Gentlemen and Players
by Joanne Harris
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 763)
bought me this for Yule last year an it languished on the shelf - so mighty is my aversion to cricket that the red leather ball on the cover made me fear the worst!
Thankfully, and I could kiss the author, cricket is barely mentioned. This is the story of a public school, St Oswalds, which becomes the battleground when the child of the former porter returns and seeks revenge for the death of a friend and the resentment of being rejected by the priviledge world of St Oswald's and left to figh...more
Thankfully, and I could kiss the author, cricket is barely mentioned. This is the story of a public school, St Oswalds, which becomes the battleground when the child of the former porter returns and seeks revenge for the death of a friend and the resentment of being rejected by the priviledge world of St Oswald's and left to figh...more
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Read in April, 2007
GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS (Academic Mystery-England-Cont) – VG
Harris, Joanne – Standalone
Doubleday, 2005- UK Hardcover – ISBN: 0385-60366-5
First Sentence: If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past fifteen years, it’s this; that murder is really no big deal.
*** Roy Straitley is Latin master at St. Oswald’s, a long-established boy’s grammar school. Although there have always been incidences of disruption through the years, there’s been nothing with the frequency and ...more
Harris, Joanne – Standalone
Doubleday, 2005- UK Hardcover – ISBN: 0385-60366-5
First Sentence: If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past fifteen years, it’s this; that murder is really no big deal.
*** Roy Straitley is Latin master at St. Oswald’s, a long-established boy’s grammar school. Although there have always been incidences of disruption through the years, there’s been nothing with the frequency and ...more
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Read in May, 2007
Another NY Times Bestseller I took a chance on - it's lovely cover was calling to me from the "Favorite Paperbacks" display at Borders. It was worth the 3-4 days it took me to read. For the first 200 pages or so, I thought I knew what was going on. Insert major plot twist. Then during the next 200 pages or so, I was sure I knew what was going on. Insert another major plot twist. Result = WOW ending! Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of character development, so I didn't feel like I &qu...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Folks who enjoy a good puzzle of a mystery
For this reader Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris is a blockbuster of a novel with more twists and turns than an amusement park thrill ride. Set at a British boys' school, this riveting tale plays out like a game of chess with each move and counter-move by the participants advancing the story toward its unexpected climax.
The narrative itself covers a fifteen year period in the history of St. Oswald's School for Boys and moves back and forth in time between past AND present. Through t...more
The narrative itself covers a fifteen year period in the history of St. Oswald's School for Boys and moves back and forth in time between past AND present. Through t...more
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Read in June, 2007
for such a famous writer, i expected more. it was so unrealistic. and it has this surprising twist (albeit right out of 'the colour of night', one of the worst films i've ever sat through), but it happened about 100 pages before the end of the book, so the rest just dragged on and on and on, and the writing was so obvious, lines like 'like my dad always used to say, you can't make an omelette without killing people' excuse me??? i just grimaced and cringed through that, it was so bad, it wasn...more
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There was something about this novel that put me off, but I can't really put my finger on it. I found the premise of a young teacher seeking vengeance against a private all-boys school more than intriguing, and the writing was well-paced, but something just didn't quite gel for me throughout most of the novel. I will say though that the twist towards the end of the story is one that I never saw coming, and it knocked my socks off and gave me more of an appreciation for the author's creativity an...more
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Read in February, 2008
This was an ok read. I think it was a well crafted story, very clever but still, for me it dragged in the last third, up until the final 2 or 3 chapters. Set in a suburban town/city in England around a private school for boys/young men. The Author had experience teaching in such a place and it shows. Very insightful. I also appreciated the presence of Latin in the story. I'm glad I read it but may not revisit it. Harris is good at getting into people's head and the alternating narrators works we...more
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Read in May, 2007
Not recommended!
I went to Kepler's a week ago and almost came home with 4 new books. But I instituted an emergency policy on the spot -- only 1 book purchase allowed -- and I picked this one. It sounded so promising... I love page turners and this was touted as "wickedly funny", literary, and all that good stuff. But my high hopes were dashed! And I gave up after about 120 pages.
In short, two narrators -- one who is supposed to be acerbically witty and the other who is omi...more
I went to Kepler's a week ago and almost came home with 4 new books. But I instituted an emergency policy on the spot -- only 1 book purchase allowed -- and I picked this one. It sounded so promising... I love page turners and this was touted as "wickedly funny", literary, and all that good stuff. But my high hopes were dashed! And I gave up after about 120 pages.
In short, two narrators -- one who is supposed to be acerbically witty and the other who is omi...more
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This was, in my mind, Joanne Harris's darkest book to date. The book grabs you and makes you continue - because you have no idea what is going to happen, and you want to find out what happened in the past, so it is very well written in that respect. The characters are well thought out - and for a Brit - easy to picture - the public school set up vs the state school yobs, so I don't know how well this would appeal to an American audience.
The book has a clever ending, which I hadn't guessed ...more
The book has a clever ending, which I hadn't guessed ...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Chris by:
No onerecommends it for: Anyone
I give this book a hesitant four. I would like to give it a five but that's not possible since I figured out the secret of the book when I was only a quarter of the way through. I can't give this book a three either because the story is quite interesting and captivating.
