For want of an old school tie?

Tags

Campus Novel, School, Thriller

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. This is the tale of an obsession that goes very wrong, and brews plans for thirteen years before the revenger wreaks absolute havoc by opening a closet full of skeletons that brings a community to its knees. 

I’ll say at the outset that I loved this book. It’s a complex and twisty thriller with delicious moments of black humour set in a northern boys grammar school.  The plot piles on layer after layer and turns at every corner, but satisfyingly just about allowed me to think I’d worked it all out – I felt very smug, and then wham! one last twist.

The story is told from two viewpoints. Firstly veteran classics teacher Mr Straitley who is planning his retirement, but not until he’s completed his hundredth term at St Oswalds.  He’s seen it all, or so he thinks, but the creeping march of technology into the classroom is leaving him behind.  He’s still good at staffroom politics though, and keeps on top of all the gossip. It’s the first day of term – new teachers – how will they fit in?

I can usually fit any fresher into the appropriate category within a few minutes’ acquaintance. The geographer, Mr Easy, is a typical Suit: smart, clean-cut and built for paperwork. The Games man, God help us, is a classic Jobsworth. Mr Meek, the computer man, is rabbity beneath his fluffy beard. The linguist, Miss Dare, might be a trainee Dragon if not for the humorous twist to her mouth; I must remember to try her out, see what she’s made of. The new English teacher – Mr Keane – might not be as straightforward – not actually a Suit, not quite a Beaver, but far too young for the tweedy set.

Then there is the son of one of the old school caretakers.  He had to go to the local comprehensive where he was hopelessly bullied - there was no place for him at St Oswalds. He played truant, and insinuated himself into the grammar school so well, that everyone believed he was a pupil, but he has been nursing a bitter grudge, and thirteen years later its time for him to seek his revenge.

So, we have the two narrators, one young and one old, and two timelines – the present and thirteen years earlier.  Harris cleverly swaps between them throughout; although sections have clear breaks, you’re not always initially sure who is speaking when.  I love novels set in schools and combining that with a real thriller of a plot made this a winner for me.  The teachers in particular were really well-drawn – you can recognise all the types – they probably taught you and I, (I had a particular candidate in mind for Mr Straitley).  This is also a thriller with a great sense of humour – indeed on Harris’ website, she introduces Gentlemen and Players with quotes from Molesworth – the funniest set of books about skool ever.

I sped through this novel’s 505 pages – it never felt long at all and it entertained throughout, I loved it.
(9/10) I bought this book.

Family in crisis! Will quirkiness pull them through?

Tags

Campus Novel, Chicago, Family drama, Mid-life crisis, Tragicomedy

The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno.

This is a tale of a dysfunctional American family – an academic couple and their two daughters, they are four very different characters… 

Let’s meet the Casper family:  Father - Jonathan, who has epilepsy provoked by seeing clouds, and is searching for the giant squid; Mother – Madeline keeps the family together and researches violence among pigeon flocks; older daughter Amelia - a teenaged rebel who edits the school paper and wants to make a bomb; and finally fourteen year old Thisbe who spends much time praying and talking to God, and lastly Jonathan’s father, Henry, who is fading away in an care home.

The Caspers are having a hard time living with each other.  Jonathan is consumed with his studies at the University of Chicago, and forgets to take his epilepsy medication. Madeline suffers in silence, but is seething inside. Meanwhile, Amelia writes one too many inflammatory articles in the school paper and gets suspended, and Thisbe prays for everyone. Henry has decided to utter one less word per day in his personal prison. This family is in severe danger of falling apart.

The chapters alternate between the characters voices, and they are quite distinct, especially Madeline, who thinks in extended bullet points, lettered from A to Z.  Jonathan is rather laissez-faire about everything except his envy of his French rival in the squid hunt.  Amelia is just bolshy and an irritant, whereas Thisbe is lovely and caring and wishes she could sing. Madeline, in direct contrast to Jonathan’s weird allergy, also finds herself obsessed by a man-shaped cloud which seems to always be there. The Caspers are all scared of talking to each other, so much so that things will come to a head and I did find myself wanting to read on and find out whether they made it to the end of the book as a family unit. I particularly enjoyed Jonathan and Thisbe, finding Madeline too uptight and confused, and Amelia just needed bringing back into the real world from her revolutionary imagined one.

If you enjoy reading campus novels, and can put up with a dysfunctional family with a high quirk quotient, this tragicomedy may be your thing. I enjoyed it a lot. (7.5/10) I was given this book.

For other reviews read href=”http://justwilliamsluck.blogspot.com/2010/05/both-astonishing-and-quite-ordinary.html/”>Just William’s Luck and Farm Lane Books

Only for Twilight fans who need something else to read…

Tags

Campus Novel, Undead, YA

Fallen by Lauren Kate

I wish I could say this YA novel which is nominally about fallen angels was new and exciting, but with every page I read I could feel the burden of it trying to live up to the Twilight phenomenon.  It was also very derivative:

* A new girl arrives at a school where she doesn’t know anyone.
* The atmosphere is humid – (though this is Georgia swamps rather than Washington rains)
* She appears to be clever and a model student
* There’s a beautiful boy, Daniel, who mostly doesn’t seem interested in her, but blows hot and cold.
* He saves her from certain death when something would have hit her (a statue on a grave in this case, not a car)
* There’s a clearing
* He looks golden in the sunlight in the clearing (but doesn’t sparkle)
* He’s a supernatural being (an immortal angel not a vampire)
* There’s a big fight over her between the good ones and the bad ones I (angels that is).

Luce (short for Lucinda, not Lucifer!), sees shadows and has been on medication ever since a boy she was almost seeing died in a fire which she survived. Branded a pyromaniac, she’s set to Sword & Cross school in Georgia – a reform school, with supposedly strict security and rules. There she sees Daniel, and is instantly attracted – indeed instantly feels she knows him from somewhere. Then there’s green-eyed Cam who fancies her too, and he and Daniel are to clash many times throughout the novel. She makes friends with the only non-’ASBO’ student – Pennyweather, daughter of the school’s deceased groundskeeper, and they start to research into Daniel’s family history – but the shadows are reappearing and getting bolder. Meanwhile Daniel blows hot and cold with her, leaving her terribly confused, whereas Cam just blows hot.

What I couldn’t understand about the school was why all the students were there – It was a reform school, but they didn’t seem to behave like I expected bad boys and girls to do. OK there were the usual pranks, and parties, but no real bad behaviour beyond normal high-school light-bullying and gossip. They all seemed to do all their schoolwork too. We never found out what they did to be shut away in this strange place. I wanted to find out much more about the angels as well, but we never found out enough which left me feeling short-changed – presumably we find out more in the sequel due this autumn.

Teenage girls who need something else to read after finishing Twilight etc. will devour this book and its sequel too. I won’t bother. (Book Supplied by Amazon Vine programme, 5.5/10)

Paving the way for the teen vampire sensation

Tags

Campus Novel, Undead, Vampires, YA

Vampire Diaries by L.H.Smith

Anyone reading this book would be forgiven for thinking that it was rather derivative of a certain other one – Twilight that is. It even has an apple on the black cover … Amazingly, it was published over ten years before Stephanie Meyer had even started hers. Understandingly, the publishers have jumped on the bandwagon with a new edition. I didn’t discover it until I had already read Twilight though, so my thoughts about Smith’s book can’t help but but be influenced by the other.

The Vampire Diaries was originally written as a trilogy in 1991, and extended to 4 parts a year later. This edition contains parts 1 & 2. Smith is now adding another new trilogy to the series, and inbetween also created the ‘Night World’ series of novels featuring many different supernatural races.

