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Life at the Top

(At the Top)

John Braine

3.53 · Rating details · 449 ratings · 24 reviews

Readers of Room at the Top can now meet Joe Lampton again after ten years amid the fleshpots.

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Paperback, 255 pages

Published 1966 by Penguin (first published 1962)

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Average rating 3.53 ·

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· 449 ratings · 24 reviews

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Aug 30, 2011 Kris McCracken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I read John Braine’s debut Room at the Top a few weeks ago and enjoyed it very much. Set ten years from the events of that novel, Life at the Top chronicles the life and trials of Joe Lampton, a once ambitious man of humble origins who has discovered that ‘life at the top’ (well, in the upper middle classes) is not all it was cracked up to be.

A fantastic snapshot of a certain time and place (England’s industrial north in the early-1960s), of a certain class consciousness (a rising proletariat an ...more

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Dec 25, 2013 Petra Tokárová rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I enjoyed reading both of these books very much. I also identify,in some measure, with the main character, Joe Lampton. As a young man he desperatly longs for money and success that will, as he hopes, make him happy. He longs for the feeling of being accepted by the upper social class.After arriving to a town full of riches, he falls in love with a woman,Alice Aisgil, who is ten years older than he is. Experiencing passionate and forbidden love he realizes what truly makes him happy.Despite this ...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Joe Stamber rated it really liked it

Shelves: paper, read-2011

In Life at the Top we catch up with eternal pessimist Joe Lampton 10 years after his introduction in Braine's debut, Room at the Top. Initially, we are led to believe that everything has changed; the 50s have become the 60s, Joe is married with kids and has a decent job with his father-in-law. Early on, I began to get almost bored and thoughts of a 2 star rating emerged as Joe's rather mundane life unfolded.

I persevered, and slowly but surely the selfish, whining child inside Joe surfaced as his ...more

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Dec 02, 2018 Irina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mi-a atras atentia urmatorul pasaj:

"Privind inapoi, nu vedeam altceva decat un sir interminabil de lupte: lupta ca sa ajung la scoala din Dufton, lupta ca sa-mi trec examenele de admitere, lupta ca sa ajung functionar la casieria din Dufton, lupta ca sa ma insor cu Susan, si lunga harta pe care numai din vara o cunoscusem cu adevarat, a casatoriei insasi. Curand aveam sa incep viata cea noua, viata pe care eu o alesesem; in sfarsit traiam in prezent."

Joe se hotaraste sa lase totul in urma la un ...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Renate rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

When I discovered that there was a sequel to Room At The Top, I couldn't resist getting hold of a copy to find out what happened next to Joe Lampton. Ten years have passed, and things have turned out pretty much as one would have expected. Joe is now married to the boss' daughter, they have two children and a very comfortable life. And even though he now carries some middle aged spread, he still has, or at least tries to have, his way with the ladies. But in spite of all that, Joe isn't happy.

As ...more

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Aug 07, 2019 Anastasia Bodrug rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Povestioară bună, modul de a descrie nu prea. (Posibil traducerea nu e cea mai bună, dar oricum)
Personajul mi s-a părut cam plat, fără consistență, provoacă scârbă. Un disperat de atenție feminină. Orice femeie întâlnită era descrisă ca iubirea vieții lui.
Finalul, de asemenea, demonstrează cât de jalnic este. (Poate eu ceva nu înțeleg ;)). )

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Nov 24, 2012 Steven rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british, romance-sex

Disappointing follow-up to the classic Room at the Top as married life and ambition fulfilled is no substitute for love.

