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The Last Day of Term
It's the last day of term at the Gilda Ball Academy and time is running a teacher faces the sack following an anonymous allegation of child abuse... Told within a single day, The Last Day of Term interweaves the gritty realities of teenage life in an inner-city school with a touching and comic story of a man in crisis. Teacher Martin Hick is about to get the promotion he's wanted for years, and has vowed to rescue his failing marriage. Cut to a grim council estate in east London, where Bela, an internet-addicted teenager, lives with his chain-smoking mother and aristocratic great-uncle both Hungarian emigres. Bela's life has been ruined since Martin had him expelled from Gilda Ball a few weeks previously, and he is trying to plot his way back into the school. So when, on the last day of term, Martin is confronted with an anonymous note accusing him of abuse, he naturally assumes Bela to be the source. The truth, as he will discover, is never quite that simple.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 6, 2021
Certainly highly engaging even if never totally convincing, this covers 24 hours in the life of Martin Hick, teacher at a London school, his children, including his pot-smoking son that he teaches, his wife who is having an affair with his Principal and a number of students out to get him. Attitudes to discipline are explored through those expelled students, one of whom is well over-the-top. His son and some colleagues are well portrayed and as the day proceeds and confrontation looms, Hick achieves some redemption, although it just didn't come fully together for me.
August 4, 2017
Not sure why I actually finished reading it. The story is told from two different perspectives, a teacher and a student. This is not made clear and took a while for me to catch on.
The characters were very one dimensional and non-engageing, I pitied them more than felt sorry for them. They could even get out of the way of their own feet.
#disapointing
The characters were very one dimensional and non-engageing, I pitied them more than felt sorry for them. They could even get out of the way of their own feet.
#disapointing
January 4, 2016
This is one book that's 'down wiv da kids' for sure. Written alternately from the point of view of a beleaguered teacher and one of his former (recently excluded) pupils, it quickly establishes itself amid the modern day environment of social media and cyber bullying along with a generous side-helping of swearing and slang. It's the sort of thing that might date it horribly in twenty or so years' time, but as of now it feels as up to date as any book ever did.
Set within a single day, it might be expected to move quite quickly, and indeed it doesn't disappoint in that department. It's a headlong crazy rush of events that, if anything, stretch credibility (eg to fit in with the one-day rule, the teacher character has to be suspended following allegations of sexual abuse, and then within a few hours let back in to be interviewed for a promotion). It made me wonder what the book was gaining from limiting itself in that way - set over a longer time period, the same story could have been told without sacrificing its own feasibility. As it was, it didn't come across as the sort of school I recognise. I'm prepared to accept the author might know more about schools than I do, having taught in them (and only yesterday I saw him on the TV explaining why the Government's plans to test 11 year olds on times tables effectively stank), but half the time the teachers seemed to act like kids themselves. I enjoyed it - its energy and forward-motion were a very welcome contrast to the wordy, introspective book I had read previously, but it was escapism rather than realism.
Set within a single day, it might be expected to move quite quickly, and indeed it doesn't disappoint in that department. It's a headlong crazy rush of events that, if anything, stretch credibility (eg to fit in with the one-day rule, the teacher character has to be suspended following allegations of sexual abuse, and then within a few hours let back in to be interviewed for a promotion). It made me wonder what the book was gaining from limiting itself in that way - set over a longer time period, the same story could have been told without sacrificing its own feasibility. As it was, it didn't come across as the sort of school I recognise. I'm prepared to accept the author might know more about schools than I do, having taught in them (and only yesterday I saw him on the TV explaining why the Government's plans to test 11 year olds on times tables effectively stank), but half the time the teachers seemed to act like kids themselves. I enjoyed it - its energy and forward-motion were a very welcome contrast to the wordy, introspective book I had read previously, but it was escapism rather than realism.
July 12, 2012
Not really sure how I kept reading this. It is awful.
Despite that, it reminded me somewhat of Blue-Eyed Boy in its efforts to pay homage to social media and text speak. The story is confused (not confusing), and characters are sensationalised.
I worked in the East Of London and found it a pleasure, and had many stories; maybe I should write about them. The skill is to make it interesting to others. I am in no doubt that it is tough to write a good modern novel about schools, but can recommend Skippy Dies (this tries to cash in on it's success), and more so, Gentlemen and Players (Harris).
Despite that, it reminded me somewhat of Blue-Eyed Boy in its efforts to pay homage to social media and text speak. The story is confused (not confusing), and characters are sensationalised.
I worked in the East Of London and found it a pleasure, and had many stories; maybe I should write about them. The skill is to make it interesting to others. I am in no doubt that it is tough to write a good modern novel about schools, but can recommend Skippy Dies (this tries to cash in on it's success), and more so, Gentlemen and Players (Harris).
August 19, 2011
Hmm. One month into publication and it's already £1.25 in the Shelter shop? I wasn't sure whether to be delighted or suspicious. Now, the author is a high school teacher, so I'm prepared to take his word for it that this is how teenagers behave, talk, tweet, etc. and I'll even believe that some teachers really are that feckless. But it was just so ... laboured. And if you're going to do a real-time novel (although hasn't the whole '24'-inspired craze passed?) you have to be bloody good at writing dialogue. Gilbert isn't.
January 7, 2015
I've always enjoyed books that told the story from different perspectives, and I thought this book did that quite well. I also appreciated the way the author took his time throughout the course of the book to reveal the incidents that led to this day, without any cheap ploys like flashbacks. However, the characters were annoying in the sense that I felt like they were begging for my sympathy, which made me less willing to give them that. I was also very underwhelmed by the ending, which made my overall impression of the book less than stellar at the end of the day.
August 8, 2012
Violent and depressing, but interesting to read as switches from one characters viewpoint to another.
August 31, 2012
Pointless, ridiculous, dreadful drivel. Got a third of the way through and couldn't carry on!
August 29, 2012
Did not finish. Could barely start as so confusing and badly written!
April 25, 2013
easy read. A little disjointed but that kind of added to the narrative.
January 7, 2014
It's not awful but it's not amazing.
It was a pretty easy read and the narrative was pretty good, though a little extreme.
The ending didn't live up to the rest of the narrative though.
It was a pretty easy read and the narrative was pretty good, though a little extreme.
The ending didn't live up to the rest of the narrative though.
March 17, 2015
I'm not sure how the author even managed to get this published, it's absolute drivel.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews