From Scenes Like These

by Gordon M. Williams

Set in a small west of Scotland town in the 1950's, this novel by the author of Straw Dogs is the powerful and violent story of Duncan Logan, an adolescent growing up fast in the austere years after the Second World War. His father is brutal, his life seems drab and pointless, and the future looks bleak. As his world begins to crumble around him, Duncan searches desperately for a way out, only to find himself trapped in a downward spiral of betrayal and violence....

Genres: Scotland, Fiction, Coming Of Age, Historical Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Aka P.B. Yuill, joint pseudonym with Terry Venables.

Gordon Maclean Williams was a Scottish author. Born in Paisley, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He has written for television and is the author of over twenty novels including From Scenes Like These (1968), shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk Don't Walk (1972) and Big Morning Blues (1974). Other novels include The Camp (1966), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1967) and The Upper Pleasure Garden (1970).

He ghosted the autobiographies of association footballers Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and manager Tommy Docherty.

In 1971, his novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm was controversially filmed as Straw Dogs. Sam Peckinpah's cinematic treatment marked a watershed in the depiction of sexual violence in the cinema though the most controversial scenes are absent from the book. Other film work includes The Man Who Had Power Over Women, from his own novel, and Tree of Hands, as scriptwriter from a Ruth Rendell novel. Williams also wrote the book of Ridley Scott's film The Duellists.

While working as commercial manager of association football club Chelsea, he renewed his collaboration with Venables, resulting in four co-written novels. From the novels grew the 1978 TV series Hazell, which the pair co-wrote under the shared pseudonym P. B. Yuill. Under the name "Jack Lang", Williams also wrote paperbacks "for £300 a time."

Reviews

[Aatqa Arham · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic writing. this should be taught in schools. it’s a really relevant to the current discussions around toxic masculinity. it does make for an uncomfortable read as a woman but would recommend.

[Laurel Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am rating this about a 3.75. It's not the most comfortable book I've ever read, so I can't say I really "liked" it, but the characters are memorable, and I think this is a book I will still remember a year from now. My goal is to read several books each year from the Booker shortlist. This "year" I am selecting books from 1969 and from 2009 - not necessarily the winners, but books that interest me.

This one is by a Scottish author, and set in the small industrial town of Kilcaddie in the west of Scotland in the 1950s. The main character is Duncan "Dunky" Logan, 15, who drops out of school to work as a laborer on a farm. It is a coming-of-age story as he tries to define himself as a man, and shed the people and habits that he thinks of as childish and/or compromising his freedom as an adult. Ironically, his choices are creating a very bleak and narrow road for himself. It is a rather depressing look at the prospects for young men (and women) in that time and place. I also found it a somewhat disturbing commentary on the male psyche!

I did learn a LOT of Scottish slang. I had to keep a notebook as I read, going online to look up words and phrases - 4 pages worth! Many I could have guessed at the meaning, so this probably wasn't necessary for my understanding. It got tedious to stop each time, so I would save up a list, and then look them up later. A few to remember: messages = groceries, pieces = sandwiches, coup = a garbage dump, Ne'erday = New Year's Day. Among the more colorful: neds and hairies and tinks, tattie-howkers, argy-bargy, nicky tams, hab-jabs, and bawbee.

First paragraph: "It was still dark, that Monday in January, when the boy, Dunky Logan, and the man, Blackie McCann, came to feed and water the horses, quarter after seven on a cold Monday morning in January, damn near as chill as an Englishman's heart, said McCann, stamping his hobnail boots on the stable cobbles."

Favorite quote: "Willie wasn't as green as he was cabbage-looking."

And this from the last chapter sort of sums up the whole book: "If grown men could change so quickly how could you be sure of yourself? You wanted to be like other people but they did the dirty on you, one way or the other. You started off trying to be different, trying not to turn out like all the others. You ended up worse than them. You ended up knowing you were a disgrace, full of all the things you hated in other people."

Dunky wasn't a bad boy. But he desperately needed a good, male role model, and there weren't any.

[Kitty Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very different to anything I have read before. You feel sat in the midst of a 15 year old boy's stream of consciousness. I felt quite a lot of despair at the description of Dunky's life and the lives surrounding him. There didn't seem a drop of softness or kindness in the world around him.
I grew up in small town Scotland, and I recognised the same bleak outlook in many people around me, and a sort of sneer at those that wanted to leave and move on. I never understood the mentality of those around me and found it quite depressing to be sat in the middle of that thought process. Your existence just more grist for the mill.

[Michael Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He was a nothing, a collection of poses". I loved it.

[Colin Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authentic depiction of adolescent desire and brutal family background of a Scottish lad, not without brains, taking up punishing farm work. Disappointment and resentment result in his turning to violence and drink, leaving implications of bleak future.
I really liked this rural version of working class realism, bringing home the hard work and tedium of a life with few prospects.
After P.H. Newby's excellent Something to Answer For, the worthy winner of the first Booker Prize, this would have been my choice as runner-up among the six short-listed titles.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An interesting, unsentimental, engaging coming of age novel set in Ayrshire in western Scotland. The main character is Duncan “Dunky” Logan, who is sensitive, bright and discontented. He leaves school athletics age of fifteen to work on a farm with Clydesdale horses. He tries to fit in with fellow workers who are coarse, with their locker room jokes and derogation of women. It rains lots and the general mood of the novel is one of bleakness. Dunky is a shy, unconfident individual trying to work out want he wants in life. He thinks of going overseas to a place of greater prosperity and promise. Another story thread is about Mary O’Donnell, an Irish Catholic, who is housekeeper to the wealthy Craig family. She is pregnant and desperate to secure a ‘father’ for the child and she has hopes to entrap Willie Craig, who she hopes will inherit the Craig farm.

A well written, realistic novel, providing a glimpse into the lives of the Scottish working class in the 1950s.

This book was shortlisted for the 1969 Booker Prize.

[Sophie Burdge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the shifting of perspective between the different lives that touched one another, but what a hopeless ending. Made me so glad I'm not a man!!

[Paul Gormley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A revealing and depressing account of life in a fictional Ayrshire town in the 50s. A critical view of a male dominated community where sexist attitudes prevail and the future prospects of young men seem limited.

It would be nice to think that attitudes have moved on in the nearly sixty years since this was written but lad culture, centred around drinking and womanising, still runs strong and the rise of the Tate brothers and their incel brethren signals a return of a toxic masculinity which damages both men and women.

None of the men in this novel, except perhaps Alec who rejects the pub culture, acquit themselves well. Sexual violence and domestic abuse are seen as normal by these men.

Dunky, the central protagonist, has rejected education and left school at 15 to work on a local farm. He has been mocked in the past for his erudition and experienced violence as the only solution to relationship issues. He wants to be a man.

Dunky has dreams but his experiences of love and work and sport dash his ambitions. We leave him dead drunk at a New Year’s Day Celtic-Rangers game revelling in the torrid and hate-filled atmosphere.

There is little optimistic in this ending but it is a story that needs telling and very apposite in current circumstances.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authentic picture of bleak Scottish town. Compelling with evocative portraits of characters living their best lives in challenging circumstances. Easy read. Great unglamorous descriptions of the reality of playing lower league football.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read, in tone and sentiment and the Scottish slang could put some people off. In some ways quite a depressing book that doesn't give too many clues about how the like of the protagonists might lift themselves out of the material and emotional poverty they find themselves born in to, but I still found this book to be a challenging and satisfying chronicle of the lives of poor working class in a small west coast Scottish town in the 1950’s.

[Grebbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off enjoying this, but then it just fizzled out leaving me with a sense of unfinished business. No doubt the writing and characterisations are good, just not enough in it for me. Shortlist 1969.

[Donal O Suilleabhain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, Williams really draws a vivid picture of a violent tragic society but manages to gt it's humanity across, particularly in Logan its central character.

[Lyn Randolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why are books set in Scotland so very depressing? I'm thinking 'Shuggie Bain', 'Our Fathers', 'How Late it was How Late'. Some good writing, but I needed to clean my brain after all of these.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this portrait of 1950s Scotland as seen through the eyes of a 16-year-old boy. Read as part of my Booker Prize 1969 project.

[Kathy Helms · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Grim and gritty with brief moments of sweetness and hope. Scotland in the 50s with plenty of violence and “damaged masculinity”. Scene with old horse being taken out is beyond shocking.

[Peter Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gritty snapshot of the period ….. thankfully much has changed, sadly some beliefs remain.
‘Kitchen sink’ writing at its best.

[Ceri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a bookseller when I requested ‘working class Scottish’.
Set in the 50’s and written in the late 1960’s, this book was an interesting insight into working class life when farming moved into factory. Some scenes were quite disturbing and I can’t say I really liked the characters. It didn’t go how I expected but the writing was brilliant. Enjoyed this one!

[Rab Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unquestionably one of the best books i've ever read. Depicts the reality of growing up in the central belt better than anything else. Deserves aw the plaudits that books like Shuggie Bain get

[darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars

Opening Line: It was still dark, that Monday in January, when the boy, Dunky Logan, and the man, Blackie McCann, came to feed and water the horses, quarter after seven on a cold Monday morning in January, damn near as chill as an Englishman’s heart, said McCann, stampping his hobnail boots on the stable cobbles.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

From scenes like these, old Scotia's grandeur springs...

[Paul Greaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim, gritty, dirty, angry, tragic, cold but perfectly depicted postwar Ayrshire poverty. Follows troubled, impoverished, emotionally hare triggered cast of farm labourers, from talented but directionless could-be intellect post-school teen, distracted by the need to define his own masculinity and for companionship, his frustrated, bitter teacher failing to inspire him to realise his talents, his coworker: the gorgeous but despicable womaniser Telfer, and the cold brutal utilitarian relationship between Mary and the crofter, there is little hope and uplift but atmosphere and character perfect. Great jokes!