The Crying Game

by John Braine

THE CRYING GAME is a satirical parable from the author of ROOM AT THE TOP. Frank Batcombe, a conservative North County journalist newly arrived in London, works as a reporter for a national newspaper. A chance encounter changes his life. His stylish cousin, Adam Keelby, a successful public relations entrepreneur, insists Frank join him in his fashionable quarters in Hampstead. Suddenly doors open for Frank. Desirable women crowd around and he gets wind of a political scandal that can make his journalistic career.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published September 4, 1970

About the author

John Gerard Braine was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1922. He sprang to immediate fame in 1957 with publication of his first novel, Room at the Top, which was a critical success and a major bestseller in England and America and was adapted for the screen in an Oscar-winning 1959 film starring Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey. His second novel, The Vodi (1959), met with mixed reviews and a disappointing reception, but was Braine’s favourite of his own works. His next book, Life at the Top (1962), a sequel to Room at the Top, sold well and was filmed in 1965.

Braine, who was commonly associated with what the British media dubbed the ‘Angry Young Men’ movement of working-class writers disenchanted with the traditional British class system, continued writing until his death in 1986, though as of 2013, all his works were out of print. Recently, there has been renewed interest in Braine’s work, with Valancourt Books’ reissues of Room at the Top and The Vodi, and a 2012 BBC miniseries adaptation of Room at the Top.

Reviews

[Joe Stamber · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Crying Game, Braine moves South to London, although the protaganist and his right hand man are Yorkshire ex-pats, so he's still on familiar territory. Frank is a young man trying to make his way in life, all the while enjoying a few drinks and a few women. Sounds familiar? Well, Braine's celebrated Room At The Top has certainly rubbed shoulders with The Crying Game. It's the same gritty kind of story, but perhaps Braine had read a few pages of The Great Gatsby while working on The Crying Game.

That was slightly unfair on Braine... Frank has moved to London to pursue a career in journalism when he bumps into his cousin. This meeting is destined to change Frank's life quite dramatically as his cousin introduces him to his own hedonistic world of parties, booze and available young women. Of course, living in such a way throws up its own problems as Frank discovers.

Anyone who enjoyed Room at the Top or who approves of Braine's gritty style will find much to like in The Crying Game. The first chapter does drag somewhat due to it being mainly dialogue, but mostly after that it moves along nicely for 40+ year old novel. It deserves more than 3 stars but not quite 4 stars so on that basis I'm going for the lower score.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writer, excellent story, very well written. A great "kitchen sink" tale. Third John Braine I have read, more to come.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 1960s novel written in the 1960s by the Room at the Top author