In the first, longer, section of the book, Saturday night, Arthur Seaton comes across as rather invincible. Earning a good wage in mindless work in a bicycle factory, making an effort to dress well, carrying out with two married women, drinking too much. In the second part, he's a bit more tentative and open, even if he's still convinced he knows better than anyone. As a novel, I found this book interesting to read, as a character I couldn't really stand Arthur for the most part. ( )

Arthur Seaton, su protagonista, es un muchacho de veintidós años, poco amante de los compromisos y que trabaja a destajo de lunes a viernes en una fábrica de bicicletas, en el sombrío Nottingham de los primeros años de la posguerra. Pero Arthur vive con los ojos puestos en el fin de semana. Cada sábado por la noche bebe hasta caerse redondo en el pub, se mete en todas las peleas que encuentra y trata de llevarse a la cama a las esposas de sus compañeros de trabajo. Sin embargo, pronto descubrirá que lo que cree que le hace libre constituye en realidad una cárcel, y que su existencia de rebelde tiene un lado oscuro cuyo rigor le es difícil imaginar.

"I'm me and nobody else; and whatever people think I am or say I am, that's what I'm not, because they can't know a bloody thing about me."

It's shortly after the end of World War II; Arthur is a worker at a Nottingham factory, still living at home, biding his time until the weekends. He spends his evenings at the pub, and is having sex with Brenda, the wife of one of his friends at the factory who works the night shift. He chooses married women because he knows they will make no demands on him. As I was reading this, I was struck by how much Arthur reminded me of Michael Caine's Alfie. Of course, the good times can't last forever.

And despite Arthur's perception of "good times," Silitoe does a masterful job of showing us the limitations of the dead end lives of the working class in Great Britain after the war. This was his debut novel (made into a well-regarded movie starring Albert Finley), and we are made to see the disillusionment and lack of opportunities facing the young working class, even if, like Arthur, they don't recognize it themselves. Recommended.

3 1/2 stars ( )

This is the story of a young man who did his Time as a soldier in WWII, and came back home to Nottingham (somewhere around there), living with his mom and stepdad and brother. He works in a bicycle factory, at a lathe, and his life centers around going to the pubs. It kind of reminds me of when I was single, but I didn't get married until I was 34; Arthur only made it to 23. Saturday night is a metaphor for his single, partying days; Sunday morning, he is growing up and beginning to settle down. It sounds boring, and it pretty much pisses you off at the double standard. ( )

Reason Read: August 2022 botm, Reading 1001.
This is a post war book (50-60s) of a young British man who is a single, working class male who enjoys making money at his lathe and drinking and carousing the pubs with married women. This offers little to make him endearing but he does like to fish and seems to love his family so I guess he's not all bad. This is the author's debut novel and it won the Author's Club First Novel Award. It was also made into a film. The title gives the structure of the book; the first part is Saturday night (the introduction to Arthur) and the second part Sunday Morning; the shorter part brings Arthur to a more settled mature chapter in his life as he quits running from commitment which he compares to being caught like a fish on a hook.
Quotes;
"...both became sad, as if they had taken on a happiness that could not be sustained."
"...whatever people think I am or say I am, that’s what I’m not,"
"Once a rebel, always a rebel. You can’t help being one. You can’t deny that. And it’s best to be a rebel so as to show ’em it don’t pay to try to do you down. Factories and labour exchanges and insurance offices keep us alive and kicking—so they say—but they’re booby-traps and will suck you under like sinking-sands if you aren’t careful. Factories sweat you to death, labour exchanges talk you to death, insurance and income-tax offices milk money from your wage packets and rob you to death."
"Mostly you were like a fish: you swam about with freedom, thinking how good it was to be left alone, doing anything you wanted to do and caring about no one, when suddenly: SPLUTCH! the big hook clapped itself into your mouth and you were caught."
The author was called one of the "angry young men" which he didn't like. He definitely is a 50 60s guy. And maybe angry is a good description. It is a post war novel. Men and some women are working and making money and buying TVs. That's what you did in the 50s -- bought a car, bought a TV. ( )