The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis

The Old Devils [1986]

By Kingsley Amis 

Winner of Booker Prize 1986

Rating : 5/5 🎉🎉🔮

Genres : Humor, Dry, Fiction, Booker Prize, Welsh people.🎃

340 pages, Digital Kindle Edition 

I enjoyed this book very much. The dry and brutally honest wit,humor and open satire on the nature of relationships and superficiality between a bunch of so called life long friends by the author is very appetizing. They backstab each other. They poke at each other. They often booze and snooze and share far too many secrets than they should. They are there to empathize. They are there to offer shoulders to cry. And despite being really old - too much that they can't even bend properly or chew without help of aids - they are there to romance and show off to the opposite sex. 😄🤣

I can understand where some of the negative reviews find their roots and soil for the novel. It deals in less than idealized settings where romance is supposed to be flying high between a bunch of old people which can be multiplied in boredom when there is an added element of adultery to the picture. It deals in less than perfect characters who are mostly in their sixties .. already physically weak, having eye sight problems,bowel movement problems, teeth problems, fake dentures installed into their mouths which run the risk of falling out when they are on "dates" with each other and growing increasingly forgetful/senile with each passing day lol 🤣🤣 . Even for me, there were scenes where I was hit with the full force of awkwardness and disgust at failed romantic overtures. 🥱

The main characters are a group of men Alun, Charlie, Peter and others married to women Rhinonna, Sophie, Muriel and others .. they have been married to each other for over two decades .. but there was a time long back when they were lovers to others on the group. Rhinonna had an abortion and an unpleasant break up with Peter who has become incredibly fat and is on the receiving end of constant abuse from his wife Muriel. She also probably had flings with Charlie and another man Malcolm .. Alun himself must have gone out with Sophie, Gwen .. some of these dalliances are in the open and some still concealed. When Alun and Rhinonna announce their return to Wales after years of stay in London where he made name for himself as a poet, there is initial excitement among the old friends. Then old rivalries and conflicts are slowly brought to the surface and even older dalliances they try to resume.  

The open nature to the relationships and calm acquiescence of the couples to each others indiscretions are also a bit staggering .. its like they didn't care for each other or what the other did anymore. Alun suddenly dies and what should happen after that but Rhionna and Peter marry off their children to each other and then start courting themselves. Lololol 

Coming from a conservative culture, these kinds of zig zags and moral less behavior is a bit staggering and shocking to me. How could people who have grown up children behave like irresponsible teenagers themselves right? But pondering on human nature and desires a soul might have .. where in they want to be loved always and in the face of failing and long stagnant marriages, any kind of external push forward is perhaps welcome. The more accepting the partner, the more happy and peaceful life is. There can be silver linings even for people in their old ages when life comes to a still state.  Old age is not something to be shuddered and hated .. but more cherished and even enjoyed if there are possibilities.  💗💜 Like the book .. want to check out others by Kingsley Amis !! 

Cheers. 🥂