Borstal Boy (Arena Books)
Registered by sota48 of Hokksund, Buskerud fylke Norway on 6/14/2008
This book is in a Controlled Release!
3 journalers for this copy...
There is a problem with the registration of this book so I'm making a JE to see what happens.
There has been a problem with the registration of this book, so here I go again:
"I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered, for there's a system and a science in taking the piss out of a screw and I'm a well-trained man at it."
"So writes Brendan Behan, poet, writer and literary legend, of the episode that coloured his life. Arrested in Liverpool as an agitator for the IRA, he was tried and sent to reform school. He was sixteen years old.
The world he entered was brutal and coldly indifferent. Conditions were primitive, and violence simmered just below the surface. Yet, Brendan Behan found something more positive than hate in borstal: friendship, solidarity and healing flashes of kindness. Extraordinary vivid, fluent, and moving, it is a superb and unforgettable piece of writing."
I love this book. I had it for a Christmas present when I was in my very early teens, and I have loved it ever since. It triggered the interes I have for Ireland and Irish literature.
I hope you will love it as much I do.
"I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered, for there's a system and a science in taking the piss out of a screw and I'm a well-trained man at it."
"So writes Brendan Behan, poet, writer and literary legend, of the episode that coloured his life. Arrested in Liverpool as an agitator for the IRA, he was tried and sent to reform school. He was sixteen years old.
The world he entered was brutal and coldly indifferent. Conditions were primitive, and violence simmered just below the surface. Yet, Brendan Behan found something more positive than hate in borstal: friendship, solidarity and healing flashes of kindness. Extraordinary vivid, fluent, and moving, it is a superb and unforgettable piece of writing."
I love this book. I had it for a Christmas present when I was in my very early teens, and I have loved it ever since. It triggered the interes I have for Ireland and Irish literature.
I hope you will love it as much I do.
I will bring the book to the BC meet-up in Oslo this afternoon. I have made a bookray of it and will pass it on if somebody wants it. If not, I will take it back home and leave it for a later opportunity to pass it on.
I got this from sota48 at meetup this afternoon. I'm interested in reading it partly because it's on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (#475), which I have a crazy dream of one day having read in its entirety ;-) and partly because sota48 praised it so highly. I have a few rings & rays ahead of it, but I will read it as soon as I can.
When I've read it, several other local BookCrossers are also interested (no particular order):
Findabair
lunacia
Jannike (maybe :-)
Thanks for sharing, sota48!! I'll journal again when I've read the book.
When I've read it, several other local BookCrossers are also interested (no particular order):
Findabair
lunacia
Jannike (maybe :-)
Thanks for sharing, sota48!! I'll journal again when I've read the book.
I've read this book now - I was on holiday earlier this month and I took it with me and read it then.
It was a really good book, although nowhere near as depressing as I expected - it's a book about juvie and supposedly the horrible conditions there, so I was expecting like gang rapes and starvation diets and beatings and the whole Sleepers thing. But it was nothing like that, it was almost like a boarding school setting. Felt like looking through a window into a lost past. If juvenile prisons today were like the institution the book describes, I think recidivism rates might conceivably drop drastically ...
The language in the book is very casual and on a spoken-word level, Behan relates the dialogue as it actually would have been and the narrator's internal monologue too. The book seemed very authentic and convincing to me. It was an interesting read, certainly for anyone interested in Irish or British history. I had a hard time putting it down sometimes - 'just ten more pages' ... :-)
Overall a good read, though old-fashioned in language and tone. I'm happy I read it ... and it's also #475 on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. So ... one more crossed off the list. :-)
Now I'll take it with me to meetup this afternoon and give it to Findabair - I think she'll be very interested in it. Thanks for sharing, sota48!!
It was a really good book, although nowhere near as depressing as I expected - it's a book about juvie and supposedly the horrible conditions there, so I was expecting like gang rapes and starvation diets and beatings and the whole Sleepers thing. But it was nothing like that, it was almost like a boarding school setting. Felt like looking through a window into a lost past. If juvenile prisons today were like the institution the book describes, I think recidivism rates might conceivably drop drastically ...
The language in the book is very casual and on a spoken-word level, Behan relates the dialogue as it actually would have been and the narrator's internal monologue too. The book seemed very authentic and convincing to me. It was an interesting read, certainly for anyone interested in Irish or British history. I had a hard time putting it down sometimes - 'just ten more pages' ... :-)
Overall a good read, though old-fashioned in language and tone. I'm happy I read it ... and it's also #475 on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. So ... one more crossed off the list. :-)
Now I'll take it with me to meetup this afternoon and give it to Findabair - I think she'll be very interested in it. Thanks for sharing, sota48!!
Journal Entry 7 by LeishaCamden at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Released 15 yrs ago (11/5/2008 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Findabair has too much to read at the moment ;-) so the order's been changed and this book went home with Jannike.
Happy reading!! :-)
Findabair has too much to read at the moment ;-) so the order's been changed and this book went home with Jannike.
Happy reading!! :-)
Journal Entry 8 by Jannike from -- wild release somewhere in Oslo, Oslo fylke Norway on Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thank you,LeishaCamden, I really look forward to reading this book!
Journal Entry 9 by Jannike from -- wild release somewhere in Oslo, Oslo fylke Norway on Sunday, February 22, 2009
I liked the book, it was both rough and touching.
I will give it to Findabair at the next meet-up in Oslo.
I will give it to Findabair at the next meet-up in Oslo.
Journal Entry 10 by Jannike at -- wild release somewhere in Oslo, Oslo fylke Norway on Monday, May 4, 2009
Released 14 yrs ago (5/3/2009 UTC) at -- wild release somewhere in Oslo, Oslo fylke Norway
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Given to Findabair at our monthly BookCrossing meetup in Oslo.
Given to Findabair at our monthly BookCrossing meetup in Oslo.