My Review (4 stars out of 5)
Thought to be a groundbreaking work on its first publication, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner is a collection of short stories describing the lives of working-class people in the Midlands during the fifties and sixties (the title story relating the thoughts of a Borstal boy who finds solace in running). Along with other writers in the Angry Young Men movement (such as John Wain and John Braine), Sillitoe created a realistic picture of grim lives in and around Nottingham (also the setting for his popular novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning).
I first read the title story nearly fifty years ago but for me the other tales in the collection haven’t aged well. No doubt this is mostly due to the many hundreds of copycat authors who jumped on the ‘grim-up-north’ bandwagon all those years ago and carved out a niche for working class heroes, developing their themes with a deal more panache. Sillitoe’s use of language in these stories—particularly Mr Raynor the Schoolteacher, and Uncle Ernest—may have been radical at the time, but the overlong paragraphs and poor sentence structure only succeeded in irritating me.
Several years back, I re-read John Wain’s Hurry On Down, which on first reading I considered to be amazing. Second time around, however (like the words of the song), the novel didn’t impress me much. I’m aware that re-visiting books I read in my teens often leaves me a little disappointed. Maybe such books are better left in my memory where first impressions were more favourable.
Colin Garrow 
Yes, generally I find the same when revisiting old favourites, or older works in general. We’ve moved on, they are fixed in time with the language of the day and the often limited world view. I also find that they are often one-paced, plodding away. However by contrast, the 1962 film with Tom Courtenay I’ve always found very enjoyable, paradoxically because of that same historical setting.
LikeLike
Yes, and there are always exceptions, such as ‘Double Indemnity’ where the writing is clever and almost as witty as Chandler’s in the movie version.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Despite your disappointment, you still gave it 4 stars which is a good rating. A lot of books I read as a teen made better sense to me as an adult. I was a bit overambitious at times and didn’t have the world experience to understand many emotions expressed in stories.
LikeLike
Good point, Robbie – me too. Sometimes it’s hard to recall how we felt about what we read all those years ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
💗
LikeLike