|
Loading... Borstal Boy (1958)by Brendan Behan
 Daftboy1 | Aug 30, 2012 |  Champaign_UP_Center | Jul 23, 2012 | At age sixteen, Brendan Behan traveled from Ireland to England, carrying explosives on behalf of the IRA - this is the story about his capture, trial, and subsequent three-year Borstal sentence. Behan's coming-of-age is a story of loosening youth's rigorous ideological conviction and accepting a more moderate personality and the journey is psychologically enlightening as well as entertaining. The story in itself is obviously intriguing since not many of us (I assume) have spent time in a mid-1900s Borstal, but it's Behan's uncanny grasp of dialogue and dialects that really makes this story stand out - the multitude of voices that are presented in this story reads like a linguistic tour of the British Isles, as well as one of class divisions. Recommended to anyone interested in the time, the history, or the language. (  ) -Eva- | May 30, 2012 | The triumph of Behan's novel is that is shows its reader the unity of men when there differences are, if not stripped away, set aside, and they are made to bond over their environment, and to help each other gets along. He is really handy with vernacular and tone, and being such puts down wonderful dialogue spoken by very rich characters. This not a dim jailhouse narrative. It is a colorful, humorous and beautifully optimistic book. Behan's sense of humanity pervades every page. Along with his play, the Quare Fellow, Borstal Boy dwells in the upper echelons of prison literature, with Genet and all of the rest. (  ) poetontheone | Dec 26, 2011 | A harrowing auto biography. However, he found friendship & fresh air in the Borstal, so it did not feel as depressing as you might expect. The book is very well written, conversational & engaging. All that said, it is still very sad. (  ) Tifi | Jun 20, 2010 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0879234156, Paperback)This miracle of autobiography and prison literature begins: "Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: 'Oh God, oh Jesus, oh Sacred Heart, Boy, there's two gentlemen here to see you.' I knew by the screeches of her that the gentlemen were not calling to inquire after my health . . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window..." The men were, of course, the police, who knew seventeen-year-old Behan for the anti-imperialist terrorist he was and arrested him. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:21:17 -0500) No library descriptions found. |
 Google Books — Loading...Popular coversRatingAverage: (3.89)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English (1)
1
But overall a good read, It is easy to imagine what Borstal was like back in the 1940s.
Brendan made some really good friends while he was banged up for being in the IRA.
Overall well worth reading if you want to know what life was like for young offenders. (