The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Vintage International) [Paperback]

Alan Sillitoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2010 | Series: Vintage International

Perhaps one of the most revered works of fiction in the twentieth-century, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a modern classic about integrity, courage, and bucking the system. Its title story recounts the story of a reform school cross-country runner who seizes the perfect opportunity to defy the authority that governs his life. It is a pure masterpiece. From there the collection expands even further from the touching “On Saturday Afternoon” to the rollicking “The Decline and Fall and Frankie Buller.” Beloved for its lean prose, unforgettable protagonists, and real-life wisdom, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner captured the voice of a generation, and its poignant and empowering life lessons will continue to captivate and entertain readers for generations to come.
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the best English writers of the day.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Sillitoe offers an authentic and vivacious portrait. . . . A sheer delight.”—Saturday Review
 
“A beautiful piece of work.”—The Guardian

“Brilliant.”—The New Yorker
 
“Mr. Sillitoe is a born writer, who knows his milieu and describes it with vivid, loving precision.” —Daily Telegraph
 
“There are few writers around who can rival Sillitoe when it comes to the complicated business of noticing things.” —Literary Review
 
“A master storyteller.” —The Observer
 
“Miles nearer the real thing than D.H. Lawrence's mystic, brooding working-men ever came.” —Sunday Express

About the Author

Alan Sillitoe was born in 1928, the son of a tannery worker. He left school at age fourteen to work in a factory. He was one of the working-class novelists who revitalized British fiction in the 1950s. His first novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was followed with the bestselling collection The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. He adapted both works for the screen in the early 1960s. He is the author of more than 40 works of prose, poetry, and drama. 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307389642
• ISBN-13: 978-0307389640
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Several standouts, March 21, 2003

By 

Tyler Smith (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Contemporary Fiction, Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is Sillitoe's best-known work, a collection of stories presumably drawn in large part from his working class life in Great Britain. The book's emphasis on gritty realism will not be everyone's cup of tea -- no pun intended -- but I found his prose clean, powerful and nearly free of sentimentality.

Sillitoe's sympathy for the working class is best demonstrated in the title story, narrated by a teen resident of a reform school whose voice vibrates with rebellion. The youth shows a keen awareness of his position within England's rigid class structure and has made a conscious decision to resist those whom he says have "the whip hand" over him. Sillitoe reveals the motivation for his protagonist's attitude in an understated but memorable scene in which the youth remembers finding his laborer father dead, blood spilled out of his consumptive body. The reader sees the boy's perception that his father's life has been used up by the system. In the story's surprising final turn, the youth -- who has become a champion runner for his school -- attempts in his own way to turn the tables on that system.

The book contains several other strong stories. "The Fishing-Boat Picture" is the bittersweet memoir of a failed marriage; it effectively dramatizes the sense of lost opportunity we feel when our most important human connections are broken. "Mr Raynor the School-Teacher" brings to life the stultifying atmosphere of a London public school classroom presided over by a jaded teacher whose only ambition is to keep his rebellious charges at bay so that he can drift in reverie. "The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller" has the feeling of a memoir. The narrator describes his hardscrabble youth and subsequent escape from his environment. Frankie Buller is the symbol of the ruined youth he left behind: a boy who was once a giant among his playmates who has grown older without ever progressing spiritually or creatively. The narrator would never wish to be a Frankie Buller, but his words are permeated with the guilty tone of the survivor.

Not all of the stories succeed as admirably as these. Still, at his best, Sillitoe crafts the claustrophobic environments of his stories, often in the service of social criticism. His characters may long to escape the grays and blacks of their worlds, but the stories themselves offer no such escape for the reader.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fine example of descritive writing., July 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Contemporary Fiction, Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

This narrative story of an English working class teenager is set in the late 1940's/early 50's and is reminiscent of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". Sillitoe combines several themes in one short story,which can be read within 2-3 hours:a gifted youth struggling against social disadvantage,an insight into the reasons for the rise of socialism in post-war Britian and most impressively,a wonderful evocation of what it means to run,alone and across country.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally well written, evocative stories..., October 24, 2005

By 

Nelson Aspen "Author/Journalist" (Los Angeles & NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Contemporary Fiction, Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

I purchased a well worn, musty smelling paperback edition of this book published in 1967 and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful writing as well as the tactile sensation of thumbing my way through the cherished, yellowed pages. Brilliantly executed "tales of working class life and morals" are great to read--but none better than Chapter One about the Runner in the title. So well done, in fact, that my interest in the other stories quickly waned.

For reading pleasure, I highly recommend this collection. For runners, especially, Chapter One is worth the purchase price. Now I'm eager to see the Tom Courtenay movie version, which is apparently excellent, too.