Ribblestrop

Ribblestrop #1

by Andy Mulligan

From the prize-winning author of Trash and Dog , Ribblestrop is sure the delight the most mischievous among us.

When your school’s motto is ‘ Life is dangerous ’, you know that anything can happen – and everything does!

There’s no school that’s quite like Ribblestrop , complete with roofless dormitories, distracted teachers, and a perilous underground labyrinth. And then there are the students ! You’ll meet Sanchez , a Colombian gangster’s son hiding from kidnappers; Millie , an excluded arsonist and self-confessed wild child; Caspar , the landlady’s spoiled grandson; the helpful but hapless Sam and his best friend Ruskin , plus a handful of orphans from overseas who are just happy to have beds – even if they are located in a roofless part of the building…

‘Masterful knockabout humour....the book bulges with irreverent fun and incident.’ The Irish Times
‘Ribblestrop has the "crazy school" appeal of Hogwarts and the grim humour of Lemony Snicket , and looks like a winner.’ The Independent
‘Ribblestrop is disgracefully dangerous high-octane fun of the highest an outrageous delight’  Philip Ardagh, in the Guardian

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens, Young Adult, Adventure, Fantasy

512 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2009

About the author

Andy Mulligan was brought up in the south of London. He worked as a theatre director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He has taught English and drama in India, Brazil, the Philippines and the UK. He now divides his time between London and Manila.

Reviews

[Maharet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo libro è completamente folle: è un trip di acido (non che ne abbia mai sperimentato uno, ma immagino quali possano essere gli effetti di tale pratica) lungo 439 pagine e Andy Mulligan secondo me è un genio.
Sui social network mi è capitato di definire questo libro “un Harry Potter sotto LSD” e devo dire che la definizione calza, anche se tra HP e questo libro ci passa un oceano: è un libro fuori di testa, in cui succede di tutto e di più e in cui i colpi di scena si susseguono a ritmo serrato.
L'ho trovato fantastico, mi sono divertita come una pazza durante la lettura, ho divorato questo libro e non ne avevo mai abbastanza, mi ha completamente conquistato.
So che c'è un seguito e DEVE essere mio quanto prima, non riesco ad immaginare cosa diavolo potrà mai inventarsi Mulligan di ancora più folle, ma in ogni caso io devo saperlo.
Devo.
Ora, so che un libro così folle non potrà piacere a tutti e che potrà sembrare davvero TROPPO fuori di testa e pieno di roba assurda, ma se ti piacciono i libri molto, molto, molto over the top e fuori dal mondo, allora io consiglio di darci un'occhiata.
Consigliato davvero tanto.

Voto: 8.5/10

[Mario Hirotoshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

cinco estrelas. nem é >tão bom (mas eu daria entre 3.5 e 4 estrelas) mas eu morro de saudades do meu ensino fundamental e médio. nostalgia vence qualquer outro aspecto técnico (opinião valida por 5 dias)

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ribblestrop is a school like no other. There is no roof. The teachers are a bit odd, and strange things are going on in the secret underground labyrinth of the building. The students are an unusual mix as well, from Millie, an arsonist who's been kicked out of her other schools, Sanches, the son of a Colombian gangster, to Sam, who's had the bad luck to fall into the middle of it all.

I did not enjoy. My expectations were high because Ribblestrop was actually published in the UK in 2009 and won The Guardian's Children's Fiction Prize. I mostly didn't like it because I felt like it was a book full of unpleasant characters that I didn't care about. I've had this issue before. When everyone is unpleasant, it's very hard for me to get invested in the story. Most unlikable was Millie, and she was suppose to be our antihero. The problem was she was so unpleasant I wanted someone to put her in her place. The problem with that was that everyone else was so unpleasant I didn't want them to come out on top either. So yeah. I spent the whole book shaking my head over how nasty everyone is.

