This story follows Victor ‘Lucky’ Johnson as he emigrates from St Kitts to London in the 1960’s until the present day. A book that is very evocative of the times and the experiences of the characters within the novel. The novel follows a non-linear time line which was at times little jarring and difficult to follow as the narrative skipped between characters. The characters were well drawn and although each had their flaws they became quite likeable in their own way. A thoroughly enjoyable novel and I will certainly be exploring this author’s backlist. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this novel in return for a honest review.

I was attracted to this book because of the author and the book's subject matter.

Based on the blurb, I was expecting Victor's life and experiences in Britain to be the main focus of the book but this wasn't actually the case. Although some chapters are written from his point of view, the stories of other characters, each of whom have a connection to Victor, form a substantial part of the book. These include Peter Feldman, who bears a striking similarity to notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman, and two women - Ruth and Lorna - with whom Victor has a relationship.

The book's disjointed structure made it a challenge. In some chapters there are sudden shifts from past (the 1960's) to the present (there's a mention of the London Olympics) and back again, which I found confusing. Trying to make sense of the changes in timeline distracted me from fully immersing myself in the story.

Although I admired the way the author was able to take us inside the heads of the book's characters and his depiction of 1960s London, I would have liked more focus on Victor and a more linear narrative structure.

Another Man on The Street - follows Victor/Lucky's life from 1960's St Kitts to present day London and follows his rise and fall.

This is a well written book many of the characters are relatable and scenes are vividly depicted.
Most of the chapters are written from the point of a view of a character other than Victor. We learn all about his aspirations for his life in England, however as the book progresses we don't understand how his motivations change as he gets older. In many ways I understood Ruth and Peter's back story's a lot more.
I had read some favourable reviews of the novel and I think that coloured my view of book slightly. Overall this was an enjoyable read and I would read more by the author.

I won this ages ago, attracted by his reputation as a thoughtful and valuable writer on race and migration. I've previously read his travel narrative, "The European Tribe" and his novel "The Final Passage" (which was a bleak book about a failing marriage) and unfortunately this one didn't really hit the spot. I think it's supposed to be an "everyman" story about a guy who comes to England from St Kitts in the 1960s: he leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend who he eventually persuades to come over, then flitting between her and a White woman who has an adopted daughter she links back with over the course of the book. Neither relationship is successful and neither is his with his sketchily drawn son, and the big problem is the peculiar structure, which examines him from all sorts of perspectives, only directly his own once at the start. Added to this, the portrayals of the women are pretty misogynistic and stereotyped, especially as they age, and I was confused by why his friend Charlie, who gets a chapter to himself, turns so odd when he reappears. A lot of the book is devoted to Holocaust survivor, Peter, and I think it's trying to say something about genocide and colony, but I'm not entirely sure. Interesting passages but ultimately confusing and depressing.

Reviewing on my blog 05 January.

I first came across the Kittitian-British novelist Caryl Philipps in 2003-4 when I spent two memorable holidays on the Caribbean Island of St Kitts and read a least two of his novels in early 2004 (the very year when I started recording my reading): ”Final passage” (his debut) and “A Distant Shore” (then his most recent and 7th novel which went on to win the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize). His 5th novel “Crossing The River” won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was Booker shortlisted in 1993 (where it had strong support from some judges).

Some twenty years later I came to this – his (I think) 13th novel to be published in early 2025 and found it much more complex than I had expected from its seemingly rather conventional beginnings.

The book opens in the early sixties, on a banana boat full of emigrants crossing from the Caribbean to England, in the second week of its slow crossing, and in the first party voice of one such emigrant Victor, from St Kitts, as he uneasily shares a drink on deck with the condescending Captain and an overanxious new crewman. The quietly determined Victor we gather has saved up his earnings from a unpaid journalism/paid paper delivery job and left his family (particularly his bitter, overbearing and rum-addicted father) and his girlfriend (who had already encouraged him to move out from home) to try and make something of himself in England (home of the BBC world service) – with some hidden ambitions to be a newspaper writer but under no illusions as to the struggles ahead.

