Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1780276 in Books
• Published on: 1985-05-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

A neglected classic
I only recently discovered this author and I have already become quite a fan. As you would expect from the title, it's a very dark book. It is set in London in 1939, and the impending Second World War casts a gloomy shadow over everything that happens in the book, somehow making it more haunting and apocalyptic.

The book deals with the universal themes of unrequited love, unrealised potential, the casual cruelty of which some people are capable, and mental illness. In the book, the slightly pathetic George Harvey Bone innocently longs for a beautiful but cruel woman called Netta in the dark, smoky pubs of London, all the while drowning himself in beer, whisky and gin.

All through the novel, George suffers attacks of 'dead moods', during which his personality totally changes and he wanders around as if in a daze, and after which he can never remember anything. It is during one of these moods that he decides that he must kill Netta so that he can be happy again. When he is back to normal, he completely forgets this plan - that is, until he snaps back into the next 'dead mood'. This simple narrative device adds dramatic tension and suspense to the novel's strongest points, which are Hamilton's haunting sense of place and his insight into the tragic aspects of human nature.

This novel is not for everyone, but I would suggest that fans of modern "lad-lit" should check this out and see how it is really done. Some may be alienated by the dark tone of this book, and the lack of sympathetic characters. Other readers may find Hamilton's habit of repeating himself over and over again slightly infuriating, but if you stick with it this is a very rewarding read.

An underrated novel
I highly recommend "Hangover Square" as a good read. Hamilton is a sadly neglected novelist, and "Hangover Square" one of his best novels. Writing during the 1930's and war years, his books capture the essence of loneliness, some hopeless, empty, tragic quality of the human soul. George, through whom the story unfolds is a lonely bachelor who frequents the dingy Earls Court of the period; gas-lit bedsit land, sleazy bars, the pub-land drifters and no-hopers, low-grade hotels, Lyons tea houses - this is the world which Hamilton so sensitively and so achingly captures.

The tormented George pursues his "ideal", the cruel, amoral Netta, to the point where his obsession with her becomes sick and destructive. Behind this agonising tale looms the shadow of the imminent world war. A brilliant, dark, gripping story.

One of the greatest British books of the last century
This book has to be among the best novels of the last century. It is tragic, funny and moving. Hamilton was an outstanding writer whose understanding of seemy pub life and the dark side of drinking has never been bettered. Martin Amis would kill to have this much talent or an ounce of Hamilton's compassion.