Cheap Saville: A Novel (Book) (David Storey) Price

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Customer Reviews of Saville: A Novel

Great book well worth the effort
A coal miner's son in the 1940s wins a scholarship to go to grammar school and with it a chance to escape the poverty and narrowness of his upbringing. However, after his graduation he still feels tied to the family and community he came from and at the same time he is estranged from almost everyone in it. He struggles to fulfil his obligations and find meaning and purpose for himself.

When I read my own synopsis of the book it sounds boring and introspective. It is not like that at all. The story is engaging, the prose compelling and the book as a whole, thoroughly memorable. One of the best Booker Prize winners of all. The atmosphere of the book is a little gloomy and the ending is not one that tries to resolve all problems. The book is a portrait of a child and young man caught between two worlds.

Some people may find the very detached third person style of the writing distracting. For example Mr and Mrs Saville are referred to as "his father" and "his mother" when "he" in the same sentence refers to someone other than Colin. This caused me momentary confusion on a few occasions.

When you compare the relative happiness of Colin and his younger brother Stevie its tempting to put this book in the same tradition as Great Expectations and Jude the Obscure where its wrong for working class people to aspire to a higher education and an improvement in conditions. This is not the overall impression of this book. Saville's and Colin's apirations are valid.

By the way if its not available on Amazon.com try Amazon UK its definitely in print there.