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Feb 20, 2016 Cecily marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Sequel to Room at the Top: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If/when I read this, tell Sue first:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
...more

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Jan 01, 2021 Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen rated it liked it · review of another edition

'Room At The Top' was a pretty explosive novel when it was first published in 1957, and this sequel perhaps inevitably suffers from 'second album syndrome', as we meet Joe Lampton ten years on, firmly a part of small-town Yorkshire establishment with a favourable position at his father-in-law's business and as a town councillor, but still pursuing quick thrills and struggling with the demands of fatherhood and a terminal marriage. Braine's descriptive talents are a little dimmed in his second no ...more

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May 18, 2013 Ramona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Joe Lampton, un tânăr de origini modeste, dar care are o ambiție de nemăsurat în a-și întrece condiția inițială. Acesta dorește cu îndârjire să urce pe treptele societății, până în vârf unde se află ”înalta societate” care semnifică bogăția, mașini de lux și femei frumoase.
Se spune că scopul scuză mijloacele și că orice are un preț. Prețul succesului este uriaș pentru Joe, fiind dispus să trădeze pe toată lumea și să își trădeze propriile principii și origini.
Primul pas făcut de el este să se mu ...more

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Apr 23, 2017 Stephen Hull rated it it was ok

Definitely inferior to Room at the Top, but sort of fun to read to see what happens to Joe. It's very much a sequel: you won't really understand much of what's going on if you haven't read the first book. The plotting is pretty thin, not to mention a little predictable. So was the first book, but you could forgive the author because it was so well paced and well written. This book can't help but give you the feeling that it was written to pay the bills. More disappointingly, it seems at one poin ...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Oana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Hmmm.....i didn't liked this book from the beginning, but i do know that i loved it at the end. General, simple things about life, about marriage and kids... I think that one of the basic idea of this book is that money is really important for family happiness, even if nobody admits it. You can not go back to a simple and ugly life after you used to live at the top. :).....and i almost forgot : everyone is cheating and lying:) ...more

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Nov 28, 2010 Lefty Right rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This author has spentg a lot of time figuring out the character's psyche. It must have driven him insane. The first half of this book is rather dull - but I do enjoy dullness. Half way through things get a little crazy. The language is wonderfully non-chalant. For someone living in this day and age it is often hard to understand the society and sociel rules of the period the book is set in. ...more

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Dec 09, 2017 Тихомира Палова rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Тази книга я прочетох на един дъх през лятото на 2017 г. Тя е от поредицата "Забравените стари книга в личната ми библиотека". Напомни ми, че все пак е имало прекрасни сюжети с богат език и незабравим край и то за вечната тема Любов! ...more

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Sep 19, 2018 Marina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Not just a sequel to 'Room at the Top'. Ten years have gone by since the end of that novel and, although much of it is about Joe Lampton's increasingly frustrating professional and married life, it actually centres on his relationship with his remote son and affectionate daughter. ...more

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Jan 28, 2015 Lucie Novak rated it liked it · review of another edition

It was interesting as a follow up. The characters got more flavours.A good book that taught me about my future homeland.

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Sep 05, 2011 Rob Wiltsher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Continuing tale of an anti-hero....

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Feb 17, 2012 Tim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kingsley-amis, modern-british-fiction

The sequel to "Room at the Top," one of the Angry Young Man novels I read as part of devouring the whole Amis thing. I like the movie version of "Room at the Top" with Lawrence Harvey. ...more

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Nov 20, 2018 Wayne rated it liked it · review of another edition

enjoyed the read. At times bogged down on the details of the business activity. Not a great lover of Joe Lampton's character. ...more

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Jan 02, 2019 Dumitru Moraru rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I made the mistake to start this book and not its prequel. I didn't like very much Joe. But the ending left me speechless. ...more

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Sep 20, 2017 Peer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: good-reads

A hearthening novel for married couples in heavy weather. I am happy to have read this book.

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Aug 31, 2020 Philip rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

After recently re-reading John Braine’s Room at the Top, I went On Chesil Beach, courtesy of Ian McEwan. Without doubt the latter is a masterpiece, whereas the former seems to be a little too reliant on its contemporary setting, its social mores, its finely tuned appreciation of social class to be considered more than “of its time”. Concatenating the two books, however, has made me think a little more about the underpinning thesis of Ian McEwan’s book, that the early 1960s remained an age when s After recently re-reading John Braine’s Room at the Top, I went On Chesil Beach, courtesy of Ian McEwan. Without doubt the latter is a masterpiece, whereas the former seems to be a little too reliant on its contemporary setting, its social mores, its finely tuned appreciation of social class to be considered more than “of its time”. Concatenating the two books, however, has made me think a little more about the underpinning thesis of Ian McEwan’s book, that the early 1960s remained an age when sexuality was not discussed, dealt with or even experienced in the more open, liberal manner of just a decade later. In the context of Ian McEwan’s setting and for his characters, this was undoubtedly the case. Memories of John Braine’s 1950s, however, remind me that there might have been room for a different reading.

