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kba76 's review for:
Gentlemen and Players
by Joanne Harris
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
St Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys. A place of privilege and a place where rules and routines matter. Though we are introduced to the school much earlier, our time here comes during a reign of carefully planned chaos. Someone has a grudge and they will not be happy until the school tears itself apart. While events unfold in a carefully orchestrated set of manoeuvres, our game is to try to establish exactly who is behind it and why.
Harris’s previous role as a teacher means she captures with eloquence the descriptions of boys on the cusp of the transition to adulthood, their subversive streak and the comedic element to the behaviour of the adults who are charged with running the place.
The story itself begins very much earlier in time with Snyde, the Porter’s child, challenging expectations and finding a way to spend time inside St Oswald’s. We see developing relationships and watch the key moments in this character’s life that come to shape their present. These earlier sections really help build a picture of the school and what it represents to those within its walls.
Central to the story is old Classics master Roy Straitley. One of the old guard, he rejects many of the new advances being brought into education and is presented as a man on his way out. At the same time as Straitley is contemplating retirement there are five fresh-faced staff joining the school. One of them is determined to ruin the place, desperate to right the wrongs they feel have taken place there.
The plotting starts small. Missing items, misplaced objects and miscommunication. Gradually the severity of the interference picks up. Lives are being ruined. As we draw to the grim conclusion Harris pulls what is, I’m sure, meant to be a fine sleight of hand. I hadn’t identified the character, but the unexpected twist was spotted, and it leaves us with a rather unsettling suggestion as to where this character might pour their attentions in the next phase.
Harris’s previous role as a teacher means she captures with eloquence the descriptions of boys on the cusp of the transition to adulthood, their subversive streak and the comedic element to the behaviour of the adults who are charged with running the place.
The story itself begins very much earlier in time with Snyde, the Porter’s child, challenging expectations and finding a way to spend time inside St Oswald’s. We see developing relationships and watch the key moments in this character’s life that come to shape their present. These earlier sections really help build a picture of the school and what it represents to those within its walls.
Central to the story is old Classics master Roy Straitley. One of the old guard, he rejects many of the new advances being brought into education and is presented as a man on his way out. At the same time as Straitley is contemplating retirement there are five fresh-faced staff joining the school. One of them is determined to ruin the place, desperate to right the wrongs they feel have taken place there.
The plotting starts small. Missing items, misplaced objects and miscommunication. Gradually the severity of the interference picks up. Lives are being ruined. As we draw to the grim conclusion Harris pulls what is, I’m sure, meant to be a fine sleight of hand. I hadn’t identified the character, but the unexpected twist was spotted, and it leaves us with a rather unsettling suggestion as to where this character might pour their attentions in the next phase.