Saville by David Storey

This Booker has taken a little while to read due to the enormous size of the 25^th Anniversary edition, which I managed to obtain from a charity shop.  It meant that it was impossible to take out of my flat to read anywhere, so instead I have read it in installments, and it turned out to be well suited to a ten minute read before going to sleep at night.  Part of the reason for its suitability was its gentle pace, the simple chronicling of the daily life the Saville family.  

The story follows the second son, Colin, of a miner and his wife, as the scope of  his experience and existence expands from the family house, to the mining village, to the grammar school in a neighbouring town, to becoming a teacher, until he decides to leave the area and explore other possibilities.  The story is written in the third person with Colin, being referred to throughout as ‘he’ and for the majority of the novel purely being an inexpressive observer to the events of his life, with no internal monologue or explanation of his emotions.  On reflection, I found much of the book’s gentleness that I perceived, was due to this impassive nature of the protagonist, although his impartiality was lost in the latter stages of the book as he became increasingly worldly and tried to formulate his place in the world.  

As he became more educated, this isolated him from his family, childhood surroundings and friends, leading to a dissatisfaction with his life which in turn made him feel guilty and displaced.  Within the pages of this novel, there is much discussion about class, a sense of place and belonging and roles played in life, whether voluntary or dictated.  This discussion is not always in the direct way that develops towards the end, but more subtly in the attitudes and actions of the characters.

This is most definitely not a plot-driven novel or trying to deliver any kind of message as Colin’s inconclusive ponderings effectively demonstrate.  It’s just a simple recounting of daily goings on and yet it is a surprisingly compelling read.  In fact when I got to the end I felt loathed to let Saville disappear from my consciousness, which is testament to the skill of David Storey, I was left wanting more.