Further Up the Beach

by David Monk

Formats

Softcover

£11.95

Softcover

£11.95

Book Details

Language : English

Publication Date : 15/12/2019

Format : Softcover

Dimensions : 5x8

Page Count : 196

ISBN : 9781546293873

About the Book

Sam lives at home with his loving parents, sisters and brother. England is at peace at last, following the ravages of the Second World War, and is about to witness the advent of The Beatles and the social revolution of the 1960s.
As a boy, Sam loves riding his bike and playing in the large family garden. But beneath this happy exterior, there are things going round in Sam’s head which terrify him, which he can share with no-one and which he continues to carry through his adolescent years and into manhood.
Spanning several decades, Further Up the Beach is a profoundly moving story of personal identity, family life and intergenerational love and conflict. With powerful themes of social class, aspiration and a search for emotional intimacy between males, we go hand in hand with Sam in this unflinching, poignant and ultimately optimistic tale.

About the Author

David Monk has worked extensively with troubled young people and adults. Further Up the Beach is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

‘Further Up The Beach’ by David Monk Every now and then I read a book that I know can make a difference. ‘Further Up The Beach’ is such a book. The author is at pains to say that it cannot be strictly described as autobiographical, having fictional elements woven in, but his story, or rather, ‘Sam’s’ story, has the ring of truth about it and it is a moving testimony of generational abrasion. Philip Larkin wrote “This Be The Verse” in the spring of 1971, about the time of fictional Sam’s coming of age. Larkin’s poem has been ‘unpacked’ many times, but seldom illustrated with such vivid imagery and emotional analysis as in David Monk’s beautiful book. The story is constantly reflective and yet has real energy and pace; it’s a one sitting read. The characters are deftly drawn and I found I could picture them and relate to them with ease, constantly making connections with my own experience and causing me, in my turn, to reflect. Sometimes this was a happy experience; sometimes it was not. I guess this is what ‘Further Up The Beach’ is intended to do; to help the reader make sense of stuff from childhood that lingers and has never made sense. But, I wish I’d read this book fifty years ago. The thought occurs to me that it is probably too much to expect a youngster to read it and be able to grasp its implications. Or maybe it’s sufficient that in maturity we read it and, having done so, can help break the cycle. Perhaps that’s it; and yes, then, this book really can make a difference.

Mike
To my surprise, after getting used to the prose style, I very much enjoyed this slim, fictionalised memoir. It follows a young man, Sam, as he makes his way to adulthood and responsibility, coming to terms with the changing world around him and his own identity, his anxieties, and his place within that world. David Monk does an excellent job of describing these shifting time frames, evoking the cultural landscape and the mores so well that I - only a few years younger - found myself nodding along at the descriptions of the music, TV and even the dietary habits of the times. But this is also a novel about what makes us human, what makes us AS humans, and Monk also does an excellent job of describing Walter, Sam's father, a beleaguered WW2 RAF flyer and ex-POW, besieged by these changing times and not always able to cope, not even with the best intentions. It's his reactions that mould Sam into the man he's to become, and it's not always straight forward and not always with the best results. There's a subtle exploration of the generation gap, a well-travelled theme, but Monk doesn't apportion blame. Walter is portrayed as a sympathetic character and his lack of comprehension is understandable, if his approach is not always forgivable. Personally, I did have an initial problem with the prose style -- it's very matter-of-fact and I'd have preferred some dialogue - but I soon got used to it and let it take me along its way. I wasn't entirely convinced with some of the psychotherapy-talk towards the end, but I still felt for Sam and his final acceptance of himself and his life and his place in it.

Adam K
Wow what a fantastic book 'Further up the Beach' is, brilliantly written with a very poignant message to tell. Although Sam pertains to be a fictional character I suspect by the books message that large parts of Sams childhood are based on a personal account of what occurred in the author's own childhood and adolescence. I have found the book hugely beneficial to me personally as I can relate to many aspects of Sam's childhood to my own. This has helped me to make sense of my own chilhood experiences and enabled me to put them into context of the bigger picture. When Sam describes towards the end of the book that he had placed six peebles of equal shape and size into a glass jam jar which were then wrapped in one of his hankerchiefs together with a 'in loving memory' card which was then subsequently thrown from a ferry into the sea, thirty years after his father's passing. Sam then watched the jam jar sink beneath the waves thereby disappearing forever. This was particular moving for me especially as my own clinical hypnotherapist, years after my own chilhood, had suggested that I place all the memoties I wanted to forget about into a box which was then taken by taxi to the docks and put on a ship going to an unknown destination. Finally I must congratulate David Monk on writing 'Further Up The Beach' which is a very well written book about 'Sam's' early childhood and adolesence which carries a very poignant message for anyone who reads this. Personally I found the book very therapeutic and would encourage everyone who gets the opportunity to read it. David you have a definite gift for writing and you seriously should think about writing another book. Tim

