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In his invigorating and witty style, Gervase Phinn unfolds the dramas that occur during his first year as a school inspector, with many adventures around the corner.Tags
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Lovely book about the experiences and travails of a newly appointed inspector of schools in the Yorkshire dales. Some of the anecdotes are sidesplittingly funny, but there is an undercurrent of seriousness in his love for teaching and encouraging children to grow and learn. A quote on the cover says "The James Herriot of Schools", a perfect description of this book.
Gervase Phinn, who narrates this book, is appointed School Inspector for English in the Yorkshire Dales. He recounts his initial interviews and settling-in period, and several incidents as he travels around visiting local schools.
Well-written with a humorous eye for detail, and I found each chapter enjoyable. However it felt somehow like collected short stories rather than a book in its own right - not necessarily a problem, but it made it rather less enjoyable than the James Herriot books with which it's been compared.
Well-written with a humorous eye for detail, and I found each chapter enjoyable. However it felt somehow like collected short stories rather than a book in its own right - not necessarily a problem, but it made it rather less enjoyable than the James Herriot books with which it's been compared.
A light, entertaining read, perfect for the holiday suitcase. Gervase Phinn takes on the role of school inspector, and spends much of his working life travelling round the Dales, meeting a range of entertaining characters and engaging pupils. A sweetly nostalgic book bringing rural Yorkshire life alive in a way that's reminiscent of James Herriot's stories.
I highly enjoyed this gentle selection of anecdotes about Gervase Phinn's experiences in his first year as a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales. Phinn has a talent for introducing eccentric and warm-hearted characters, and his enthusiasm for the role he had comes through strongly.
This book is quintessentially English - in fact, the Yorkshire Dales almost become a character in their own right. We see them through Phinn's eyes as the seasons pass, and his descriptions of the various schools he visits are vividly drawn.
It is very much in the spirit of James Herriott, and is a very pleasurable way to spend a couple of hours.
This book is quintessentially English - in fact, the Yorkshire Dales almost become a character in their own right. We see them through Phinn's eyes as the seasons pass, and his descriptions of the various schools he visits are vividly drawn.
It is very much in the spirit of James Herriott, and is a very pleasurable way to spend a couple of hours.
The Other Side of the Dales tells of Phinn’s first year as a school inspector in the Dales, where the children are more interested in the types of sheep depicted in a book than the actual story being told about the sheep and where they are likely to side with the farmer when reading the tales of Peter Rabbit. The stories are amusing, often very amusing. Phinn clearly feels a great deal of affection for the students and teachers of the Dales.
But, as charmed as I was by this book, something about it makes me uneasy. The stories are a little too charming, too precious. After a while, I got tired of how Phinn kept seeing the people of the Dales as something exotic and strange. Maybe, I thought, he’s really the strange one. And at times show more he just comes across as a little smug—the all-knowing urban, educated man come to the Dales to share the wisdom of the world and to take the wisdom of the Dales back to the world.
The Dales, as depicted by Phinn, feel like a place unto themselves, not really part of the world, and that doesn’t really feel right to me. I suppose I’m sensitive to any portrayals of country people as disconnected and cut off from the world, being originally from the country myself.
Plus, as I read, the stories started to feel less than authentic. The people were just a little too quirky and the anecdotes a little too cute. Eventually, I came across one anecdote that I’d actually heard before this book was even published! Perhaps you’ve heard it: A minister asks students to name something brown with a furry tail that eats nuts, and a child replies that he knows the answer must be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel. This story gets passed around in churches all the time, but never as a true story. Phinn, however, gives it a place and names a child associated with it. So now I’m left feeling that the whole book is just constructed to fit in with our image of the Dales, not to tell a true story of real people.
Despite these reservations, I can’t quite disrecommend this book. It is entertaining; I enjoyed reading it despite the niggling voice in the back of my head.
See my complete review at Shelf Love. show less
But, as charmed as I was by this book, something about it makes me uneasy. The stories are a little too charming, too precious. After a while, I got tired of how Phinn kept seeing the people of the Dales as something exotic and strange. Maybe, I thought, he’s really the strange one. And at times show more he just comes across as a little smug—the all-knowing urban, educated man come to the Dales to share the wisdom of the world and to take the wisdom of the Dales back to the world.
The Dales, as depicted by Phinn, feel like a place unto themselves, not really part of the world, and that doesn’t really feel right to me. I suppose I’m sensitive to any portrayals of country people as disconnected and cut off from the world, being originally from the country myself.
Plus, as I read, the stories started to feel less than authentic. The people were just a little too quirky and the anecdotes a little too cute. Eventually, I came across one anecdote that I’d actually heard before this book was even published! Perhaps you’ve heard it: A minister asks students to name something brown with a furry tail that eats nuts, and a child replies that he knows the answer must be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel. This story gets passed around in churches all the time, but never as a true story. Phinn, however, gives it a place and names a child associated with it. So now I’m left feeling that the whole book is just constructed to fit in with our image of the Dales, not to tell a true story of real people.
Despite these reservations, I can’t quite disrecommend this book. It is entertaining; I enjoyed reading it despite the niggling voice in the back of my head.
See my complete review at Shelf Love. show less
(7/10) I was very pleasantly surprised by this, I went into it wondering why on Earth anyone would write a book about being a school inspector. As it happens the job is far more involved than I thought and it was written so well I couldn't help but enjoy it.
It had me in absolute stitches when he was explaining the various pronunciations of his name he had come across and was a book full of great humour and warmth. I would definitely read the other books in this series.
It had me in absolute stitches when he was explaining the various pronunciations of his name he had come across and was a book full of great humour and warmth. I would definitely read the other books in this series.
Absolutely charming book, which I found in a charity shop in Yorkshire. I had no idea that a book about a school inspector could be so interesting or insightful. The style reminded me of Bill Bryson.
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Author Information
66+ Works 2,317 Members
Gervase Phinn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, York.
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1998-02-01
- Important places
- Yorkshire Dales, England, UK
- Epigraph
- A small child was splashing poster paint/On a great grey piece of paper./'Do you paint a picture every week?'/Asked the school inspector.
The small child shook his little head./'Hardly as a rule,/But Miss said we've go... (show all)t to paint today - /There's an important visitor in t'school!' - Dedication
- For Christine/and all the other dedicated teachers who take on the most important duty in society - the education of the young.
- First words
- At long last. after a two-hour search up and down the Dale, along muddy twisting roads, across narrow stone bridges, up dirt tracks, past swirling rivers and dribbling streams, and through countless villages in an incredibly ... (show all)desperate search, I had eventually arrived at my destination.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And I thought of one very special Yorkshire lass who I intended to get to know a whole lot better in the coming months.
- Original language
- English
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- 378
- Popularity
- 82,518
- Reviews
- 11
- Rating
- (3.53)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 3
