveless sex in 'swinging' sixties Soho, in drink and gourmet food, or in long sessions of reading the literature he loves. Against his will he finds himself drawn into the life of a neighbouring family, into its petty domestic joys, worries and conflicts, until his inner demons threaten to overwhelm both him and this innocent household. In a gripping climax, he tries to redeem himself and save the family whom his actions have unwittingly but inevitably brought to the verge of destruction.

This book is a compelling and moving narrative of flawed humanity in its dignity and suffering, with its fears and aspirations. It is a realistic portrait of sixties London life and mores (it's one of the first British novels to include Caribbean immigrants among its characters) and of the highs and lows of the 'lowlife' gambler. The style is disciplined, unaffected, precise and yet deeply engaging. Readers who enjoy this novel should try to find another of Baron's London novels, 'King Dido' (1969) - another finely structured, closely observed novel, in this case a tragedy of poverty, violent tribalism and social aspirations set in the East End during 1911, the Coronation year of George V. Unfortunately, this book is out of print. With justification, in my opinion, Baron has been called "the greatest British novelist" of the Second World War and "among the finest of the postwar period." It is time to acknowledge this again.

Two minor points - the Introduction to this book is written by Iain Sinclair, not Pinter. Secondly, the Alexander Baron who wrote 'The Lowlife', 'From the City, From the Plough', 'There's No Home', 'The Human Kind' and ten other novels is NOT the same Alexander Baron as the author of the many highly polemical and politically tendentious pamphlets listed under this name on the Amazon catalogue. Unfortunately, the computer has no way of distinguishing between writers of the same name. It's a pity, since these authors are poles apart.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT - BUY IT NOW 16 Nov 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
What a great book. Well done to Harvill for letting us into the big secret: The Lowlife is a brilliant book that deserves to be a British classic. The writing has amazing clarity and strength, and is by turns funny, poignant and moving - and also packs a pretty amazingly powerful punch, too. I can't praise this book enough - except to say that it also opens a window on a forgotten world - early-Sixties London, fantastically evoked. Buy it and tell all your friends to buy it too.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A fine novel 14 May 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a fine book written out of a depth of experience and feeling common to a number of Jewish London writers, such as Israel Zangwill in his earlier work and Gerald Kersh (also in this series). Cyril Kersh is also a fine Jewish comic novelist, writing about West rather than East London. You find the same strange resonances in Baron as you find in the very best British films of the period and if that's a frisson you enjoy, you'll certainly enjoy this. The introduction is by Iain Sinclair, who was co-author of Rodinski's Room, and has been a key mover in restoring the reputations of many Jewish London novelists. The same is true of Michael Moorcock, who lists other writers in a piece at the end of his new short story collection, London Bone, which also has at least one Jewish narrator. This feels like a real revival -- and about time!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Social authenticity.
As a slice of early 60s period documentary this is evocative; I spent a fair portion of my youth on Harry Boas' stamping ground - Hackney/Dalston and its environs. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Bluecashmere.
4.0 out of 5 stars Really interesting book
Really interesting read, and the item itself was in great condition. One of the better sellers on amazon I find, seeing as the quality really does match upon delivery.
Published 3 months ago by M. Fellows
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read
Fast paced and simply written. Good psychological studies of the main characters. Brings back an almost forgotten world just after the war in England of shared houses, shared... Read more
Published 7 months ago by K. Ara
4.0 out of 5 stars Lowlife
Excellent book. Great depiction of Hackney in the 70's.
Also covers gambling addiction very well.
Read it for our book club and got excellent reviews all round.
Published 19 months ago by Mr. Simon Newton
5.0 out of 5 stars A London Classic
This is a great book that gives a vivid picture of London in the late 1950s. Baron is a much overlooked author despite standing way above many of his contemporaries. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2010 by Celtic Ghirl
5.0 out of 5 stars Dark ,bleak and beautifully observed study of sixties london
Set in London in the early sixties "The Lowlife" is a compelling, realistic and moving tale of the life of a fortysomething Jewish gambler called Harryboy. Read more
Published on 12 April 2001 by "mrswhitton"
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Baron back in vogue 0 27 Jul 2010
See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Discussion Replies Latest Post
how much can you trust an editor? 35 2 minutes ago
Great Authors who are ignored probably because they haven't been on a reality show 63 7 minutes ago
Self-published books: pain or gain? 5991 29 minutes ago
Come on - why don't we write our own book right here in the fiction forum ? I'll do the first sentence, and then jump in....hold on, here we go... 7129 1 hour ago
What are you reading now? 8073 9 hours ago
Books that publicly embarrassed you 324 12 hours ago
Please keep self promo for the Meet Our Authors Forum! 442 12 hours ago
sexual obsession 50 14 hours ago
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback