Customer Reviews

None but the Lonely Heart

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Richard Llewellyn came to mt attention from the film version of "How Green Was My Valley". As great as that film remains, even after reading the novel, it is the novel that provides the richness od detail about Welsh coalmining-life, but the film still provides vivid imagery. The novel, by nature, tells a more detailed and involved story that transports one to that time and place. So does "None But The Lonely Heart"; and, I have not seen the film with Cary Grant, so this experience is still better. Llewellyn is virtually unknown today, like many writers not currently on bestseller lists. So do yourself a favor and search out one of these near-obscure authors.

This is a great book, but Readers, Beware: there are two versions, with two different endings--the version published in 1943 must have seemed insufficient to the author (whose lovely Welsh name I can never spell) because at some point he went back, wrote another few chapters and re-published it. I wish I knew more of the history of his writing and publishing of it. In any case, though less well known than his "How Green Was My Valley" this is an equally good book...I by far prefer the second ending, myself.

I'm a 50yr old Londoner which means in 60's,70's and somewhat the 80's there were still folk from the pre-war in middle age or old men who were still throwing in many of the words of cockney dialect found in this book. The book is a veritable lexicon (in fact i been listing them as i read through half of which are new half jog the memeory) This dialect is almost poetic in its richness since many of the words' sounds alliterate with their meaning or with a colourful image to do with their meaning.All lost.What happened? Was it the onset of radio but especially T.V. that cleaned up the vocab since media was much tighter on conformity back then? Too much T.V. thereby making a concensus out-side of an unwritten language of the working class. Of course cockney is all the rage in U.K. now where even middle-classes affect a cockney shade to their inflection to denote credibilty and it's called Mockney. All this dialect would be readily taken up these days but it has gone gone gone.Only a very few survive by comparison. But the book's a joy and a time warp to come across such phrases and words. Why did the U.K. create Shakesphere? Because of the rich and creative use of language inherent in the english at one time of course!!!!
So its a great read for the humour and the poetry of its language.
Meanwhile although written in the 30s it seems to be set at the turn and even more so with a foot in the 19th century with all that old London and colorful characters that Dicken's got into.Yet for adults and not caracatured with much realistic inflection.
Stay tuned when i've compiled me list i'll add some examples to this review to whet yer appetite!!

THE BOOK WAS IN GOOD CONDITION AND RECEIVED IT PROMPTLY. ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH.