The Big Day

by Barry Unsworth

It was a big day for Cuthbertson's Regional School, and it would go off like a bomb. Donald Cuthbertson prided himself on being a model for his students and teachers, but he had lately begun to lose his focus. Degree Day is approaching, along with a birthday party for his wife, Lavinia, who is not going quietly into middle age. Her lavish costume party provides the revelers with a darkly comic resolution to romantic dalliance and political intrigue.

Genres: Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Barry Unsworth was an English writer known for his historical fiction. He published 17 novels, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, winning once for the 1992 novel Sacred Hunger.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Regional College of Further Studies is, not to place too fine a point on it, a diploma mill producing degrees and certifications mostly for foreigners. Its Principal, Donald Cuthbertson, is perennially on the verge of a breakdown and seems to be able to communicate only in terms of trite figures of speech, preferably in Latin. It is his sex-starved wife Lavinia's fortieth birthday, and she seems determined to give herself to any sympathetic person she could waylay.

The book is The Big Day by Barry Unsworth. Not since Saki, Waugh, and Wodehouse have I laughed so much at the total balls up that the "big day" of graduation (or "presentation," as Cuthbertson calls it. It is a crowded day, with staff meetings, the "presentation" itself, a visit from a Turkish delegation (which goes away thinking they are being laughed at by a Greek transvestite), and finally a costume ball at which, at first, no one knows who is who. It all ends with a big bang -- but I give away too much!

Unsworth's droll language makes The Big Day a delight to read. It is a world in which a bunch of amiable idiots persist in a world that is falling apart around them. (A constant theme are news reports heard in the background about famine or terrorism.) Even in little things, he scores big:

Gazing fixedly at the delinquent tap, he resolved on immediate application to the Water Company. He was only restrained from telephoning at once by the thought that the Company's offices would not yet be open. He had a particular hatred for dripping taps, and all leaks, seepages, unauthorizing oozings, spillings out frpom confinement or control.

In fact, one could summarize the whole novel as a "spilling out from confinement or control."

[O Babs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in a shady educational environment, a degree-for-fee enterprise. Cutherbertson & Bishop remind me of a slew of inept administrators I have worked for, and I imagine Unsworth worked for them as well. Until his genius with fiction allowed him to concentrate on writing alone. As usual, he wastes no word to tell his tale. Concise, edited, careful, a delight to read. On top of his usual flair with language, this novel has more hilarity than usual. A real joy to read.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical British style farce in the style of Tom Sharpe.
Enjoyed aspects of it but the different strands and elements of the story didn't quite come together for me.
Funny in parts, strange in others but very well written from start to finish.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one’s a doozy, I have no idea even how to describe it other than watching something roll to the end he of a cliff and teeter.

A really eclectic read that I would recommend to readers who enjoy English humor, mental instability, and lots of twisting storylines.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Effortless to read, full of Unsworth's poised and counterbalanced character observations, but ultimately light and forgettable. 'The Big Day' was surprisingly formulaic after the twisted curios of his previous back catalogue - including his iconic smashed hanging angels and sausage-meat Jesus's.

There was nothing iconoclastic here, just a tale of a college that prints degrees while ita principal, Cuthberson, seeks to hold finances, relationships and his mental health together. There are novel moments, but as a campus comedy it's hard not to compare with more accomplished offerings. David Lodge would carve out a particular niche in this territory in the the 1970s and 1980s. Unsworth writes well - on their own his sentences can really shine - but this slim book adds up to something more slight.

[Jane]

Funny, in an English sort of way. And then I'd think it was sort of depressing. It's English.

It reminds me of something else I've read.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok.