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mcarson24 's review for:
To Serve Them All My Days
by R.F. Delderfield
Well, it took me 2 months, but worth it! (Told you I was a slow reader - most would not take that long to get through its 678 pages). I have actually read this before and also have loved the BBC’s Masterpiece Theatre presentation of it, which we own - so now I know what I will be bingeing next...
Set in Britain on the moors of Devon, this is the story of David Powlett-Jones, a Welshman devastated by the trauma of WWI trench warfare in France, sent to Bamfylde School to become a teacher as a means of regaining himself and healing the internal scars, restored by the wilds of an isolated part of England, the beautiful girl he meets by chance and the comradeship of his headmaster, colleagues and students. But tested again by the course of love, life and calling. Yes, it is a saga, of sorts, but of a different kind. It doesn’t follow generations of family. It bridges the time between Ypres and Dunkirk, between lost and found, grief and love, idealism and purpose. In the quintessential boy’s school atmosphere, David is able to reconcile the hardest parts of life with the sweetest. And to confirm his headmaster’s assertion that the most important parts of an education are not found in the classroom.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the way it brings the story full circle. Early on, the harsh reality of the losses the school has suffered to the long, difficult war - beloved boys - is echoed at the other end as war returns and David must face the reality of losing his own students in the defense of Britain and all that is right. Undergirding the entirety of the story is the heart of English culture - history, loyalty, passion, identity. How this gradual progression from disenchantment to mature self-understanding unfolds over twenty-plus years is the real story. Everything else wraps it up in scenic beauty and heartfelt emotion.
The story has its weaknesses. Written in 1972, set in the 1920’s-1930’s predominantly, it has some out-of-date attitudes and language, but in keeping, to some degree, with the time period. The story deals far more with David’s relationships with his colleagues and students than with his own children to a degree that they seem almost overlooked at times. But, as a whole, it is far more than the sum of its faults. I read this again for two reasons: 1) that Masterpiece Theatre thing: had to read it again so I can watch it again
Set in Britain on the moors of Devon, this is the story of David Powlett-Jones, a Welshman devastated by the trauma of WWI trench warfare in France, sent to Bamfylde School to become a teacher as a means of regaining himself and healing the internal scars, restored by the wilds of an isolated part of England, the beautiful girl he meets by chance and the comradeship of his headmaster, colleagues and students. But tested again by the course of love, life and calling. Yes, it is a saga, of sorts, but of a different kind. It doesn’t follow generations of family. It bridges the time between Ypres and Dunkirk, between lost and found, grief and love, idealism and purpose. In the quintessential boy’s school atmosphere, David is able to reconcile the hardest parts of life with the sweetest. And to confirm his headmaster’s assertion that the most important parts of an education are not found in the classroom.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the way it brings the story full circle. Early on, the harsh reality of the losses the school has suffered to the long, difficult war - beloved boys - is echoed at the other end as war returns and David must face the reality of losing his own students in the defense of Britain and all that is right. Undergirding the entirety of the story is the heart of English culture - history, loyalty, passion, identity. How this gradual progression from disenchantment to mature self-understanding unfolds over twenty-plus years is the real story. Everything else wraps it up in scenic beauty and heartfelt emotion.
The story has its weaknesses. Written in 1972, set in the 1920’s-1930’s predominantly, it has some out-of-date attitudes and language, but in keeping, to some degree, with the time period. The story deals far more with David’s relationships with his colleagues and students than with his own children to a degree that they seem almost overlooked at times. But, as a whole, it is far more than the sum of its faults. I read this again for two reasons: 1) that Masterpiece Theatre thing: had to read it again so I can watch it again