But then in the next chapter we find ourselves amongst the cast of staff in a rapidly declining London pub – our narrator an (I think() unnamed 26 year old man who – also to get away from an alcoholic father - moved down from Liverpool “to do the Dick Whittington thing” at 16, served for years as an apprentice printer (which he hated) and after a brief return to Liverpool (only for his mother to die and the family home be repossessed) returned to London and took up bar work. He describes all of the staff which includes an unemployed-actor Charlie in his young twenties and a black man Lucky (we realise Victor) – the narrator getting involved unsuccessfully in Lucky’s struggles against racist landlords, which eventually end with Lucky moving into the pub before moving away to a “rent collecting caper with a Jew boy”. What is interesting and admirable about this lengthy chapter is that while it fills in a crucial stage in Victor’s life it is not centred there, instead ranging over characters and time – many years into the narrator’s future including an encounter with the landlord still exercised about Lucky leaving him “Do you remember … if I treated him badly ……. You know I’ve thought about this a lot, I gave him a job, a place to sleep, I was decent to him, but for some reasons they don’t want to know us do they? I’m right about this aren’t I? They just don’t want to know”

A third chapter (with Victor as third person character) moves Victor’s life past his rent collecting time – instead working in a council funded position as a journalist for “Race Now” (a more radical rebrand of what was “West Indian News”) as he discusses with his partner Ruth whether to accept a job with a national newspaper some time in the late 1970s I think as his quietly held ambitions seem about to be realised: “He understood that everything he had been doing for the past dozen or so years in England had been a kind of preparation for where his life was now delicately poised”.

We then move forward towards almost the end of Victor’s life and the third party voice of Ruth. Victor is in hospital (and slightly oddly Charlie – now a much older unemployed actor after a stint in Australia has reappeared on the scene, effectively stalking Victor’s flat). Ruth we piece together was the assistant for Peter – the landlord who years before in the pub approached Victor to join him as a rent collector (figuring a Caribbean rent collector would have more and more acceptable success with his black tenants). This lengthy chapter (it takes up more than a third of the book) is as impressively as the second – our viewpoint shifts between Ruth, Peter and Victor and back and forth in time- we learn not just of Victor (and the failure of his journalistic dreams) but of Ruth’s past (baby out of wedlock and forced given up for adoption, move to London to start life again at a secretarial college, decision to quit college early to take a job with Peter – the two living together but in a sexless relationship, her taking up with Victor after he works with Peter – effectively a double portrayal with Victor then quitting the job, the sudden revelation that Victor has both a wife Lorna and a son in St Kitts, the reappearance of Ruth’s birth child but the latter’s unwillingness to accept Ruth’s – in her view – subservient relationship to Victor) but also of Peter (an Eastern European Jewish émigré whose parents evacuated him to the countryside ahead of the pogroms but who went back for them and ended up in some form of camp before making his way to London post war where he gradually builds a landlord business) and much more.

Again the chapter was impressive for me in its ability to range over time and voice – and a fifth chapter (told from the viewpoint of Lorna) achieves that in a different way – starting back when Victor was still a teenager, going forwards many years and all told in a convincing second person “you sense that people are always moving away from you; they are quick to smile and then they flee. It was like when you were a girl. But then there was Victor. He listened to you. The boy under the bridge. But now you are a woman, and it is like this again with people always moving away from you”

After a sixth chapter returns to Ruth and completes Victor’s life – a seventh takes us to Peter many years later working as an apartment block superintendent in New York (his landlord business in London having long ago collapsed under financial irregularities) but with Peter’s eye for the underdog still present as well as the author’s ability to sketch another range of characters and complex lives in the block; and an eighth gives us Victor’s final journey from his hospital bed.

Overall, I was really impressed by the craftmanship of this book – its switch of voice, time, character and the way in which the ostensible central character is that we are most distanced from, will not I think appeal to lovers of more conventional fiction but worked really well for me. And I think what also stood out was how much life the author managed to pack into only around 240 well-spaced pages.

It feels like Philipps is an author the Booker has overlooked for a long time now (some 30 years and 8 novels) but it’s still an automatic entry for the publisher and would I think make a great addition to the longlist.

