Surviving

by Allan Massie

How well do we know other people - even when we all belong to a small ex-pat community in a foreign capital? Allan Massie's edgy and disturbing study of English-speaking alcoholics living in Rome examines this great literary theme - and does much more besides. The broken people who inhabit this stark and inventive novel live their intense and meaningful relationships a few steps removed from the noise and bustle of the host community that surrounds them - a sympathetically portrayed backdrop, whose "noises off" remind the reader of a steadier, less isolated world beyond the central characters, whose obsessions we follow through a vibrant, fast-paced and compelling dialogue. The words and thoughts of these characters in most cases reveal not so much self-interest as the total isolation of the human self, but the author's acute analysis is mitigated by moments of tenderness and humor.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2009

About the author

Allan Massie was a Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist. He was one of Scotland's most prolific and well-known journalists, writing regular columns for The Scotsman, The Sunday Times (Scotland) and the Scottish Daily Mail. He was the author of nearly 30 books, including 20 novels. He is notable for novels set in the distant past and Vichy France.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me a while to get used to the style of Massie’s writing as it feels clipped and staccato at times, which left me unsure of who was talking and what they were even talking about. I enjoyed that each chapter was merely a couple of pages so it helped move the plot along at a quicker rate. There’s a whole host of characters within Surviving and yet they could have been developed further given that each had a rich psychological past to explain theiralcoholism and residence in Rome. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the group and how most members have issues with others yet stay banded together; something I could never personally sacrifice for the benefit of being part of a group. I find it odd that people choose to spend their time with people they don’t like just so they can say they have friends; this is not what I would call a friend. That said these friends did sacrifice themselves to help Kate out in the end. This book is okay if you’re after a story but if you’re after stimulation or answers to life questions you won’t find them here.

[Daniel Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had all the right ingredients for a good read but I felt it was too cobbled together. You're thrown into a crowd of characters who know each other so well and are so familiar to Massie that this reader, at least, felt thoroughly excluded. Relationships are briefly sketched and undeveloped. There are just too many characters for the plot to hold together or for the reader to feel part of who's relating to whom or what's really going on. The novel looked as though it might have taken the reader into an wonky world of alcoholic middle class Brits living in Rome, perhaps developing into a sort of mishmash of 'Under The Volcano', 'Withnail and I' and 'A Room with a View', but a bizarre and out of the blue murder midway throws the reader and the novel almost into another novel. By the end I felt I'd been reading maybe two or three novels pasted together, a little confused. There are some lovely references to life in Rome clearly drawn from Massie's own times there. There are some fun character sketches, a bit of a murder mystery, late in the day drunk melancholy, undeveloped tensions between straights and gays that allude to hidden pasts, broken futures etc., but nothing really develops and the mid novel murder feels like an attempt, perhaps suggested by an editor (?) to crank it up a bit. When there's Lowry and others who delve deeper into alcoholism and tragic lives, it's difficult to see what "Surviving'' actually adds.

[Derek Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm wondering what it says about me that I didn't care for any of the characters. I can't put my finger on it but they just seemed so self obsessed and any one of them could have been the murder victim and I wouldn't have minded.
I rarely don't finich a book but there were times with this one that I was very tempted.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many seem not to like this but I did. An ensemble piece, with a lot of characters and contrivance, but literary and tolerant. Must read more Massie though on the face of it this is not his usual type of thing.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drunk or ex-drunk Anglos bitch around Rome. Some of the literary references are a bit much (“The boy was reading Stendhal; how bad could he be?”) but the nasty driving fatigue underneath is good. Has a really ugly binding and font, so I’ve compensated the score in case I am shallow.