A quote from the publisher's website is "With the "crazy-school appeal of Hogwarts and the grim humor of Lemony Snicket" ("The Independent") Ribblestrop is sure to delight the most mischievous among us." And maybe it will, although I totally disagree with The Independent. Hogwarts didn't have a "crazy-school" vibe for me, and the tone of Ribblestrop is completely different from A Serious of Unfortunate Events, which I loved. It didn't have that sly, tongue-in-cheek humor. There wasn't really any humor in Ribblestrop.

Just because I did not enjoy the book does not mean others won't. While the nastiness turned me off, that could certainly be an appeal for some kids. It has adventure and mystery. It has descriptions of soccer games. It has a creepy science-fiction sort of twist. It has a car chase. I can certainly see how it would appeal.

Aside from Millie, the other characters were either unappealing or undeveloped. The school has brought in a whole bunch of orphans from overseas. Some of the orphans get names, most of them don't. What we know about the orphans is that they're just so delighted to be at the school and will cheerfully do any kind of work needed. The whole "we've taken in a bunch of orphans from a third-world country and are making them rebuild our school" thing made me a little uncomfortable. Another main characters is Sanchez, the gangster's son, who's actually fairly decent, but like everyone else gives into Millie and I really wish he hadn't. He was doing so well telling her to shove off, but then he gave in. Even Sam, who's supposed to be sweet a lovable annoyed me. Stand up for yourself, Sam!

But you know what, I did read the whole book. I didn't give up part way through. So I guess you win, Ribblestrop.

Ribblestrop comes out August 19, 2014.

[D. B. Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first couple of chapters, I thought this would be a nonsensical romp that I wouldn't care much about. And it is, pretty much, a nonsensical romp. What separates Ribblestrop from eight hundred other "everyone is insane and all the adults are stupid" nonsensical romps is that it actually includes the amounts of near-death, catastrophe, concussion, trauma and chaos that would realistically ensue from such a situation. Somehow, through sheer luck, nobody successfully murdered anyone else and an evil government program was shut down without anyone even fully realizing what happened.

I still didn't care all that much. I liked Sanchez and Sam, but everyone else I could do without. I wish the Himalayan orphans had been given individual names and characters, rather than being mostly treated like a collective deus ex machina of manpower and magical skills. You know the book wants you to be happy that Ribblestrop was able to stay open -- yay, score one for community and unorthodoxy! -- but actually it needs to be shut down immediately. Sam is not going to survive to graduate high school if he stays here.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good school comedy romp. Like all good school stories, there's a lot of sport in it. I wasn't really taken with the characters though for some reason.

[Becky B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me preface this by saying I usually heartily enjoy British humor, so I went into this book with high hopes. However, it took me forever to get into Ribblestrop. In fact, I usually devour a book this size in 2-3 days and I was so not grabbed by the characters or plotline that I dropped it to read not once, not twice, but about 6-7 times to read other books and thus stretched this thing out for almost a month. Finally, about 2 chapters from the end (about 300 pages of forced reading) I got into the book and was able to finish it today. I think just about the only ones who would enjoy this book are those who suffered through a horrible boarding school experience and will relish the way this book mocks boarding schools and alternate educational philosophies.

The premise of the book is a couple misfit kids (one kid on the run from South American gangs, one a thief and troublemaker, and a couple who just ended up there by accident) plus a troop of orphans from some 3rd world country who constitute the entire school population of Ribblestrop. The headmaster is a man with some interesting ideas about how education should happen and who is otherwise quite oblivious to things like child safety...or schedules...or curriculum. He is pretty much the dream headmaster of any student, oblivious and easily distracted. The school is located in a once glorious estate that was reputedly the unofficial HQ for the British intelligence during WWII. It is still owned by the aging lady of the estate, and of course the headmaster is horribly behind on payments, and she is threatening to kick him out. Oh, and did I mention that part of the main building was burnt down last term so it is also pretty much a condemned building?

The kids eventually stumble into some subterranean passages left over from the WWII days and discover that something sinister is going on at Ribblestrop, involving a mad scientist.

The plot had a lot of promise to be humorous, but it fell short in execution for me. I did not find myself caring what happened to any of the characters, so why should I read like mad to make sure they or the school survived? Eventually, when the full sinister plot comes out and the kids are racing time to get things right is when I got into it. Unfortunately, that's not till nearly the end of the book.

Notes on content: There is some mild language scattered throughout (and occasional stronger language if you're British). The headmaster frequently gives the children alcohol for celebrations and to keep them warm when heating doesn't work. One of the main kid characters frequently smokes and there are no reprecussions. There's quite a fair bit of violence, especially on the soccer field and in the finale. Kids get horrible head wounds, gashes, concussions, etc, and rather than taking them to the hospital, the headmaster chooses to treat them at school with unconventional methods. Towards the end one child bites through the thumb of a bad guy and this is described. There are a couple shootings (mostly done by children). There is a train crash (well, more than one actually). Oh, and brain surgery experiments are described.

All that considered, not the funny kids' book I was hoping for. Mostly, I just finished it going, "That was weird." Also, the fact that the school remains open at the end is somewhat scary. Give this to an educator or the parent of a child at a boarding school if you want them to have nightmares.

[Candy Wood]

Andy Mulligan's Ribblestrop is a very strange take on the boarding-school story, partly updated to the 21st century with "cellphones" and partly a throwback to James Bond spy stories with evil mad scientists and improbable gadgets. Add to all that a huge volume of violence, not just the bruises and scrapes of an accident-prone schoolboy but life-threatening injuries realistically described (with some hints of cartoon exaggeration). As often in the school-story genre, the characters are more stereotyped than developed, but with some twists--the school is so small that nobody makes fun of the bespectacled fat boy, and nobody torments the new boy for being new. The one girl alternates between bossing the others and being rescued. There are even two football (soccer) matches against the town high school's enormous, unsporting boys, with plays, fouls, and no-calls recounted in detail. It's fast-paced and funny, and almost everyone survives, ready for the next term.

[Elsabeth Marriott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good yarn. Was described as Harry Potter but with delinquents. Think that’s a poor description the only link is it’s set in a boarding school around 3/4 main children with a kindly eccentric head. Interesting tale and history well told with plot elements cleverly combined throughout. Especially enjoyed the phone box. Contains real life disappointment of not all the bad getting what’s coming to them and very real characters. Sets up for the next book but not in an obnoxious way. Poor Sam. Good narration. Sanchez is a great character.

Sinister but believable.

Also I really love automata and very excited this book uses them well.

And the ending is something uncommon and quite sweet. Good friendships are the baseline of this book.

[Monica Edinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I read this after the second one I do have to admit my preference for it over the first, but liked this one too. Now can't wait for the final in the trilogy.

[Sam Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

     

         

              In preparation for my first ever break with the format of this blog to review a Young Adult book about a school, I went back and looked up some of the young adult titles of my youth: Wayside School, for one. some of Ellen Raskin's books for another, and Neal Shusterman, and Bruce Coville, and some other titles here and there that I remember digging. And, upon looking back, I realized something: 



YA authors scare the living daylights out of me.



                         Seriously, YA is a genre full of some freaking warped books. And not just the ones they force middle and high schoolers to read at gunpoint, either. I'm talking about the humor books meant for the middle school-age audience, I'm talking about the ridiculous books they let us read thinking "oh, they're all right for kids" that involve stuff like child slavery and brainwashing. The aforementioned Wayside School is a series of linked cosmic horror stories that also work as school comedy. 



                             Now, they're also good books, because most of these people can write. But I did want everyone to know that I have read me some Edward Lee. And some Jack Ketchum. And some Clive Barker. And all the rest. And not once did I find anything nearly as fucked up as I did in young adult fantasy or science fiction or comedy books*.



This brings us to Ribblestrop.



                            In Ribblestrop, Andy Mulligan takes the "school of adventure" tropes that one seems to find reoccuring throughout young adult novels, and blows them so far over the top that it creates an unusual adventure in a school that might as well be unmoored from reality. Despite being ostensibly aimed at the younger set, it's a book full of strange mannequins, kids getting drunk on rum repeatedly, numerous train accidents, and at least one case of nonconsensual trepanation. It's also a book full of heart, and the points where the book gets shaggy make up for it with heart and character and a wicked sense of humor. It's not a book I'd necessarily recommend, but it's fun. And in this case, fun is really all that matters.

"What a question to ask! 'Is it dangerous?' We're at Ribblestrop, Giles. Where life is dangerous. Don't tell me you didn't know that."

- Professor Worthington

                             Ribblestrop begins with one Sam Arthur Tack getting on a train for a long voyage to his new school, the titular Ribblestrop. Sam**'s parents have been told that Ribblestrop is a prestigious boys' school with a long tradition behind it, and their small boy will be a wonderful addition. Upon entering the train (and suffering the first of many train accidents), Sam is met by Jacob Ruskin, a portly boy who is a returning student to Ribblestrop Towers. Ruskin talks to Sam about the various ins and outs of Ribblestrop-- the eccentric headmaster Giles Norcross-Webb, the small handful of other kids (most of whom are Asian and eastern European orphans) who attend the school, the fact that the dormitory doesn't have a roof, but will eventually have one built-- and then accidentally spills his tea on Sam, causing the two boys to try and find a way to get Sam a spare pair of pants. 

                             On the way, they meet Millie, a young woman and enterprising criminal who accidentally loses Sam's school pants out the window along with his tie, steals a woman's credit card, and barges into a restaurant where they meet the other returning student to the school, Sanchez. Sanchez is the son of a South American gangster, a soft-spoken boy who still has trauma from when he was kidnapped and held for ransom. One helicopter ride later, the four of them arrive at Ribblestrop Towers...

                               ...where Sam promptly gets hit on the head by crockery thrown out of the tower window by Lady Vyner, the eccentric owner of the Ribblestrop property, and her monstrous grandson Casper. Things quickly settle into a routine. The school is barely supposed to exist, practically runs under the table, and has all sorts of strange secret passages. The only teachers are the affable but completely cracked Captain Routon and the mad "electrical scientist" Professor Worthington. One of the main classes involves mapping the entire state, including cutting out new trails and paths through the overgrowth. Doctor Norcross-Webb insists that they'll make everything up as they go along. And then one day a deputy headmistress appears...

And things get very strange indeed.

                                Ribblestrop Towers is soon pulled into a strange mystery involving unusual-looking mannequins, a series of secret basements in the school, the corrupt local law enforcement, and the deputy headmistress Miss Hazlitt, who has a prior connection to Millie and seems to be a little too concerned with psychopharmacology and discipline. Mad science abounds. After all, Ribblestrop Towers used to be an Allied research facility. 



                               What follows is a ridiculous adventure story as the students of Ribblestrop battle murderous high schoolers from the local city, corrupt police, the government, a former dentist and mad scientist, an antique weaponry-toting heir, ghosts, a human robot, and a conspiracy that threatens not just Ribblestrop Towers, but the entirety of students in all of the schools in the whole world if it gets out. 



                I'm going to talk about something I don't usually talk about here, and that's commitment. Commitment is more important than anyone could possibly realize. It's when people accept a premise and play it as straight as they possibly can. No winking, no tongue-in-cheek, just accepting the most ridiculous thing you can and playing it as straightfaced as possible. It's something very few people do, but for the sake of comedy, sometimes you have to pick up that shovel and dig all the way down. For science fiction and fantasy, too. Andy Mulligan takes a very weird premise and slowly makes it weirder, but never once does he flinch. Never once does he present the absurd world he creates as anything but normal. The chief of police in Reading spends his time squeezing the school dry for bribes that he then funnels into shady projects in the surrounding countryside. The deputy headmistress is clearly an evil sociopath, but everyone just goes along with it because the school needs a little order. In fact, it's pretty easy for even the children of Ribblestrop to realize that there is something seriously wrong with just about everything, but because the world is that strange (an early chapter involves a gunfight where absolutely no one gets shot or arrested), it doesn't bother them that they have to rebuild the dormitory roof like a gothic cathedral during the fall/winter term. 



                  But commitment doesn't just make Ribblestrop believable and grounded. It also helps the reader not think too hard about the fact that a lot of the book is twisted. The school takes in orphans to brainwash them, a group of students almost get hit by a train, and a sadistic dentist has a plan to chemically and surgically alter the brains of schoolchildren to obey authority and rules without question. The science teacher is a mad scientist as well, the true owner of the property nearly kills a main character, and all of this is pretty much played for some kind of laughs. It's more amusing than terrifying and I, for the life of me, could not tell you why. There's just something that keeps it all moving forward and funny. Maybe it's the idea that everything could be funny, and that there's not as many real stakes. Yes, everything is cartoonishly frightening, but at the same time, there's a lot of safety. And...while normally the "no real stakes" thing would be something bad, here it actually works fairly well. The book is not without its plot risks and stakes, but the idea of bad things actually happening in a book like Ribblestrop would be kind of terrifying. If the villains won, even in part, it would destroy the pretense that all of this is actually funny. 



               Which leads me into the other thing I really enjoy about the book, and that's the way it handles the tone. While there are a few genuinely unnerving scenes played straight, a lot of it comes off as funny. Sam Tack's repeated and brutal injuries (he spends a section in the middle of the book in a coma after an ill-fated football game) as a running gag are actually kind of amusing. Casper and Lady Vyner's horrifyingly insane behavior comes off as darkly comic. That this is the kind of world where a school can be run totally under the table and have to bribe a police chief for its continued existence comes off as unnerving and funny rather than flat-out frightening. With Ribblestrop, Andy Mulligan's tone and control manage to keep all of this in the realm of the absurd and out of the realm of near-Gothic horror. 



                 My only issue with it is that the beginning is more a series of vignettes than an actual book. It transitions from one scene to the next without much thought, sort of shrugging as it goes through the paces and outlines its characters. That the rest of the book is much tighter makes me wonder if it was just kind of Mulligan playing around and then finding a common thread to link everything together. It just feels shaggy, a little loose, just trying to establish its voice, and I would have liked it to be a little tighter. But, as this was practically the first novel Mr. Mulligan wrote for young adult audiences, I can shake some of that off. Besides, the book finds its feet around the time everyone almost gets run over by a train, and suddenly it's off and running.



              So in the end, I think this one is worth a library checkout. Especially since it's now out in the US. I especially recommend it to those of you out there with children, provided they know that yes, it is incredibly warped. I wouldn't unknowingly inflict Ribblestrop on anyone, but for someone looking for a fun, adventurous young adult read, I highly recommend you pick this one up and spend some time with it. Hell, someone younger than me will probably get something better out of it than I did, or like it more. The only thing it'll take from you is your time. 


NEXT WEEK:

- A short break while I try to get back to some semblance of a schedule and stop releasing Wednesday/Thursday posts.



- Going, Going, Gone by Jack Womack

- Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban



AND MANY OTHERS.


































*Even when they're not being intentionally creepy...the passage about weeping librarians eating remaindered books with a knife and fork in Whales On Stilts! was kind of depressing and horrifying while still being kinda funny. 

**Those of you who are giggling...stop...please...

[Josiah Corea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ribblestrop is not your average school. For starters, there's a deadly plot going around involving... brains? There's no mistaking Andy Mulligan's ability to slowly ratchet up tension, but I found certain passages a bit weird/unsettling for my taste. I do like a bit of quirkiness in my book, but this book suffers from an uneven tone- genuinely funny passages are interspersed with adults getting their precious digits bitten off. On top of that, there is a hearty dose of swearing involved. On the plus side, the characters, though perhaps not likeable, are brought to life realistically, and this book has a certain sense of madcap fun running throughout it. Not a perfect book, but certainly a multi-layered, entertaining one.

[Blue Sapphire · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could easily be a young adult fiction if it weren’t at a children’s school. I recommended it to my daughter who is already fickle but she couldn’t get into it which doesn’t surprise me. It took almost halfway through the book before it finally became interesting. It was silly and weird and so many red flags, but it was such a slow burn, almost dragging in some places, that it doesn’t make a good middle grade. It takes all the bad parts of a YA and all the bad things from a Middle grade and puts them together to make a book (and apparently a series) that doesn’t work for either. It had potential, it just didn’t live up to it.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are numerous examples of very visceral horror in the story, which amount to torture porn. The author devotes far too much time to lovingly describing injuries, medical procedures and accidents. His treatment of Millie is extremely sexist. His use and description of The Orphans, rarely more than a homogenous group of faceless individuals, is very racist.

The pace of the story is far too variable. Several sections should have been taken out altogether, and the whole thing tightened up.

I simply don’t know what the intended audience is - it’s too silly for adults and too unpleasant for children. Don’t waste your time on it.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a chunky book, and it took me a while to get into it. It is all about a school that is a cross between Gordonstoun and St Trinian's. The pupils are a range of misfits with their own individual talents, which they all put to good use. The story takes a very dark turn about halfway through, and the story line becomes very disturbing indeed. However all's well that ends well, and it proved very enjoyable indeed, and certainly something different to my normal reads.

[John Hinchliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully entertaining listen! The story follows a selection of misfit boys—and one girl—at a struggling school, leading to a series of wild and amusing escapades. It’s often laugh-out-loud funny, though with a surprisingly dark edge at times that adds depth to the adventure. Tom Hollander’s narration is absolutely brilliant he brings each quirky character to life. I've already listened to book 2 and am trying not to listen to book 3 immediately!

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cross between St. Trinians and a top secret government cover up. Full of mad scientists, madly eccentric school staff, loopy members of the aristocracy and a crowd of gung ho kids, hp for anything including putting a complete new roof on the burnt down school hall. I'm not sure whether it was intended as YA fiction, but who cares. This adult loved it just the tonic for these days of lock in!

[Diana DeCambre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to on Audible. A wonderful story, thrilling, absorbing, funny and amazing characters. Set in a school of ‘Summerhillesque’ ideology. An amazing series. Narrated by Tom Hollander. What an actor!
I’d give it 10 stars!
All the series if 3 books are completely breathtaking and spellbinding. On a part with the Wondersmith and Morrigan Crow series.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was too much speak for the tension in the story to fully build. The plot was all over the place and was a bit anticlimactic. Having said that, there were times when the humour was very British and rather entertaining.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un ritmo sostenuto accompagnato da una narrazione dark humor ha reso questa lettura piacevolissima. Un po' Harry Potter e un po' Tim Burton l'atmosfera scura aleggia su questi studenti intenti in un semestre disastroso!
Una scuola da cui scapperei volentieri ahahahahah

[Christiaan Schoeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book!!
This book started out slow, I really got bored in the beginning. In the end it was a great book with a great plot.( With a few twists ) I can bot wait to buy the second book in this Duelogy

[Annie Demosthenous · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it's hilarious in all the best possible ways.

[AM115 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed reading this book, I enjoyed the mystery and the switching of perspectives.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ribblestrop can be rather scarey in parts and it has a few cliffhangers, but it is an amazing book that will keep anyone on there toes.

[Hamza Naveed · Rating 1 out of 5]

UNBELIEVABLE GARBAGE! Like seriously this is a stupid cheap ripoff of Harry Potter mixed with a bunch of baloney. Don't waste your time and money on this.

[s · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book so much im sorry its not even that good and all the characters were insane but its a comfort read now

[jeow]

made me wish so so much that i went to ribblestrop #fomo. really tested my imagination at the time only fond mems with this one

[Stephen Higham]

Jolly good fun. I was actually surprised by how dramatic it got. Little me would have loved this audiobook I’m sure of it.

[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, with a sinister story underneath & laugh out loud charecters This book is amazing.

[Fiorinda Autieri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strano, inquietante, divertente e folle. Da leggere.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neskutecne me bavi cteni z internatnich skol. No a Ribblestrop - to je velka zabav :D Vskutku zažitkova pedagogika. Ne ze bych se u cteni smala, to ne, ale moc me to bavilo.