Hangover Square: A Story of Darkest Earl's Court (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Maybe I couldn't feel deeply sorry for George because he is so full of self-piety...or because he has fallen so low. Still, it was really fascinating to read about him. George seems to be this novel, meaning that it feels like his diary, an exploration of his soul. I won’t idolize George. As I said, I liked the fact he felt so real. Perhaps too flawed as a person to love, but so well written as a character that it was impossible not to get caught up in the story. Mank, Gregory William (1994). Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre's Golden Age. McFarland & Company, pp. 327-28 ISBN 0-7864-1112-0. She is just using him and he gets nothing in exchange. But every deception leaves a little teardrop of bitterness… These are some of the famous quotes that were running through my mind while reading Hangover Square. The book is set in England just before World War 2. Bone - a tall, overweight, alcoholic and sensitive man is madly in love with Netta, an aspiring actress. But the cruel Netta has no interest in Bone and viciously humiliates him every chance that she gets while also borrowing money from him. You probably won’t love him ( I would be surprised if you did) but you will have to admit that as a character he is pretty credible. Not banal. Not pathetic. Even if what he does is pathetic, you will be able to see more to it. That’s what good writing is about. Those subtle dimensions that matter so much and yet are so hard to describe. The line between a bad novel and a good one can be terribly thin. Fortunately, this novel managed to make the cut. Dark as it is, it is a great read.

Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton

Nothing so benign occurs at the climax of Hangover Square. Published in 1941 and later hailed in the press as “one of the great books of the 20th century”, Hangover Square, like Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, is written in a drolly detached style and explores the shabby crevices of London life and the dark, despairing alleys of the human heart. Hangover Square is the Ally Sheedy kind of book. It's not at all what I would expect to like. It's essentially the story of a mentally ill, alcoholic loser named George Harvey Bone, who lives a lonely, desperate life in London (just before WWII), aided only by the fellowship of a few other very nasty alcoholics who delight in using and abusing him. Generally, I've pretty much exhausted my taste for Alcoholic Literature of the British Isles since I took that Irish Literature class in college. (Ireland needs some more literary subjects besides alcoholism, poverty, and religious enmity. Maybe a book about a talking dog or something.) Sanders also brought complications. Having been placed on suspension the previous year for refusing to perform in The Undying Monster, he accepted the role of Dr. Allan Middleton. However, he was unhappy with his script, particularly the final line in the film, which required him to justify the death of George Harvey Bone by saying, "He's better off this way." When shooting the scene, which was very expensive to film, Sanders repeatedly refused to say the line. He was later involved in an altercation with the film's producer Robert Bassler, with Sanders punching Bassler. The line was later changed to "It's better this way." [6]

Summary

Apart from being a source of money and alcohol, George has another attraction for Netta: his friendship with Johnnie, who works for a theatrical agent. Netta hopes that through him she will get to meet Eddie Carstairs, a powerful figure in the theatre. However, in a final reversal of fortune it is George, not Netta, who ends up attending a party amongst the theatrical great and good whilst Netta is cast aside by Eddie who — unlike George — has immediately seen her for the unpleasant person she is. George suddenly realises what it is like to be surrounded by people who are interested in him as a person rather than for what he can provide. The book is set in London at the start of the Second World War in 1939. The setting moves to Brighton and Maidenhead too. Infatuation, unrequited love and the world of the screen and film crowd color the book. The tragedy of George Harvey Bone endures. As a study in the perils of drink it is piercing. As a portrait of a man at war with himself, it is unforgettable. Now the first book in his great trilogy about 1930s Soho and its environs – Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky – has been adapted by the award-winning choreographer Matthew Bourne for a show - The Midnight Bell - that is touring the UK until late November.

Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton, Anthony Quinn - Waterstones

You can’t say that he’s forgotten. And in some ways, he’s more ubiquitous than ever – the much-used phrase “gaslighting” derives from the subtly destructive mind-games conducted by husband against wife in his 1938 thriller (played by Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in the subsequent film).The hero and the book's main sufferer is George 'Bone', hopelessly obsessed with a failed actress Netta and on a self-destructive path. The whole book takes places on the eve of World War II and could easily be interpreted as a metaphor of the rise of fascism with Bone possibly representing the United Kingdom, forced to enter the war – that’s an interpretation my Book Club came up with, granted we were on our own drinking binge in one of the Earl’s Court pubs, so we could’ve been talking nonsense at that point. Nonetheless the atmosphere of impending catastrophe is definitely discernible in the book. Los Angeles Times: "as a character study and social portrait of the seedier side of London life in the 1930s, the book is a marvel."