The Second Chance

by Alan Sillitoe

Simon & Schuster, 1981-04-13. Hardcover. First Edition.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

219 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Alan Sillitoe was an English writer, one of the "Angry Young Men" of the 1950s (although he, in common with most of the other writers to whom the label was applied, had never welcomed it).
For more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sil...

Reviews

[RYD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked these short stories, which were all pretty dark accounts of working-class despair. My favorites were the title story and "A Scream of Toys." Here's a passage from another one that I highlighted, which reminds me of the impotent conservative rage we're now seeing in the United States.

"Nobody works any more. Best if some of 'em don't, if you ask me. Safer when they're not at work. Better for the others. Less trouble having 'em on the dole. Why should they work anyway? There's money for the asking. Spend it all in the bookies', though, betting on hosses. Boozing in the pubs. I don't know -- but I know they do. I ain't read about it. I've seen it. Gone on for years. Not your bleeding Blackies, either, mate. Some of 'em are, but it's whites, mostly. Country's rotten. And why? I don't know. No religion, I expect.

"We aren't all like that, though. Bloody good job, ain't it? I'm not anyway. Would be if I didn't make an effort. Look at me. Go on, look at me, then: twenty years at the same firm, and then they went bust. Van driver, I was. Well, they went broke after I left, but they got rid of me in good time, I will say that for 'em. Just because one of my so-called colleagues in the van driving industry said I lifted summat off the back of a wagon that didn't belong to me. Sacked me straight off, without giving me a chance to explain. Talk about injustice. You can say goodbye to that, these days. There's none left. Not for a bloke like me, anyway."

[Peter Coomber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with characters in an Alan Sillitoe story - I think - is that they think too much. Not bland thoughts about the weather or the taste of beer or what someone else might be thinking, but deep thoughts.
This is a problem for me - being a shallow person - because I am thinking 'What the bleddy 'ell are they on about? They don't mek sense!'
But don't let my problem worry you; buy this book and read it. You'll like it (I think)...