- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (21 Oct 1982)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192813595
- ISBN-13: 978-0192813596
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 994,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'Patrick Hamilton was a marvellous novelist who's grossly neglected... I'm continually amazed that there's a kind of roll call of OK names from the 1930s, sort of Auden, Isherwood, etc. But Hamilton is never on them and he's a much better writer than any of them... [he] was very much outside the tradition of an upper-class or middle-class writer of that time. He wrote novels about ordinary people. He wrote more sense about England and what was going on in England in the 1930s than anybody else I can think of, and his novels are true now. You can go into any pub and see it going on.' 'His finest work can easily stand comparison with the best of this more celebrated contempories George Orwell and Graham Greene.' Sunday Telegraph --Doris Lessing<br /><br />'His finest work can easily stand comparison with the best of this more celebrated contempories George Orwell and Graham Greene.' --Sunday Telegraph
'His finest work can easily stand comparison with the best of this more celebrated contempories George Orwell and Graham Greene.' --Sunday Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
'His finest work can easily stand comparison with the best of this more celebrated contempories George Orwell and Graham Greene.' --Sunday Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Literary Review
Hamilton's gift for comedy and his understanding of tragedy...
create a glorious study of human cruelty and great human warmth.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
create a glorious study of human cruelty and great human warmth.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Along with Hangover Square and One Thousand Streets Under the Sky, this is a tremendous novel. Hamilton writes beautifully about a cast of dreadfuls- the parochial bores, the bitchy backstabbing friends, and above all the boozers.
It is rare to read a book set in the 1940s which still seems so contemporary. The humour is biting and the depths and subtletys of character equal to Greene, Waugh and their ilk. Hamilton's writing brings to mind the Martin Amis school of tales from the London gutter, but his characters are achingly alive and never seem cartoonish.
Read all three...
65 of 66 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bombed out of her London flat, Miss Roach, thirty-nine and alone, takes up residence at the Rosamund Tea Rooms at Thames Lockdon. Here we encounter an array of lost, rootless, lonely people, the flotsam and jetsam of the War - the slaves of solitude.
The story unfolds through the eyes of the shy, self-effacing Miss Roach, a woman whose natural decency stands in stark contrast to the casual cruelty of the people around her; her fragile sense of self-worth, constantly undermined by her back-stabbing friend, the odious Vicki Kugelmann, the drunken ineptitude of her American lover, Lieutenant Pike, but most of all, her humiliation at the hands of one of Hamilton's most grotesque fictional monsters, the repellent Mr Thwaites - bully, narcissist, and Fascist sympathiser.
Despite the apparent tragedy of Miss Roach's situation, the pathos is relieved by Hamilton's unique black humour and his ability to write perfect, utterly convincing dialogue, infused with waspish comedy. Ever-present is the War itself, robbing the characters of their little comforts, dictating their everyday lives. An underrated, enjoyable, entertaining read. Great to see this wartime classic back in print again!
The story unfolds through the eyes of the shy, self-effacing Miss Roach, a woman whose natural decency stands in stark contrast to the casual cruelty of the people around her; her fragile sense of self-worth, constantly undermined by her back-stabbing friend, the odious Vicki Kugelmann, the drunken ineptitude of her American lover, Lieutenant Pike, but most of all, her humiliation at the hands of one of Hamilton's most grotesque fictional monsters, the repellent Mr Thwaites - bully, narcissist, and Fascist sympathiser.
Despite the apparent tragedy of Miss Roach's situation, the pathos is relieved by Hamilton's unique black humour and his ability to write perfect, utterly convincing dialogue, infused with waspish comedy. Ever-present is the War itself, robbing the characters of their little comforts, dictating their everyday lives. An underrated, enjoyable, entertaining read. Great to see this wartime classic back in print again!
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Congratulations to Michael Holroyd for using his influence to secure the re-issue of The Slaves of Solitude (and Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky). Hamilton's wartime England, viewed this time, not through the bottom of a glass, but through the eyes of a brave and decent woman who has been bullied all her life, is in my opinion his most moving work. A triumph from a writer who was himself sliding desparately downhill.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read Spoiler alert
For some reason Doris Lessing reveals the ending in the foreword of this fascinating insight into living through the war. If you don't want to know look away now!
Published 5 months ago by JM
Hugely Enjoyable Novel
At last I have come across another author capable of writing with the combination of clarity, tenderness and humanity that make Orwell's novels such engrossing works. Read more
Published 6 months ago by R. Morley
gentle storm
My second go at Hamilton after ''Hangover Square'' which I thoroughly enjoyed. Its not nearly as depressing as the front cover suggests, or the name for that matter. Read more
Published 12 months ago by T. Jacobs
Great story, easy read, funny too.
I loved this story and finished it in 2 days. It was an easy read and a thoroughly enjoyable story.
There are some really funny scenes, often cringingly embarrassing at the... Read more
There are some really funny scenes, often cringingly embarrassing at the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by rhubarbandcustard
Hamilton's Masterpiece With the Isolated,Tormented Miss Roach
For a long time, this was my favourite novel, and I still think the 'dark comedy' in it wonderful, as is Hamilton's perception and espousal of human values and his witty exposure... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Lucinda
An overlooked classic
I'd never heard of Patrick Hamilton until this book was recommended to me. I found it compelling, despite the fact that in a sense not much happens in it. Read more
Published 17 months ago by S. Eddy
A word surgeon with a taste for the banal
From what I had read of the reviews I really expected a masterpiece and didn't find it. Yes, the author has the ability to dissect thoughts and motives, to describe at length... Read more
Published 20 months ago by H. Lacroix
The Slaves of Solitude
Another gem from Patrick Hamilton. As the title of the novel suggests 'The Slaves of Solitude' explores the themes of alienation and loneliness. Read more
Published 21 months ago by N. A. Spencer
"It was [to be] war to the death--malignant, venomous, abominable,...
A "criminally neglected British author," Patrick Hamilton wrote nine novels from the 1920s through the early 1950s, along with the famous dramas of ROPE and GASLIGHT, and though he... Read more
Published on 18 May 2010 by Mary Whipple
Patrick Hamilton - The Slaves of Solitude
After several disappointments, I knew I could rely on Hamilton to remind me how wonderful fiction should be written. Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by RachelWalker
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