It gives great insight into the private schools of England. It really opens up that world for those who do not know it. The story is intelligent, touching, suspenseful at times, and it has an intriguing darkness.
P.S...more
It gives great insight into the private schools of England. It really opens up that world for those who do not know it. The story is intelligent, touching, suspenseful at times, and it has an intriguing darkness.
P.S...more
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Read in September, 2007
I keep reading Joanne Harris, looking for another Chocolat, but am always surprised by the darkness in the rest of her novels, such as this one. It's good, about an adult revenging childhood hurts, but not in a trite way. It is in the form of two narrators, but their voices were not distinguishable from each other, so I was a third of the way through before I realized they were not the same person. Once I figured that out I enjoyed it a little more. The plot is good; by the end I appreciated...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is a tale of envy and revenge, set in a British boys' school. The child of the caretaker adopts a secret identity in order to infiltrate the school and become part of the elite. Adventure leads to tragedy and one popular student dies. Fifteen years later, the caretaker's child returns to the school as a teacher and seeks retribution.
The novel's alternating narrators --- one is a senior teacher, the other is the child of the caretaker --- contrast (often with subtlety)loyalty and decepti...more
The novel's alternating narrators --- one is a senior teacher, the other is the child of the caretaker --- contrast (often with subtlety)loyalty and decepti...more
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Read in June, 2008
I loved Chocolat by Joanne Harris, and remember thoroughly enjoying Five Quarters of an Orange when that came out (although I no longer remember what that was about). This, too, was wonderful, and very different from her other novels.
Set in an exclusive British boarding school, Harris explores class and gender through the eyes of two characters, an old Classics professor and the child of the former porter of the school. In an intricate game of intrigue (played out in the book like a chess ga...more
Set in an exclusive British boarding school, Harris explores class and gender through the eyes of two characters, an old Classics professor and the child of the former porter of the school. In an intricate game of intrigue (played out in the book like a chess ga...more
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Read in October, 2007
This was a really fun read! It's sort of a mystery, sort of a thriller, sort of a standard growing up and finding yourself novel. It's a fun romp through the societal quirks of an English boys school. The tale delves into the internal squabbles and political ranglings of the faculty, the societal impact of a prestigeous and exclusive school on the community surrounding it, and the limited perspective that all of us have of the world around us. In fact, the issue of seeing, being seen, and not b...more
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Joanne Harris, the author of Chocolat, taught for twelve years at a British boys’ school and she sets her latest tale, a thriller, in that milieu. A new teacher at St. Oswald's Grammar School for Boys has joined the staff with the covert intention of destroying the school from within. That saboteur is one of two narrators of the book. The other is Roy Straitley, a longtime Latin teacher and fixture of the school. The suspense is delicious as the two become adversaries in a game of cat and...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Suspense Lovers
This is very different from other novels by Joanne Harris. It is pretty much a straight thriller/suspense type of book, which I normally am not interested in reading. However, I very much enjoyed this book. The plot is fun to watch played out and it has a good twist at the end. I liked Harris as a writer and I like that she tried out a different genre, after reading many of her other books, it was unexpected. Another note, this book reads like a movie. I can easily see it being adapted and worki...more
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Read in June, 2007
to read. This one is especially so, because the book is darker even than the previous “Five Quarters of the Orange.” The perpetrator is so cunning that none of the characters have a clue as to what is happening. Throughout the book I wanted to scream at them to look out or pay attention. This is one book that I think should be read rather than heard, because there are a lot of passages which deserve re-reading, not so easy to do on audio. However, I did enjoy the different voices used on th...more
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Read in July, 2008
I expected great things, this being a book by Joanne Harris (as Five Quarters of the Orange was brilliant). I was not awed like I thought I would be, but I was not disappointed either.
The style of this book is very different than Five Quarters of the Orange. This book is more of a suspense/mystery rather than a tale of life during the war.
Haunting, smart, funny and it left me wanting more.
The style of this book is very different than Five Quarters of the Orange. This book is more of a suspense/mystery rather than a tale of life during the war.
Haunting, smart, funny and it left me wanting more.
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Read in February, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It is completely different from the other books I have read by Joanne Harris. It is a very British setting- a boys' school, and set in modern/current time. It's also a mystery. I have a soft spot for this kind of novel, so it was a fun change from her more lyrical, almost magical, stories like Chocolat.
The story reminded me strongly of Gaudy Nights by Dorothy Sayers, which was also neat because that is one of my favorite mysteries.
The story reminded me strongly of Gaudy Nights by Dorothy Sayers, which was also neat because that is one of my favorite mysteries.
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
Everyone
This is a suspense/mystery that takes place in a British private school for boys. I don't normally like suspense and I don't think the author completely intended it to be that way, but this is such a great twisty/turny story.
And it's funny! I've never worked in a school but I have a lot of teacher friends that tell me stories. Joanne Harris is the author of Chocolat which is one of my favorite movies. The book itself is good but I think all of her other stories are better.
And it's funny! I've never worked in a school but I have a lot of teacher friends that tell me stories. Joanne Harris is the author of Chocolat which is one of my favorite movies. The book itself is good but I think all of her other stories are better.
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