The Pier

by Rayner Heppenstall

The arrival of new and noisy neighbors shatters the peace of mind of an elderly writer living in a small English seaside town, and he begins to formulate the plan for a new novel about someone much like himself who sets out to murder his neighbors

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Rayner Heppenstall was an English novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer.

Heppenstall's first novel The Blaze of Noon, was neglected at the time. Much later, in 1967, it received an Arts Council award. He was Francophile in literary terms, and his non-fiction writing reflects his tastes.

Critical attention has linked him to the French nouveau roman, in fact as an anticipator, or as a writer of the "anti-novel". Several critics (including, according to his diaries, Helene Cixous) have named Heppenstall in this connection. He is sometimes therefore grouped with Alain Robbe-Grillet, or associated with other British experimentalists: Anthony Burgess, B. S. Johnson, Ann Quin, Alan Burns, Stefan Themerson and Eva Figes. The Connecting Door (1962) is singled out as influenced by the nouveau roman.

He was certainly influenced by Raymond Roussel, whose Impressions of Africa he translated. Later novels include The Shearers, Two Moons and The Pier. He also wrote a short study of the French Catholic writer Léon Bloy.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange & wonderful book...I'd like to reread it now, it's been a few years...it's out of print and I had to search to find a copy. From the book desc: "It is a murder story--unusual and literary--told by an elderly writer who lives in a small English seaside town where his private peace of mind is shattered by the arrival of new and noisy neighbours. As he drafts his latest book and nurses his aching teeth, he begins to formulate the plan for a new novel about someone much like himself who sets out to murder his neighbours. And as the noise mounts next door, and his fantasy plot begins to look better and better, so it becomes more and more appealing to turn his fiction into fact..."

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mildly entertaining, yet also disturbing look at an elderly writer, Harold Atha, and his distaste for his noisy neighbors and how he chooses to deal with the daily irritations. The annoying neighbors bring forth a story idea that mirrors his situation and as he ponders this idea, he begins to develop a clever scheme to end his misery. Added to his neighbor issues are his building health issues and the details therein which seem to highlight the despair and abandonment that the elderly experience with regard to healthcare support.

The detail that Heppenstall puts forth in this effort is extraordinary and you feel like you are there with Atha enduring these daily frustrations. It is written in First Person with much narrative and little dialog. I wondered a bit at this attention to detail but I think it is important to help understand Harold Atha and his experience. Personally, I felt I could skip the numerous paragraphs of detail and still get the idea of what was happening.

You are pulled along anxiously waiting to discover what Harold Atha will choose to do and I have to say I was surprised at the ending. It is ironic to note that all the detail the reader endures throughout the story - it ends at the climax of Atha's final action and so you really are not completely sure how it happened but you do know what happened. It is interesting to note, also, that the anonymity that Atha endured as a senior citizen actually benefitted him in the end.

Although I remained generally interested in the story, the prolific detail hampered things somewhat for me so that is why I only gave it 3 stars.

[Michael Jarvie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daily Mail reader hates his working class neighbours. Plus ca change.
Extremely funny novel that is sadly overlooked these days.