Ending Up

Rating:
Summary: "Operation incontinence."
Review: "Ending Up" is the story of five elderly people who find themselves living together in the Tuppence-hapenny cottage. There's Bernard, Shorty, Adela, Marigold, and George. Adela Bastable runs the household. She's the most energetic of the bunch, and she's also the most parsimonious. Her brother, Brigadier Bernard Bastable is bad-tempered and rather unpleasant, but perhaps his long, painful, and often unproductive sessions in the bathroom are at the root of his temperament problems. Shorty, otherwise known as Derrick Shortell had a brief liaison with the Brigadier over thirty-five years ago, but the physical side of their relationship is now just a distant memory for them both. Marigold is a preposterously silly woman, and the fact that she's sliding into Alzheimer's isn't helping one bit. The last member of this far-from-happy household is George Zeyer, a former history professor. George has recently suffered a major stroke, and he spends most of his days alone in his bedroom trying to recover. George's constant companion is his equally elderly dog, Mr. Pastry. George has problems with speech--specifically he is unable to remember nouns. As a result, his speech is full of vague references that no one bothers to understand.

These five people are stuck with one another, and under the forced confinement, they get on each other's nerves. Bernard exacerbates the problem by creating nasty, malicious guerilla "operations"--such as "Operation Stink"--designed to cause maximum distress and uproar to the other residents.

While touted as a 'comic' novel, the story, in fact, is no such thing. While I am a fan of Kingsley Amis, I did not enjoy this novel. It was sad and rather depressing, and painful to read the details of the various physical and mental ailments. Even Bernard's spiteful tricks did little to alleviate the tone of the novel. The five main characters have all distilled down to a few unpleasant characteristics, and the relatives who come to visit cannot wait to make their escape. To be honest, I wanted to make my escape too. "Ending Up" is a bleak, depressing look at old age--displacedhuman


Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: I've read a lot of Amis over the years, and I think that this
hilarious little book may well be his masterpiece.

It tells the not-so-simple story of the five retirees who live in
Hapenny-Tupenny cottage, ending up their lives in the company of
people they hardly knew at all in their working years.

Adela Bastable is the matriarch, a touching figure who has never
been loved, and who has never even been permitted to love.
("This she explained to herself as the result of her extreme
ugliness.") Adela's brother Bernard is the misanthropic hero
of the novel, a man who was forced to resign his Army commission
shortly after his disastrous marriage by a "scandalous" relationship with
Private Derrick Shortell, who is the third inhabitant of Hapenny-Tupenny Cottage;
known as "Shorty," he is the most important financial mainstay
of the household, its general factotum and servant, and almost never sober.
Marigold Pyke, a pretentious, vapid old flirt in her seventies,
and Professor George Zeyer, a crippled Central European academic
suffering from nominal aphasia, round out the cast.

Oh, do they ever have fun! Every incident of every day is
the occasion for new plotting and counter-plotting. Adela
tries to keep everything functional and warm; Bernard tries
for the very opposite, particularly with regard to Marigold;
Shorty tries to keep his supply of drink secret and safe, and
wages mild, unrelenting war against his social "superiors;"
Marigold tries to convince everyone that she is still a
beauty -- and not inexorably losing her memory;
George simply struggles to speak.

Of course, they are all headed for the grave sooner or later,
like everyone else, but one of the many brilliant strokes in
this novel is showing us how they all unwittingly rush towards
that fate much sooner than anyone could have imagined --
and that this early exit is inextricably bound up with their characters.
So this comic novel winds up being
(in some sense) a pocket tragedy, as the characters
relentlessly move towards the fate ordained by their own character.

I sometimes wonder if this novel wouldn't make a truly dazzling,
one-of-a-kind film. Of course, it would need very courageous
and very capable acting talent, bringing "ensemble acting" to a
new height. And it probably wouldn't make a lot of money, but --
so what?? :-)

The prose in this book is impeccable and lapidary, right up there
with the best efforts of H.H. Munro (Saki), Ernest Brahmah, and
Alexander Kinglake.

Highest possible recommendation!!