Tim Reed
Further Up The Beach I loved this book, reading the first half in one sitting, and the rest over the next two days. It made a compelling read, written with a relatively light touch and humour which balances the poignancy of the story. Further up the Beach is a semi-autobiographical novel tracing the life journey of Sam, a boy brought up with his three siblings in what would seem, to the outside world, to be a happy and relatively affluent middle class home. Behind the façade, however, is a story of Sam’s growing, undisclosed, struggles with deep anxiety and OCD torment, this related in large part to his relationship with his father. The latter is a man scarred by his wartime experiences, plagued by class insecurities, and for whom image and social status are of paramount importance. The psychological and emotional effects of this on Sam are profound, as he gradually realises that he can never live up to his father’s expectations of him. Despite all, however, he pursues a successful career, marriage and family, effectively disguising his inner turmoil from friends and family behind a front of seeming confidence and bonhomie. Anyone who has had personal or family experiences with OCD will recognise too readily the pain and anguish inherent in this condition. The descriptions of the rituals, over years, with which Sam has to comply, are powerful and poignant, and this is a compelling element of the narrative. The book also tackles well the issue of what can be the reality behind outwardly happy family settings, and the ‘masks’ individuals develop to disguise inner pain and turmoil. Addressed well, too, is the impact that traumas experienced by earlier generations can have on subsequent ones. Both Sam’s mother and father had their own problematic histories. Finally, the book explores Sam’s road from acknowledgement of the depth of his inner struggles, through therapy, to a level of resolution and peace of spirit. This, however, does not happen until Sam is approaching his sixties. Further up the Beach is, in my view, a well written narrative, simple and unadorned in style, with important things to say. If I have any criticism is that it perhaps should have been longer? Three quarters of the book deals, in depth, with Sam’s early development, through teenage years, to embarking on his career in his twenties. The ‘road to recovery’ is relatively speedily covered in the last quarter of the book. I am not sure, though, whether more was necessary here. The book is highly readable as it is, and I have recommended it to all my friends and colleagues. Maureen 29.04.20

Maureen Flynn
Further Up The Beach by David Monk This slender novel is no slight work. It is a tightly packed nugget of authentic and penetrating observations. The genre is semi fictional autobiography and carries the truthful weight of perceptions reached through experience. The childhood world of the central character, Sam is beautifully realised with clever contemporary references. However there is an uneasy sense of foreboding, partly because of Sam’s own anxieties and also because of the often well-meaning but frequently damaging actions of the adults who surround him. There is also the slightly unnerving use of the present tense. In the end there is no novelistic crisis, but rather a developing of wisdom through age and therapy. Sam’s journey is not an easy one but that many of his class and vintage will recognise, in the spirit of warmth and compassion that characterise the whole work. RM

RM
I enjoyed reading Further Up the Beach. When I finished it I felt a twinge of sadness at having come to the end of my relationship with Walter's son Sam- which is always evidence for me of engagement and connection with the main character. There were many points of contact for me too biographically, as someone who grew up in that time and culture. The book has a wealth of cultural and psychological insights. A whole generation of young people in the 60s and 70s clearly rejected the values and life styles of Walter and his generation, and this book is an insightful and interesting exploration of those themes.

Stephen Niechcial
Further Up The Beach by David Monk This slender novel is no slight work. It is a tightly packed nugget of authentic and penetrating observations. The genre is semi fictional auto biography and carries the truthful weight of perceptions reached through experience. The childhood world of the central character, Sam is beautifully realised with clever contemporary references. However there is an uneasy sense of foreboding, partly because of Sam’s own anxieties and also because of the often well-meaning but frequently damaging actions of the adults who surround him. There is also the slightly unnerving use of the present tense. In the end there is no novelistic crisis, but rather a developing of wisdom through age and therapy. Sam’s journey is not an easy one but that many of his class and vintage will recognise, in the spirit of warmth and compassion that characterise the whole work. RM

RM
‘Further Up The Beach’ by David Monk is a book that will resonate particularly with those of us that grew up in the 50s & 60s. It perfectly captures the world that emerged post WW2, with its overriding anxieties about class and its denial of emotions. The impact on one small boy’s relationship with his father and the repercussions of that for the rest of his life are vividly described. It is a story of denial, discovery and ultimately one of hope, a journey of self- discovery that lasts a lifetime. If you’re of a certain age you may well recognise elements of your own experience in this account, definitely thought-provoking!

Ellie Roy
FURTHER UP THE BEACH Review This is a story based on the life and experience of the author, and it rings with authenticity. An outwardly happy, comfortable childhood masks the early development of OCD and subsequent anxiety, reflecting the acute need to hide the turmoil from everyone, especially from a domineering father with exacting expectations and ambitions for his family. The latter part of the story recounts the struggles of the now adult to find ways to overcome these continuing and still secret problems. How a young child devised ways and formulas for coping with the need to please the parents, and how that developed into rituals which became ingrained, and which continued into adult life, is honestly and clearly described. I think that many families with members suffering in this way would find this a very helpful read. It also sheds some light on the difficulties any parents have when their children start to become adults, often demonstrating radical, alien ideas and behaviour. Thankfully, in the story, son and father come to accommodation, with a degree of affection and acceptance which sweetens the final chapters. This book is very accessible with its direct, straightforward language. I believe it has the potential to become part of the training courses for social workers and others working in the field of mental health. IED July 2020

Irene Davies
This delightful book is not too long nor too complex and is easy to read. I would certainly recommend it for no other reason than for it's perfect pitch in reassuring us all that, in our life experiences, we were and continue to be never alone. For those of us born during the 50s and 60s into what our parents deemed to be the 'middle class', this charming book is not only nostalgic but also allows us to better understand some of our parents beliefs and behaviours which, although founded in love and care, frequently left us struggling with our little lives and how best to move forward as painlessly as possible! No, we didn't live through a war but we had our own internal wars, the foundations of which lay within our parents and their life experiences - after all we were a generation who really did believe that the eleven plus would actually make or break us for the rest of our ENTIRE LIVES!! For those who were parents in the 50s and 60s and those of you who are children of the '50s and 60s children' this enjoyable, at times emotional and at others amusing, tale may just explain a thing or two!

Sally
a revealing descriptive book about the father son relationship and the impact it can have, its good as it doesn't blame anyone its open transparent and well worth the read

Dave Berry

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