Smith’s heroine is beautiful and popular, and when a new boy Stefan comes to school, she just has to have him. Sure enough he’s a vampire with an evil older brother Damon. Back in the Renaissance they both loved the same woman, who became vampire and then when they forced her to choose between them, she took both, but Stefan still thinks she really loved him before she died. Elena reminds him of her – so they’re made for each other. Then nasty things start to happen in this little town – there’s a big black crow always around, then people get scared in the old ruined church, and an old guy is killed under bridge over the river. Then at the school’s Halloween Haunted House party, someone dies – all fingers point to Stefan, but we know that Damon lives and he wants what his brother wants …

Arguably, more happens than in Twilight, however I found the Vampire Diaries rather ordinary and humourless, somewhat full of stereotypes and also lacking the former’s subtlety. Also, for a book with the word ‘Diaries’ in the title, the few diary pages included were strangely uninvolving to me. I would describe the book(s) as competent, and fans of her Night World series will surely enjoy these vampires. (6/10)

Now I can see why teenage girls love vampires …

Tags

Campus Novel, Romance, Undead, Vampires, YA

Although I have more of the same stacked up, (vampire novels aimed at teenagers that is), I think I’ve worked out why teenage girls love reading them… They have all the features of many traditional favourites:- set in schools pupilled with bullies, geeks, jocks, all the usual stereotypes are there; there’s good/bad, sympathetic/not teachers; an overwhelming hatred of maths; but most importantly the heroine is new to the school – an outsider who is different and sticks out a mile. Mix thoroughly and then spice liberally with vampires to bring a whole new level of fantasy to the staple genre. However given all that, these first two books have totally different approaches …

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

Although not the first, Twilight is the book that has ignited the current vamp fever.

Isabella is a beautiful yet clumsy girl who has left her Mum, and her new husband, in Phoenix to live with her Dad in the small, rainy, northwestern town of Forks. Enrolling at the local high school she soon makes friends, but then attracts the attention of the mysterious and impossibly good-looking Cullen family. It is love at first sight for Isabella and Edward – but the course of true love never runs smooth, as the Cullens are vampires. As Edward and Bella start to explore whether it is possible for them to have a relationship, some other vampires come on the scene, and Bella is put in danger.

It could have been really brilliant, but to be honest I didn’t warm to Bella – she’s a bit of a whiner and homebody, and so drippy once she falls for Edward. He on the other hand is the business, provided you can forget the slightly creepy fact that he’s a hundred year-old vampire in the body of a seventeen year-old Adonis. Crucially though, it’s so slow in getting to the action as they talk and talk and talk; and the central romance is totally frustrating for an adult read, (younger teens may baulk at the length). The overall feel to me was like one of those über-slick good-looking American TV series like Beverley Hills 90210 (or whatever the number was) with less sex and more talk. Reading Meyer’s website it appears that Bella is the daughter she’s never had, and that there is a certain amount of wish fulfillment going on too. It was compulsive though, and I shall definitely read the rest of the series to find out what finally happens!

*****

Now to a rather different type of high school vampire novel …

Marked by P.C. & Kristin Cast

Written by a mother and daughter team, this is the first in a series called the ‘House of Night’. In the Casts’ world, teenagers are ‘marked’ to become vampires. It has a cracking opening line – “Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker.” Zoey is picked to become a vampyre (yes, with a ‘y’), the tracker marks her forehead and from that moment on her life changes.

She has to abandon everything and go to the ‘House of Night’ – the vampyre finishing school where they will take over her schooling and help her go through the change into becoming a vampyre. She’s happy to leave her mother and her horrible new husband, but has to say goodbye to her Cherokee grandmother who lives out of town. While out looking for her Gran who is out in the hills, Zoey falls and has a vision from the vampyre goddess Nyx who asks her to be her eyes and ears at the House of Night. Once at school, she finds that she’s the centre of attention, for the mark on her forehead has changed – it’s different to all the other fledglings’ ones, and not only is the headmistress Zoey’s mentor, but the head girl Aphrodite is soon on her case!

What ensues is more of a typical boarding school novel with secret clubs, cliques and escapades, and all the stereotypes above are present too. Many have commented that there’s a touch of Hogwarts about it with the pupils learning to be vampyres, but these teenaged vampyres’ blood is full of raging hormones so it’s definitely not suitable for younger teens. It was more fun and definitely has a better sense of humour than Twilight, but I don’t feel the compulsive need to read more of the series, (well – maybe!).

*****

Having read these two, I can understand why teenage girls are adoring them. The presence of the vampires adds a fantasy element to the high-school novel that heightens the romance to a new level, providing the escapist fun that teenagers crave – but I wouldn’t recommend even the sex-free Twilight for any younger readers.

