THE CRYING GAME

by John Braine ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1968

In print it's not enough to be facile."" That's Frank Batcome speaking -- he's the central character in Braine's new novel about swinging London, Modernized England. He has none of the calculating charm of Joe Lampton of Room and Life at the Top although he has moments of being just as rotten. However facility, if not enough, is certainly one of the primary asset-deficits of Braine's books and they're always extraordinarily easy to read. Frank, also up from Yorkshire with more limited, hedonistic objectives, interviews celebrities and part of this story deals with his exposure of the prime minister's favorite minister who is involved in an affair. The other half deals with Frank's moving out of his rather nondescript digs and into his older, more successful cousin Adam's very ""trendy"" apartment where they give relaxed parties. All of which leads him away from Theresa and on to Angela, a layabout with a mobile morality that no one could put up with -- even Frank. . . . So it goes, making out and making it, all with a cool, hard-edged, shiny surface which is momentarily involving and essentially impermanent.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION