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40th out of 293 books
—
66 voters
A Kestrel for a Knave
by
Barry Hines
Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is frequently cold and hungry. Yet he is determined to be a survivor and when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk he discovers a passion in life.
Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that n...more
Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that n...more
Paperback, Penguin Modern Classics, 208 pages
Published
May 25th 2000
by Penguin
(first published 1968)
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Ok, so I simply don't understand some people. Now I'm adding 'people who have given kestrel for a knave fewer than four star reviews' to the list of people I don't understand. They seem to be missing the point. So the book, I would not advise anyone looking for a comfortable reading experience to pick this one up, it is uncomfortable from the start. The life it describes is bleak and heartbreakingly deprived. Billy Casper quite literally has nothing, his brother (with whom he has to share a bed)...more
A Kestrel for a Knave tells the emotional story of a teenage boy (Billy Casper) struggling with the reality of growing up in a mining town in the North of England. Billy lives with his mother and older brother Jud under difficult circumstances, used by the former and bullied by the latter. Disillusioned with the education system and without friends Billy is unable to find escapism through fellow humans.
To combat feelings of isolation, hopelessness and claustrophobia Hines uses a bird of prey as...more
To combat feelings of isolation, hopelessness and claustrophobia Hines uses a bird of prey as...more
I think the other English group read A Kestrel for a Knave, back at GCSE, but it never really appealed to me. Still, it was there today at the library, so I picked it up. It's pretty short, and there are no chapters. It's kind of an odd format to tell a story, just like maybe a boy is sat down and spilling out his story without thinking of how to structure it. Which makes sense, of course, considering the main character. It's pretty grim, too. Working class life in England back when teachers cou...more
By gum, but Yorkshire is bleak.
I've had this book for several years, and I've always put off reading it, because why would I want to be that depressed. Not only is it going to be poor, and bleak, and stunted, and deprived, and mean, there's going to be an wild animal that is the heart and soul and light for one of these inarticulate tragedies of DNA. And what does that mean for that animal, so the author can keep a realistic vision of a relentlessly hard-life, smashed on broken homes, bottles a...more
I've had this book for several years, and I've always put off reading it, because why would I want to be that depressed. Not only is it going to be poor, and bleak, and stunted, and deprived, and mean, there's going to be an wild animal that is the heart and soul and light for one of these inarticulate tragedies of DNA. And what does that mean for that animal, so the author can keep a realistic vision of a relentlessly hard-life, smashed on broken homes, bottles a...more
Nov 25, 2007
YorkshireSue
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone!
Shelves:
all-time-faves,
books-that-changed-my-life
An absolute favourite of mine. I'm dating myself but it was recommended for our O level English Literature and I fell totally in love with it. It broke all the rules I understood about writing and is so gritty yet heartwrenching. No chapters just a sit down straight through read. As skinny and forthright as Billy Casper himself. You won't regret reading it (just try finding it!)
My nephew and then my niece recently read this for their GCSEs and both hated it. The exact opposite reaction to their Mother and two Uncles. Maybe it's a generation gap thing - especially as our childhood was less comfortable and therefore maybe a little closer to that of the child in the novel
It's still one of my all time favourites.
It's still one of my all time favourites.
I somehow got to my sixties without reading this classic or seeing the film. I was aware of the theme of the boy with nothing going for him who becomes expert at what interests him but the realism of the writing took me by surprise. I moved to Barnsley a few years ago and the contrast of depressed towns and beautiful countryside lying right next to one another is still there. In fact it might be even more depressed since the heart was beaten out of it by Margaret Thatcher. I hope education serve...more
Reading Barry Hines' classic again was something of a revelation. Before I started, I couldn't help wondering if the effect it had had on me thirty odd years ago could possibly be repeated, since I'm now what my son describes as a 'grumpy old man' (harsh, I feel, but I do get his drift). Anyway, 'A Kestrel For A Knave' did it all over again for me; in fact, I think it dug deeper into my gut than ever. The panorama of 'colours'(some beautiful beyond description, others enough to burn out your eye...more
its a very interesting tale of teenage angst, the character is well crafted, very endearing and his relationship with the kesteral hawk is deep and symbolic, the author has considerbale skill in evoking memories and satire of the educationa nd how it fails alot of young men. the author describes the landscape beautifully and in a very detailed that interweaves with the story, the background is made to come alive inside teh story, although endless description of the concrete and terraced houses e...more
It's a very stark and bleak book, the story of a little kid travelling from discomfort to downright pain. The scene with the sports teacher, a totally immature and unfair man, really distressed me. He goes as far as forcing the kid to stay in a cold shower to punish him for losing a football match! That is torture!
It is not unrealistic, though, as I know such unfair and violent treatment of pupils did occur, and was even common at some point.
The descriptions of falconry are uplifting, though, as...more
It is not unrealistic, though, as I know such unfair and violent treatment of pupils did occur, and was even common at some point.
The descriptions of falconry are uplifting, though, as...more
A masterpiece - why have I not read this before now??
Well .... I didn't really get on with this book. It's only short and has big type ... and I've read a lot of very difficult books that some would consider "dull" (Finnegans Wake, Magic Mountain, Ulysses) but even with such a short book I got so bored that I ended up putting it down 3/4 of the way through and read two other books before picking it up again with a sigh.
Part of the problem I think is that Hines simply isn't a good enough writer to do what he wants to do - which appears to be to wri...more
Part of the problem I think is that Hines simply isn't a good enough writer to do what he wants to do - which appears to be to wri...more
I first read this book - in its play format - at school when I was about twelve. I think that it was the first book that I had read in English classes that had not been written with children in mind, and that may be the reason that this book had such an impact upon me; that and the fact I had to read Billy Casper’s lines and swear in front of the whole class. In the afterword of my copy, the book’s author Barry Hines says that people often put too much effort in searching for a hidden meaning to...more
It took me 40p to get truely involved in this story - approx. 1/4 of the book. That quarter sets the background for what is to come in the remainder, when the protagonist, Billy, goes to school and one day shows the hilarity, banality, hopelessness and tragedy that surely will be a microcosm of Billy's whole life.
For me, school was not nearly so grim as for Billy, but I could relate strongly to his experience; casual cruelty (from teachers), injustice, bullying, that one teacher who is still cap...more
For me, school was not nearly so grim as for Billy, but I could relate strongly to his experience; casual cruelty (from teachers), injustice, bullying, that one teacher who is still cap...more
I have just finished reading the stage script of this story, based on the classic novel that I read a few years ago. I loved the book so was keen to read the condensed version for the theatre. It does not disappoint and I would love to see a production of it.
I read the book for a readers group and didn't expect much as I was familiar with the story from the acclaimed film that I saw years ago. I loved it though. It made me laugh and also made me very sad.
It is the story of Billy Casper, a young...more
I read the book for a readers group and didn't expect much as I was familiar with the story from the acclaimed film that I saw years ago. I loved it though. It made me laugh and also made me very sad.
It is the story of Billy Casper, a young...more
Barry Hines' story of Billy Caspar, a young misfit who takes a Kestrel from its nest and trains it is a brutal and uncompromsing read, offering an authentic potrayal of life in Northern England in the late-60's. The scenes in the classroom, assembly hall and playing field, the sadistic teachers, meting out corporal punishment, remain etched in the reader's mind long after finishing book. Billy is such a sympathetic charater. This was one of my favourite books as a kid.
False alarum - came across this book as a youngster (can't say "when I was smaller" because I didn't grow much further). I remember crying like a real cry baby at the injustice of it all and then the film was on at the local odeon and cried some more. It starred the lad who played Oliver in Lionel Bart's brilliant rendition of Dickens's masterpiece.
So pretty much done and dusted.
One of the best books ever written and one of the best films ever made. Hines' bleak depiction of life on a Yorkshire council estate and the escapism, through the kestrel, for 16 year old Billy Casper, is poignant gritty, humorous and beautifully written. Everybody should read this book. It teaches you that life is bloody hard, but even harder when you have zero opportunities from a very young age.
This is a Hartwell BookClub book and a library book.
I quite enjoyed this book, as did the rest of the WI members who came to book club tonight. We thought the images of the northern mining town and schooland home life for Billy were well described. The others liked the dialect but I found it a bit annoying.
We did agree though also that the ending was rather abrupt - like Barry Hines hit his target of words and thought right, I'll end it here. The last few scenes in the cinema didn;t ad much to t...more
I quite enjoyed this book, as did the rest of the WI members who came to book club tonight. We thought the images of the northern mining town and schooland home life for Billy were well described. The others liked the dialect but I found it a bit annoying.
We did agree though also that the ending was rather abrupt - like Barry Hines hit his target of words and thought right, I'll end it here. The last few scenes in the cinema didn;t ad much to t...more
This is my favourite book of all time, such a great read. Have reread it many times and it never losses it's appeal. A gritty, gripping, sad and at times bleak story that should be standard reading for all school children in senior schools. I won't tell you the plot, you'll just have to buy it and read it yourself. If there were six stars I would have given it six. Excellent !!!!
A teenager caught in poverty and hopelessness finds the nest of a kestral and then steals a book so he can teach himself to be a falconer. I loved the transformation of Billy as he is caught up in his love and interest for the young hawk. But, as you might guess- many animal tales are sad ones... I would have rated this higher but the writing seemed a bit disjointed in places.
I read this at school originally, and saw the film twice (last time about 2010, which prompted me to re-read it). That is four times I've cried! No other book has ever made me cry (although I did when I saw the film One Flew Over t'Cuckoo's Nest the first time). I'm not usually a cry-baby: it really is that powerful a story, and I stilln do identify with Billy.
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Loved this. It all felt so familiar, not from my own experiences but from my observations of others growing up. There's an odd thing I feel the British do in stories about the working classes. They present occasional acts of truly awful human behavior and appear to ask us to relish in it, to take pleasure and humour in seeing people treated so cruelly, dismissing it as harmless and celebrating this part of our culture. I don't think that happened here. I felt so protective towards our Knave and...more
I enjoyed this harrowing story of a youth trying to find some hope within his poverty stricken life. The love for his bird is unconditional whilst the love for him by others in his life appears the complete opposite. You can't help wondering what happened to this character - remarkable considering the reader remains with him only one day.
I found this book deeply disturbing. Young Billy doesn't stand a chance, his one joy is his Kestrel hawk. Don't want to give the story away - but I did find the language difficult to follow. It is accented Yorkshire, which made me often read a sentence several times before I got the meaning.
oh boy !! I really enjoyed this. I picked this up off of one of the shelves in my school library partly because I saw the Kestrel Falcon on the front cover, I am a very keen birdwatcher and I love Falconry. anyway I loved this book because its about a boy named Billy who lives in a small Yorkshire Mining town where he has very few friends and his brother Jud and his mother don't have a care in the world for his safety. He is also treated as a fail at his school which really downs his confidence....more
I was made to read this for English class. It was moving eventually, but it took a long time to get into the style of writing - which is not proper English but more North-England slang. I adored the relationship the boy had with the kestrel, amid all that poverty and deprivation
When I was an English teacher I read this book to so many classes and can testify just how powerfully Hines connected with working class children. Though dated in some ways now, Kes has never lost its relevance.
"Slack work lad, slack work."
"Hands off cocks, on socks."
"Where's me pillocking bike?"
Aims in life: 1) Be a teacher like Mr Farthing.
2) Don't be a teacher like Mr Sugden.
"Hands off cocks, on socks."
"Where's me pillocking bike?"
Aims in life: 1) Be a teacher like Mr Farthing.
2) Don't be a teacher like Mr Sugden.
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“It's fierce, an' it's wild, an' it's not bothered about anybody, not even about me right. And that's why it's great.”
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Aug 26, 2012 01:09pm