3.5 rounded down.

I found this short novel moving at times but the structure felt quite disjointed and I felt the main character, Victor, remained quite distant. We follow him - hearing his own voice only in the first chapter - as he leaves St Kitts for London as part of the Windrush generation, hoping to trade his job delivering newspapers to become a journalist. After this first chapter, we move between different characters and their interactions, sometimes quite late, with Victor: his colleagues and customers in the pub where he works, his new employer Peter for whom he becomes a rent collector, the wife and son he left behind, his new partner Ruth, his boss at the West Indies newspaper he writes for. Peter, a Polish Holocaust survivor, is given almost a third of the book, and while it was interesting to read, at times Victor disappeared for too long and the book felt more like a collection of ideas and stories than a linear story of one Black man trying to belong in a country that isn't welcoming.
The writing was pleasant, and the last few chapters very moving; but I wanted more.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

A powerful, poignant read. The non linear timeline will keep you on your toes as you learn more about Lucky... and a range of characters surrounding him. Evocative writing, and carefully drawn characters.

Some of the esoteric thinking is excellent on a par with Proust.
The storyline is very good.
The story is told from different characters perspectives in different timelines, and sometimes in a jumbled timeline.
Some parts were confusing.
If the story was told from the different characters perspectives in a flowing timeline I feel that the overstory would be enhanced and I would have loved it.
If the story had been told in different timelines from the characters each on there own, that might have worked.
All of this chopping and changing was just too much for me.
Overall I liked it, but I could have liked it more.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Another Man in the Street is a beautifully crafted and poignant exploration of identity, displacement, and resilience, set against the vibrant backdrop of London in the early Sixties. The story follows Victor ‘Lucky’ Johnson, who arrives in the city from St Kitts with aspirations of becoming a journalist. However, he quickly finds himself navigating the complexities of life as he takes on work in an Irish pub and later as a rent collector for the unscrupulous slum landlord Peter Feldman.

Caryl Phillips masterfully weaves together the threads of Lucky’s life, highlighting his struggles and disillusionment as a member of the Windrush generation. The narrative skillfully shifts between different periods and perspectives, allowing readers to gain insight into not just Lucky’s journey, but also the motivations and experiences of those around him, including Peter and Ruth—Peter’s former love who becomes a pivotal figure in Lucky’s life.

Ruth’s character is particularly compelling, embodying the themes of love, sacrifice, and the emotional costs of pursuing happiness. Her relationship with both men adds depth to the story, showcasing the intertwined fates of the characters as they grapple with their desires and regrets.

Phillips’s writing is both epic in scope and profoundly intimate, creating a rich tapestry of immigrant London that resonates with current themes of belonging and resilience. The book captures the essence of a flawed yet vividly alive man, making it an unforgettable read. I highly recommend Another Man in the Street for its powerful storytelling and its timely reflection on the immigrant experience.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

We follow Victor, who leaves St Kitts for England. He has big dreams, and we see how his life changes and the glimpses of people he meets with back and forth scenes in his lifetime. He leaves his family behind in St Kitts, and builds a new life for himself in England - not everything goes according to plan.

Prose 4
Characterisation 3.5
Plot 3
Themes 4
Structure 2

3 stars.

When life doesn't turn out how you hoped, dreamed, planned it would, what do you do?

When home means more than the four walls which currently surround you.

When displacement and exile are mental as well as physical states.

Powerful.

"The past will offer no bridge towards a future for you"
"A lonely man adrift in the world, who didn't yet understand how vulnerable he was

Love, life, hopes and dreams, failures, losses and mistakes..

Another Man in the Street is a superb read.

This primarily the tale of Victor Johnson who travels to England from St Kitts in the 1960s with a belief of success and dreams in a promised land.

This is a non-linear story and weaves back and forth between key moments in Victor's life and the people around him; Ruth his partner of many years; his wife Lucy and mother to his son Leon; Peter the man who escaping his own darker past places his belief in Victor to join him in a world of dubious business and Claude who publishes a weekly newspaper - West Indian News.

