Just William's Luck

Just William #26

by Richmal Crompton

Guillermo el suertudo (Just William’s Luck) constituye un caso único entre los 38 volúmenes de la primera edición de sus aventuras, publicadas entre 1922 y 1970 por el editor británico George Newnes. Esto es así, porque todos estos volúmenes –a excepción del que nos ocupa– recopilaban los episodios sueltos que se venían publicando desde 1919 en la revista Home Magazine. En 1947 las «hazañas» de Guillermo se llevaron al cine por segunda vez con el título de Just William’s Luck, adaptando diferentes episodios, para configurar una historia uniforme. Dado el éxito de la película, la autora, Richmal Crompton, decidió dar forma literaria al guion cinematográfico y así se publicaría, con el mismo título de la película, al año siguiente del estreno, y con el número 26 de la serie. Nunca hasta ahora se había editado en español y viene a llenar un hueco para todos aquellos irrecuperables consumidores de ese néctar de propiedades milagrosas, denominado de manera enigmática, agua de regaliz. Para los no iniciados en el universo de Los Proscritos y que se adentren por primera vez en este culto pagano, solo advertirles que pueden caer en una adicción sin posibilidad alguna de cura.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Childrens Classics

2 pages, Audio Cassette

Published November 17, 1988

About the author

Richmal Crompton Lamburn was initially trained as a schoolmistress but later became a popular English writer, best known for her Just William series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.

Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.

Reviews

[Kavita]

William Brown and the Outlaws decide to start righting wrongs and organise the Knights of the Square Table (or Gnites of the Square Tabel). But we all know what happens when William wants to be good. Utter chaos! When the gang embarks on a second project of trying to marry off their elder brothers in order to inherit their bicycles, the plot only thickens. Woven in is a plot about a smuggling gang operating in the village. As you may guess, it all comes right in the end with even Mr Brown eating out of William's hands.

This is the first full length novel I have read about William Brown and his exploits. It follows the same pattern as the short stories and I had the sneaky feeling throughout that I had read these plots before. I thought Crompton decided to rehash existing short stories and combine several of them into one big story.

And I was right! This appears to be an attempt to cash in on a successful film of the same name. Unlike so many other authors, Crompton appears to have loved the movie based on her characters and attempted to write down the story. The film itself was made with stories taken from different William books.

I am now curious about the film but I think I prefer the short William stories better. It's still hilarious but somehow I feel something missing.

[Martyn]

One day I will have to read through the William books in chronological order and see if there is any noticeable changes over the years. I think WIlliam was created with an adult audience in mind, but he obviously became very popular with children. Some of the books feel more suitable for children than others. This volume felt a bit more adult-orientated. The swearing felt more prolific, or at least of a type not usually used in children's books. Maybe it was just reflective of what was culturally acceptable at the time. Parts of the plot also felt like they were more aimed at entertaining adults than children - like all the relationship problems of all the young men and women. It was amusing though and I enjoyed it.

[Javier Bollain]

Extraordinario, el final del libro es lo más divertido que he leído desde hace mucho tiempo. Guillermo es inmortal

[Bilal Khan]

This book is brilliant in how it examines individual character's in William's circle. For example, through the interaction between William's father and brother at the dinner table at the start of the book a power dynamic is highlighted (which is often strained by William's antics!). These relationships between family members and William, as well as between the Outlaws and the wider world are brilliantly dramatised by Crompton so that they assume a respectability despite their ostensibly trivial nature. What keeps the narrative excellent is Crompton's attenuation perforce of William's antics which often border on the outrageous and hilarious - in equal measure. In short, a thoroughly entertaining read which is perfectly suited to the common reader's palate.

[Rog Harrison]

No idea why I read this when I was 16!

[Mbuye]

If reading William at age 75, and finding it has all the fun it had when the reader was 12 or 13, either the reader has frozen into childhood, or the book has a glorious and undying humour despite the changes brought about over fifty years. Naturally, I should prefer to think the latter is the case.

Unlike the other William books, this one describes a whole day in William's life, and gives us, as well, a deep and sympathetic look at William's long suffering family. Of all the William series, this has been a perennial favourite.

[Alex]

A unique entry in the William series, the only full length novel un in which he appears. I throughly enjoyed this novel.

It had quite a different tone to it from the short story collections, almost to the point of feeling like a Famous Five novel in places.

As I've already mentioned I throughly enjoyed this rather different look into the world of that loveable scamp William Brown and his band of Outlaws.

[Phil Whittall]

Kids love Martin Jarvis' narration but this is not Crompton's strongest offering. I think William works best as short vignettes and the longer story felt like a mishmash of those and didn't quite hold together.

[Pia]

Humerous, hysterical, it was amazing to the end.