Customer Reviews

THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING

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This is my favorite novel of all time, and became a wonderful movie with Peter Sellers in the lead role of Welsh librarian stuck between a snotty upper class and his underpaid position in Swansea Wales as a bookstocker in a provincial library.

His wife is marvelous, as is Mai Zetterling, an upper class Swedish tart who puts him through his sexual paces as he tries to secure preferment.

The world of this novel is so wonderful. Even the children are believably surrealistic. How could it have ever gone out of print?

I found this book in an opportunity shop during a cold rainy holiday, which I think was a lucky find given the book seems to be no longer in print. It is about John Lewis, a relatively unimportant assistant librarian and his dealings with Elizabeth, a temptress of a woman.
The characters in the story are wonderfully developed and can be related to very easily. John, providing comic moments on almost every page, has a disdain for the elite and the upper crust and their expectation of automatic respect. I think he's also something of a misogynist, or at least overly critical in his own mind. Elizabeth is an upper crust socialite who is used to getting what she wants and will manipulate all and sundry to get it.
This book was my first foray into the literary world of Kingsley Amis and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the vacation because of it. His commitment to prose and the laughter of the reader is very welcome. I think this may be the beginning of an obsession.