And so I approached a re-discovery of Braine’s Life At The Top with more than just an interest in the narrative. Of course the book is a sequel, an attempt to recreate the success that had eluded its author in the intervening years. But it is based in the early 1960s, precisely the time when Ian McEwan’s fumbling lovers marry.

Life At The Top is ten years on from its germ. Joe Lampton and Susan are married and have two children. Joe is also firmly ensconced in his father-in-law’s firm, has made a moderate success of his career and, certainly relative to others around Warley, has plenty of money. But as those for whom success seems to be a given, it is necessary to be reminded that, “It’s one thing to get there, and quite another thing to stay there”. And so it is with Joe Lampton. He becomes a councilor – a Tory one at that – and all seems to be made. But then, but then… he’s still our Joe. He still likes his pint, though now it’s more likely to be a scotch, and perhaps Susan is still as naïve as she was a decade before – naïve, that is, until she decides what she wants.

So, obviously, in Life At The Top Joe and Susan’s life together turns sour, even a little bitter. But John Braine’s plot and style always keep the process above soap opera, where character only exists to fuel plot. In some ways, the pair of novels, Room and Life At The Top, is a loose allegory of the experience of the author, himself. In Room he’s an upstart successfully staking his claim, but at a cost in terms of pigeon-holing and confinement to a genre. In Life he’s a known success and is clawing on to its retention.

But after finishing the book two points stand out. The first is a reminder of the apparent sexual liberty enjoyed by its characters. Not only Joe, but also Susan and eventually Norah, not to mention the ailing Mark, are apparently free-loaders. Only Mark’s wife seems to possess the frigidity, perhaps aridity, that Ian McEwan seems to associate with the era. I can remember when Life At The Top was a much watched film. It was seen as racy, even a bit risqué, but not because of what it portrayed, only that it was portrayed. It wasn’t the content that shocked; it was the fact that the content was made public.

On the other hand, if John Braine’s mission had been purely to shock, then the ultimate morality of the outcome would be incongruous at best. Life At The Top is the kind of novel where what happens is crucial, so to reveal the finishing point would detract from the experience of reading the book. Suffice it to say that, in its own way, Life At The Top becomes an affirmation of a given set of values, even if those who want to live by them do not always live up to them.

So I return again to On Chesil Beach and conclude that there may be a greater element of social class – or even stereotype – involved in Ian McEwan’s reading of the mores of that age. A shortcoming it might be, but it detracts in no way whatsoever from the quality of the book. The imagined rules applied to those described, despite the fact that, as John Braine’s Life At The Top reminds us, they might not actually have been rules and certainly didn’t apply to everyone, especially the imagined.
https://philipspires.blogspot.com/200...

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Jun 02, 2019 Peter rated it liked it · review of another edition

'Life at the Top' is the sequel to 'Room at the Top' in which we met local Government official and social climber Joe Lampton as he courted Susan Brown, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, whilst he has an affair with an older married woman. In this book time has moved along ten years and on the surface Joe has got everything that he thought he wanted, an upper-class wife, a nice house, a sports car, two children, and an executive job with the biggest firm in town. Yet despite his material po ...more

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Feb 24, 2020 Amy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I couldn't finish this the sexism was too much for me ...more

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About John Braine

John Braine

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John Gerard Braine was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1922. He sprang to immediate fame in 1957 with publication of his first novel, Room at the Top, which was a critical success and a major bestseller in England and America and was adapted for the screen in an Oscar-winning 1959 film starring Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey. His second novel, The Vodi (1959), met with mixed reviews and a disa ...more