The Green Man
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15
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Average rating2
Maurice Allington has reached middle age and is haunted by death. As he says, “I honestly can’t see why everybody who isn’t a child, everybody who’s theoretically old enough to have understood what death means, doesn’t spend all his time thinking about it. It’s a pretty arresting thought.” He also happens to own and run a country inn that is haunted. The Green Man opens as Maurice’s father drops dead (had he seen something in the room?) and continues as friends and family convene for the funeral. Maurice’s problems are many and increasing: How to deal with his own declining health? How to reach out to a teenage daughter who watches TV all the time? How to get his best friend’s wife in the sack? How to find another drink? (And another.) And then there is always death. The Green Man is a ghost story that hits a live nerve, a very black comedy with an uncannily happy ending: in other words, Kingsley Amis at his best.
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Maurice is a womanizer who has a younger wife and a younger lover, funerals of his father in sight, an alcohol problem and a ghost in his inn. Too many clishes, but the book is not apologetic of that and delivers a short-story like tale in a novel format. I havent read any kingsley Amis before, so i do not know how good is this compared to his other stuff, but i would hope there would be something that stands out a bit more than this.
The Green Man by Kingsley Amis
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Maurice Allington has a problem: How is he going to get his wife and his friend's wife to agree to a “three way”?
Also, his home/restaurant is haunted.
This is a good if eccentric book. Maurice is, to put it nicely, a cad. He is an alcoholic who probably runs a 2.0 BAC before lunch. He has recently been saddled with his daughter after her mother died. He has a new young wife that he ignores. And he has that obsession with having an orgy, which is just creepy and weird and doesn't turn out anything like what he imagines.
His restaurant/pub/home also has a reputation for being haunted. As the story goes on, the reputation slowly moves from myth to reality.
The story works. As a literary writer, Amis is more interested in character than plot. The characters are well-drawn. This could be a decent movie/mini-series. The ghost story initially takes up little space in the story, being crowded out by Maurice's life problems and his caddishness. Over time, as the ghost element becomes more real and threatening, it naturally becomes more pressing.
The oddness of the book was underscored when God - I think - made an appearance to Maurice - because no one would ever believe Maurice had a visit from the Almighty.
This is a quick read. It's odd but enjoyable.
