Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky
by Patrick Hamilton
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 83)
Got a bit bogged down by life so this took a while to read - it is quite a tome. It's three novels in one telling the stories of three characters that exist in and around a pub called The Midnight Bell in 1930s Central London - one's a waiter, one's a prostitute and t'other is a bar maid.
It's pretty harsh stuff and is like watching your friend fall in love with an idiot, but its so well observed and inside the bits of us that we try and hide that it just blew me away. In fairness, Hamilton i...more
It's pretty harsh stuff and is like watching your friend fall in love with an idiot, but its so well observed and inside the bits of us that we try and hide that it just blew me away. In fairness, Hamilton i...more
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I fell in love with the title ;p This trilogy contains three seperate stories centred around a London Pub in the 19th Century called 'The Midnight Bell'. The first story, 'The Midnight Bell', is a story of Bob the Waiter and his obsession with Jenny, a 'lady of the night' ie a prostitude. The second story is 'Siege of Pleasure', Jenny's story of how she became what she has become and the third, and definitely my favourite, is Ella the Barmaid's story - 'The Plains of Cement'. There's much more t...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
This book is brilliant and heartbreaking. It is a series of three interrelated novellas centering around a pub, "the Midnight Bell" near Euston Street in London between the wars. The stories are about Bob, the waiter in the pub, Jenny, the prostitute Bob falls in love with, and Ella, the barmaid, whi nurtures and unrequited passion for Bob.
Patick Hamilton is brilliant in his closely observed descriptions of the lives of people to whom others disregard as insignificant. Simply wo...more
Patick Hamilton is brilliant in his closely observed descriptions of the lives of people to whom others disregard as insignificant. Simply wo...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is in fact a trilogy of novels in one volume telling the stories of a pub waiter, a prostitute and a bar maid in 1930s London. I really enjoyed it. The stories were very powerful in their depiction of working class life, and the characters very credible. There is a great sense of time and place, the pettty injustices and struggles of daily life are brilliantly conveyed with humour and feeling.I really felt absorbed in the atmosphere of the book and enjoyed it very much.
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I'm a big fan of Patrick Hamilton's work, but I only got through the first installment of this trilogy before I put it down. I understand he's trying to show the rut that all of the characters are in, but the writing seemed so repetitive. If you've not yet Hamilton, do not start off with 20,000 Streets Under the Sky.
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