To Sir, With Love

I must be on a sentimental journey involving some of my favorite films and the books they were based on. First, it was The Shrinking Man, and now it's To Sir, With Love.

This time, the book compares very favorably to the movie. In the book, we see everything through the eyes of "Sir" instead of being an outsider-looking-in as we are in the movie. There are several things that were either glossed over or not even brought up in the movie-- in many cases I think the filmmakers wanted the audience to use common sense to realize, for instance, that the reason why Braithwaite could not get an engineering position was due to racism, not the fact that there were no jobs available. In fact, almost everything relating to racism was left out of show more the movie, no doubt in an effort to make it palatable to the greatest number of moviegoers.

My final verdict? I still love the movie starring Sidney Poitier; I always will. But I am very glad that I read E.R. Braithwaite's autobiography. In reading the book I feel as though I've gotten much closer to learning the entire story while the movie gives me the Reader's Digest condensed version. show less

Overall, nearly a five-star read for me. To Sir, With Love is a remarkable story. The writing is exceptionally clear and to the point while the characters spring to life on the page. My one small issue; I felt as though Braithwaite bathed himself in an overly rosy light at times. Being an autobiography, I understand that we only get one side of the stories presented. As such, I found myself wondering how the children and other faculty might remember those days?

Regardless of this one small issue, after more than half a century since its release, the book remains eminently readable and still resonates deeply. It is a snapshot of the times - at least as how the times were perceived by a person of color with a privileged upbringing. The show more fact that Braithwaite went on to become ambassador does speak volumes for his credibility so perhaps events really did happen precisely how he portrays. show less

Born in British Guyana (now Guyana), E.R. Braithwaite was trained as an engineer, and after serving in the RAF during WWII, he expected he would have no trouble finding work in his chosen field in Great Britain. However, it became clear very quickly that no one was willing to hire him because of the colour of his skin. It was only due to a chance encounter that he decided to apply for a teaching job. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to a school with one of the worst reputations in the East End of London.

Despite the fact that Braithwaite is determined to see teaching as a job not a career, he decides to make the best of it. Unfortunately, his first weeks are a disaster. Not only the colour of his skin but his patrician upbringing, and show more his lack of training make it almost impossible for him to relate to his students. At first, the problems seem insurmountable. The children are belligerent and deliberately offensive, testing him at every opportunity and, at first, he retaliates with anger. But somewhere along the way, he reassesses his own attitude towards his students. He determines to change the rules; he will scrap the lesson plan and they can talk about anything as long as they treat each other with respect. To this end, he is to be called Sir, the girls will be addressed as Miss, and the boys by their last names. By treating these children as adults, he wins, not only their respect but their love.

Braithwaite’s autobiographical novel is a fascinating look at the effect a good teacher can have on their students. It also gives an interesting look at the hopes and dreams people from British colonial countries placed on Britain and how the reality was so far from those dreams:

“Yes, it is wonderful to be British – until one comes to Britain”

In the end, though, it is an inspiring tale of how minds and attitudes can be changed if people are willing to listen to and treat each other each other with respect. Written in 1959, I have read comments from other reviewers saying that this novel is outdated. Personally, I think its message has never been more fresh or more needed show less

This book is like a time capsule from London when you could still look out your schoolroom window and see bombed out buildings from WWII that hadn't been repaired yet. The narrator is a black man, and prejudice was still real, pervasive, and tacitly accepted at this time. He becomes a high school teacher because he is unable to get a job in his chosen profession. The school is tough and the students at first give him a hard time. He slowly wins them over, and learns to appreciate them in turn. He becomes a great teacher. At the end his students give him a gift with a tag that says, "To Sir, With Love," giving the book its title.

This was a quick read but a bit tame - nothing really terrible happens and issues are resolved quickly and show more positively for the most part. I found the narrator a bit arrogant - perhaps an understandable posture considering all the little indignities he describes facing every day - but this made him a bit less likeable/sympathetic. I am really eager to watch the movie again to remember how Sidney Poitier portrayed him. And of course to hear Lulu belt out the theme song. show less

Okay, seriously? My fourth one-star rating in a row as of recently? I am going to sit down and read my favorite book soon, to clear my mind of bad books and remind myself good ones await me. I am listening to Enya's "A Day Without Rain" album to soothe my crankiness, even.