Now I’m reading the first Sookie Stackhouse novel – Dead Until Dark, which is the sexy older cousin to those above. I keep on discovering more vamp fare to add to my reading list though – The Vampire Diaries by L J Smith, which was published in 1991 and thought to be a key influence on those who came after; and Nordic vamp novel Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist. “Bring it on!” I say.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Tags

Campus Novel, Coming of age

Written as an intimate diary in letter form to an unknown addressee, this novel chronicles the first year in High School of Charlie. Charlie has a tendency to be rather passive, introspective, and prone to burst into tears; well – his best friend has recently committed suicide! Though quiet, Charlie is clever which is recognised by Bill, his English teacher who chooses books for him to read, and encourages him to ‘participate’. There’s something in Charlie that’s very likeable and he gets adopted by step-sibling seniors Patrick and Sam(antha), who show him what life is really about.

All the issues surrounding school, growing up and family drama that you can think of are here, from first dates to date-rape, making friends to teen pregnancy, school gangs to masturbation, raging hormones mixed with a good dose of sex, drugs and rock’n'roll – but all are seen through the unique filter of Charlie’s eyes and mind. He doesn’t always understand at first, but Charlie cares about everything – so much so that he finds it very hard to let go. When he does his honesty can be overpowering, but luckily Sam and Patrick are nearly always there for him. Then the year ends and he realises that he’s on his own, all his senior friends are going off to college …

I initially picked up this book because of the funky cover. Although it appears to be aimed at young adults, I really enjoyed reading it despite being all grown-up – in fact it’s a great book for adults too. You can’t help loving Charlie, and you live all his ups and downs with him. His insights into being a teenager are heartwarming, poignant yet often naive and when he does have an epiphany of sorts, you can’t help but cross your fingers and cheer for him.

My first five star read of 2009. A lovely book.

Hearts and Minds by Rosy Thornton

Tags

Campus Novel

The British campus novel is generally a cosy thing (unless there’s a murder involved). Often they can be rather claustrophobic too, peopled with backbiting dons, scheming students, and inscrutable college servants, all of which give opportunities for creating high comedy – naturally I’m thinking David Lodge here, or the funniest of all, Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe.

This makes Rosy Thornton’s second novel Hearts and Minds a rarity. Despite the cover, this is not chick-lit, it is much more of a drama in the Joanna Trollope mould. While it has both cosy and comedic elements, it is also a mature and serious novel primarily about juggling relationships – between academic and administrative staff, between the dons themselves and their families, between students, and students and staff, and, importantly to the plot, old friends who might become benefactors … You can find them all here under the umbrella of St Radegund’s – a women only Cambridge college in need of some money, and which has just appointed an ex-BBC reporter as their first ‘Master’.

First we meet Dr Martha Pearce – the Senior Tutor, totally loyal to the college and its students. Martha works long and hard, to the detriment of her relationship with her family – her workshy poet husband and clinically depressed drop-out daughter, but there is no-one who better understands the student mind when a rent strike is threatened. Martha is world-weary and worried about her future – her research has stalled and her tutor’s appointment is due to end. Martha represents all that is good about St Rad’s, unlike her backstabbing colleague Ros, and the blinkered Bursar Kate.

When James Rycarte arrives – he’s an outsider in every sense. He’s from the media world, not the halls of academe, and he’s the first male to manage the college. He gets a frosty reception from many but not from Martha. Soon it appears that he might be the college’s saviour – an old friend from Italy pledges enough money to repair the library and endow several bursaries. Then Luigi drops his bombshell that the money is dependent on his daughter Paola coming to study at St Rad’s, and a political bag of worms big enough to fill in the subsiding library foundations is released, setting up many conflicts that will take the rest of the novel’s 425+ pages to resolve.

You don’t need to have gone to Oxbridge to enjoy this college life. The fictional confines of St Rad’s mean that the city itself doesn’t have a large part to play, but it is easy to sympathise with Martha and James who are fully rounded characters with difficult decisions to make.

I should declare that I was sent this copy by the author, whom I’ve not met, but she sounds thoroughly nice and is a Cambridge don so knows what she’s writing about! This was a very enjoyable novel, and I have no trouble in recommending it.