A Kestrel for a Knave

[Pip]

A Kestrel for a Knave is one of those books one has heard about, known that it was made into a movie, but not known why it was on the List. I vaguely knew that the movie Kes was based on the book but had never heard of the author. I had picked up the book in an Australian bookstore because I remembered it had been a book of the month sometime earlier. I so enjoyed reading it. The author, Barry Hines had such a gift for portraying a location that the images jumped off the page. It was no trouble to imagine exactly where the story was taking place and the reader, at least this one, could almost feel and taste the milieu. I usually get really impatient with an author trying to convey dialect, but the Northern accent just came through so vividly that I could imagine it very easily. It helps, of course, to have had several friends who come from this part of the world and speak somewhat similarly.
The novel is set in Yorkshire, probably in the 1950's, and tells the story of an underprivileged schoolboy who captures a kestrel and learns how to train it. His life, apart from the bird, is miserable and he is ignored or bullied by his family and contemporaries at school. I delighted in the way the author depicted school life, particularly the headmaster who caned a student who had actually come to his office to convey a message from a teacher! It has probably happened somewhere. There was also a memorable description of a physical education lesson that was nothing more than a soccer match where the teacher tried (unsuccessfully) to play with the boys. It was priceless in its detail. I had heard of schools where such activities were considered physical education ( I have been told of equivalent "lessons" in the U.S.A. where basketball is the activity and as little actual tuition takes place). The copy I had included an afterward by the author and I realised that he had actually been a professional soccer player, and subsequently a physical education teacher which explains how he managed to convey such a dismal excuse for a class in so much exquisite detail.
As a physical education teacher, who began teaching in New Zealand in the mid-sixties, when caning was an important part of the school's discipline, I found the writing vivid, accurate and utterly damning.
This was a book that I finished in a day, something that I accomplish seldom. I recommend it.

[Liz M]

Why A Kestrel for a Knave is included in the 1001 list: "More lyrical than deadpan social reportage, more impressionistic than might be presumed,... Barry Hines's portrait of one teenager's survival with the companionship of his kestrel singularly defies generic categorization."

Billy Casper has a typically tough life -- living in near poverty on an estate, a single mother with a roving cast of one night stands, an older, barely educated brother working in the mines, a nearly friendless school where he is ridiculed and bullied by teachers and students alike. But Billy has a unique love for nature and, after stealing a book on the subject, manages to capture a baby Kestrel (a falcon) and begin training it. Of course, given his circumstances, the story does not end well.

It is an engaging story, with both the gritty, unpleasant reality and descriptions of moments of stunning natural beauty as seen by Billy. The people are skillfully captured and the details of the difficulty, skill, and determination required to train a wild creature are presented seamlessly in Billy's voice. An excellent, sad read.

[Diane]

Rating: 4 stars

The story of Billy Casper, a poor Yorkshire boy with a bleak future and a lonely existence during the 1960s. A turning point in Billy's life occurs when he finds a baby kestrel and trains it. I can't really say anymore without giving the plot away.

Overall, a heart-wrenching read with great character development and vivid descriptions of the setting.

[Gail]

The vivid language and detailed descriptions of a boy’s life in 1950’s Yorkshire kept me thoroughly captivated. Billy’s life of poverty, of being bullied, of having no safe place either at home or at school is so well presented that one gets a sense of intimacy with poor Billy. The book describes nature and the training of a kestrel with equal immediacy.
There is little plot development but the character of Billy and one of his teacher’s is so well drawn that I did not miss it in this short tense little novel. The fact that Billy is strangely very capable but heading fast toward a dismal life in the mines leaves one only slightly hopeful. A sad read indeed.