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A Kind Of Loving (1960)

by Stan Barstow(Favorite Author)

3.97 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0140016694 (ISBN13: 9780140016697)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Penguin

series

Vic Brown Trilogy

review 1: This is one of my favourite novels - it has a directness about it which is very evocative of the time it was written (early Sixties) and Vic Brown is such an appealing character. The predicament he finds himself in was more serious then of course, but then again unplanned pregnancy is still pretty devastating if it happens to you.I love the period detail of working-class Northern England, his descriptions of the Boxing Day wedding and the draughtsman's office, the factory and pubs, I enjoy social history anyway and there aren't many writers that can look at the society they come from and view it as an outsider as Stan Barstow does. It's almost as if he knew it was a disappearing world, the very early sixties was just on the brink of huge social change, and those old-fash... moreioned close communities that supported people through the depression and the war were about to collapse.I bought the 1962 film which is also marvellous, loads of shots of grimy cobbled streets and smoky factories and Alan Bates does a very good Vic Brown. You appreciate in the film that without his voice and thoughts, which are present right through the book, his side of the story is not so obvious. Ingrid was just like most other girls at the time, she wanted all the ordinary things in life, and didn't ask for more than that - hardly her fault Vic couldn't oblige.
review 2: The appeal of this book is that it was of its time (1960s) and it covers a situation that was familiar to so many people, including me. When I read it, it reminded me so much of someone in my family that I pictured him as the main character, Vic Brown.In the 60s, and before, it was not socially acceptable to have a baby out of wedlock. Women could not receive contraceptives unless they were married and therefore becoming pregnant was fairly common. The main issue was that, in working class families, the couple could not afford to fund their home and had to live with their parents.This is what the story is about. Vic Brown makes the attractive Ingrid pregnant, they get married and move in with her parents. It is a difficult life for him and he realises that he does not have a lot in common with his new wife. Her parents resent him for what he has 'done' to their daughter. He is growing away from her romantically and intellectually and Vic feels trapped.The theme of the story is how they adapt and try to find a kind of loving that will see them through the difficulties. Barstow achieves this but his greatest success is how he captures a time, place and condition so many young men found themselves in. The two following books in this trilogy fail to reach this level and are simply continuing a story without the depth and poignancy of this book. less

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