Everyone is running from something in the hope of a better life but as the stories of the group interweave and unravel tragedies and regrets come to the fore-Victor's search for happiness, recognition are not easily achieved as he runs from the past and cannot find an inner peace in this land of exile.

It is the stories of all the characters that make this such rich novel. Ruth is the character that grabs you as a reader- her desire for love and her support for Victor and the price she pays.

A moving and powerful read - with the desires of many to still travel to England to fulfil their dreams- the story is as relevant to life now and the challenges facing so so many as it was over the last seven decades.

The story starts out With “a man” on a ship leaving his home St Kitts to come to England with the intention of starting a new life. He’s left behind his family, although he didn’t get along with his father, and his friends. As a presumedly black man (no we’re in the story mentions colour except for Lucky) he’s hoping that he’ll be treated fairly based on his worth and not by the colour of his skin, but he is soon to learn that this is not the case.

Apparently, the story is based around a character called Lucky and his exploits in finding somewhere to live and work. But the narrative seems to be from the perspective of “a man” and how his life is turning out. He is initially following lucky around because they work together in Mr. Wilson‘s pub. But it seems that when Lucky met up with Mr Feldman they had “the man“ assaulted. So, once he recovered two weeks later, he went to the pub where there was no longer a job to him, and he ended up going back to Liverpool. There he falls in love with Betty and it’s written that 10 years later they have a son and a daughter aged eight and six respectively.

I think this book could’ve been written in a far better way to help the reader find context within it. The chapters are much too long and the paragraphs would have been better as a chapter. This is because the paragraphs are also too long in themselves. The paragraphs could’ve been titled and dated for context because the book has you going backwards and forwards and you really don’t know where you are whilst reading the book. I found myself re-reading old paragraphs to figure out the date and timeline of the paragraphs to get an idea of what the characters were actually going through. A lot of it is repeated within the flashbacks and also in the flash forwards. So it was a terribly hard and difficult book to read as it didn’t make any sense because of the layout of the paragraphs. I feel this book should really go back to the editors for rewriting, only then will this book be actually quite good because it does have good content in places and the context of the book is good.

Anything set in London is up my street it is my favourite place in the world so this is one star right away. This is novel that captures time and place well but I felt it read more like a short novel it was well written but I felt it needed padded out in areas. It is however beautifully written with a flair and style.

Wow! What an amazing read. Thank you for the advanced copy of this book, I cannot get it out of my head.

We find ourselves thrown back in time to the 1960s. We see a young man leave St Kitts and go to England. Throughout his journey we are introduced to a plethora of characters, each with excellent character development. We see how each characters lives become intertwined and we get to see how each person plays a big part in each others lives.

What an excellent book.

Beautifully written tale of Victor who leaves his homeland of St. Kitts to try his luck in England.

This is England of the 1960s, post Windrush. The story has Victor as the main character but introduces others with whom he interacts. We hear their stories too and these are interesting and moving. Lorna is his wife whom he left behind in St Kitts, Peter is a Polish Jew who gives Victor a job, and who has his own story of being an immigrant, Ruth is Peter’s English girlfriend who leaves him for Victor.

I found every character’s story really engaging. I loved the way they interlocked and went back and forth in time. I enjoyed it so much I finished it in a long afternoon’s reading. I had never read Caryl Phillips before but will be checking out his previous work.

I read a proof copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers. Recommended.

Victor arrives in England from St Kitts in mid-1960’s England - the novel follows his life and career to the present day.

Firstly, let’s praise the prose, which achieves a lot with its simple, first person narrative. Structurally, is where the novel’s ambition falls short. Our sympathies are with Victor in the early part of the novel, which switches when we learn more of his character in the final third. The narrative flashes back and forth and often, scenes break for decades to pass.

The characters are well drawn (I particularly like Victor’s first British friend, a Scouse barman), but the author dispenses with them far too quickly. And again, it follows the recent trend of short, literary novels where the construction seems more important than the actual substance.

It’s pitched as a post-Windrush novel of black British experience, but it is too brief, too inconclusive and on the edge of perfection to completely be that. It’s published by Bloomsbury on 16th Jan, 2025 and I thank them for a preview copy. #anothermaninthestreet.