My Alfie Collection

Product Information

I think I’ll have a whisky", I said. "A Dimple Haig, if you’ve got it." I knew she hadn’t. And to be quite frank I wouldn’t know a Dimple Haig from Long Tom except for the shape of the bottle, but I find I like reeling off a name now and again. As a teacher & librarian, I see ways in which this book can be a springboard for conversations about perspective and understanding how others feel. Nia didn't perceive that Alfie appreciated her company, but when we read Alfie's part of the book, we see Nia's actions through his eyes.

Alfie is a classic unreliable narrator as I learned the term – at school when studying another piece of Northern writing originally designed as drama, Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. He says something and then shortly afterwards contradicts, with words or action his own stated opinion of himself – or rather contradicts the way “most people” would interpret what he said, a sort of unconscious hypocrisy. Sometimes he does it in the same sentence: I don't mean thieving or anything like that, just the odd few bob a day [taken from the till at work]. Alfie is a turtle - one who disappears. This book, which is really two stories, tells the tale of Nia, who got a turtle for her 6th birtday, and Alfie, the turtle, who went exploring and was gone for a full year. I'd rather literature were seen as a way of understanding our common humanity with dodgy characters without having the unpleasant experiences that knowing some of them might entail; they're not entirely anathema – we probably have things in common with them even if we'd never do the worst things they do. Some of these characters are like manifestations of id - Alfie is a good example of this type - doing things many more people think of than actually do, or things many readers have grown out of. (A long time ago I, similarly, walked out for several hours on someone who was having an operation - someone I shouldn't really have been going out with because I didn't fancy or respect them enough, though I kept trying to persuade myself to because I knew they deserved it. I remember intending to support, then that sudden claustrophobic feeling of Have to get out of here. I've been too much of a rotter myself not to understand those who in turn hurt me.)I’m always prepared to make an adjustment. If I’m having it off with a short bandy-legged bint I keep telling myself how marvellous bow legs are and asking myself why I don’t go in for them more. Same with great big fat birds. Whoever I’m with at the time is my favourite type, if you see what I mean. That’s what we’re here for, to make one another happy. Also, I recommend because all in all it is a very readable book. Quirky, at times funny and entertaining by a long shot.

Sin embargo la masculinidad de Alfie y su misoginia se antojan aquí como un mecanismos de defensa y evasión, contra la vida, la juventud que se escapa cada día y la maldición esa de despertar solo en cama, o peor aún, con alguien que no te puede importar menos. At one point I was rooting for him when he somewhat seemed like he could possibly settle down with Gilda. It would have been nice to see what Alfie could have been around his son Malcolm. There was a soft side to Alfie in the presence of Malcolm. But a man like Alfie is not one to settle down.

Retailers:

Alfie es ese adorable hijo de puta que todos quisiéramos como amigo, o que en algún momento de la vida hemos sido. Un patán consumado en periodos tan ausentes de pertenencias que va encontrando los fragmentos de su hogar bajo las faldas de cada dama que conquista compulsivamente. Esta suerte de abuelo del personaje de Barney Stinson de How I Met Your Mother, tiene unos matices más complejos, dramáticos y efectivos que realmente lo vuelven alguien entrañable. Como una especie de Holly Golightly en versión británica, cínica, rota, triste y masculina. Con una hermosa fijación poética por referirse a las mujeres como "aves".

Words and pictures merge seamlessly in these simply devised books. Shirley Hughes, now 78, wrote and illustrated her first Alfie book in 1981. Twenty years on, Alfie and Annie Rose are still respectively four and one-and-a-half years old but show no sign at all of dating. If you ever wanted to know what goes on the mind of a man who treats women badly, just read this. Though it was written in the 1960s, it is still timely for understanding men like Harvey Weinstein.Alfie is selfish, a player, and just completely clueless when it comes to life and women. He’s so clueless in his own little world of justifications for the way he treats women and explanations for the way women think that he truly believes he has all the answers to life and love (or how to steer clear of it, at least). He refers to women as objects, often times calling them “it”, bird, or bint. These women, and there are plenty, all serve one purpose, and that is to provide pleasure for Alfie. He sees them as nothing more and is so ready to discard them when he has no more use for them or when things get a bit complicated. And yet, I couldn’t help but like Alfie, with all his cluelessness. Finding a battered Panther edition of this classic story that typifies London of a certain period whilst wandering around London "on business" seemed like fate, I can't say it helped me to appreciate the novel or the city more or less than if I'd read it at any other time but it was an enjoyable time nonetheless. Dad is, a mite irritatingly, always sitting reading his paper. But, it's a minor gripe. Mostly, everyone looks happy - cheerfully resigned to the mess of early childhood. But this book is also a heartfelt insight to Alfie's unmasked truth for the first time ever. His unflinching honesty reveals not only the success stories, but also the pressures and how, through challenging times, he learned more about himself than he ever thought possible.