I tried to read this when I was eleven. I read anything I could get my hands on. I vaguely understood it. My aunt brought the movie over, and I understood that a lot more clearly. Twenty years later, I saw tons and tons of ads for a romance with a strikingly similar name, and wondered if it had been re-released. I was curious to learn if I'd think differently of the book as an adult. I did.
This is a memoir that was published in 1959. It takes place in 1950s England. show more There's many references to WWII and its effects. So I'd consider this also classic literature: it being published more than sixty years ago. If this were a novel, my review would continue henceforth: "I'm not one for classic literature. The first fifty pages could have easily been cut. The plot was boring and predictable. It was undoubtedly revolutionary for its time in terms of race relations, plot, and reflections on racism." But this is a memoir, so...this guy has a -lot- of inner monologue and he goes on and on, especially when describing how people look and sound. There's an enormous amount of misogyny in this. I don't care that it was probably very typical for the time period. It was awful to read, and to have a teacher freely announce he thought that way of his students especially. Sir refers to his female students as sluts and women around him--ones who ride the same bus, ones who are more senior in teaching, just women in general--as bitches. He drools over several female students while simultaneously despising how they dress. So, he's got a massive madonna/whore complex. Towards girls he has power over. Who haven't even finished puberty yet. GROSS. One student wears a gray sweater regularly and no bra, and Sir cannot shut up internally about her greasy sweater and huge, wobbly breasts. She's probably too poor to have a bra, weirdo. When it's hard to put food on the table, water and electricity aren't always manageable, either. I had to make these choices for a long time until I went on a bunch of welfare by moving to a different city. Now I'm being kicked off some of it and will have to make those decisions all over again. Sir would yap at me inwardly too, certainly.

Sir describes everyone ever in ways I find odd. He teaches typical teenagers and is offended by this, and by their grinding poverty over which they have no control. They're trashy, though, and have terrible manners, which he sets out to correct while mentally calling them horrible names. If this were a novel, I'd call him a Gary Stu: he's rude to students, considers many other senior teachers beneath him, is hired on the spot, was trained in an entirely different field, can't stand teenagers or poor people; and is still praised and turns the kids' lives around. Perhaps his arrogance and condescension are defense mechanisms against the racism and hardships he does face. It's increasingly grating to read on the page, though. The movie cuts a bunch of this--his inner monologue that makes up 80% of the book is dropped, and he's just a stern teacher, not a creep. The adaptation does a great job with the action in the book, or what little there is. Watch it instead of reading the thoughts of a creepy, bitter teacher. show less

You know those American films about the white female teacher who goes and teaches at some rough disadvantaged inner-city school full of Black/minority kids with attitude and disrespect towards authority, and somehow she connects with them and changes their attitude and they all become starry-eyed students grateful for her guidance?

Well, this is the same story, but with a black British Guiana male teacher teaching at a tough East End school, with the complexities of the racial barriers being re-raised now that WWII is over.

On the one hand, it is very well done the way we are just told of the racism the protagonist encounters and - without further discussion - the compounded secondary racism from the underlying tensions and condescension show more around how the white characters thought he should handle these encounters.

On the other hand, it's another extremely idealistic story of the inexperienced saviour-teacher who somehow succeeded where more experienced teachers have failed because they are all just too jaded to care anymore.

Great thought-provoking themes albeit with very worn teacher tropes. show less

First sentence: The crowded red double-decker bus inched its way through the snarl of traffic in Aldgate. It was almost as if it was reluctant to get rid of the overload of noisy, earthy charwomen it had collected on its run through the city--thick-armed, bovine women, huge-breasted, with heavy bodies irrevocably distorted by frequent childbearing, faces pink and slightly damp from their early labors, the warm May morning and their own energy.

Premise/plot: Historical fiction/autobiographical novel. Set in the East End (I believe) of London during the mid/late 1940s. [I *want* to say that the year 1947 was used???] Mr. Braithwaite doesn't want to be a teacher. He really doesn't. But with limited opportunities for employment--complicated show more in part by the color of his skin--he accepts the job reluctantly and with some bitterness. [In the movie, the bitterness was disguised much more. Here the text ripples with anger, bitterness, dare I say hate???] He doesn't seem to enjoy teaching, for the most part, or like most of his coworkers [with the exception of a few], and he definitely doesn't enjoy being around his students--not really. But over the course of a year--a little less than a year--he comes to better terms with his life. I wouldn't say he ever comes to love it though.

My thoughts: The book may be a thousand times truer to life. But. I will always prefer the movie. I knew a little of what to expect from watching the movie, but, nothing really prepared me for the author's narrative style. It was a little earthy/crude for my personal taste. [Like did every thought the teacher had about breasts have to be included??? Like noticing his students, coworkers, fellow bus riders, etc.] It is definitely a race book--for better or worse. He felt less discriminated against during the war, and settling back down he was unprepared for how much prejudice he would [still] encounter in his day to day life. He does date one of his white coworkers--a fellow teacher--and the two do face some problems. show less