REVIEW: Give a Form a Bad Name
Give a Form a Bad Name: Nancy Breary. Newnes, 1943
This is the funniest book I’ve read all year, and I am all the more impressed because many authors of boarding school stories set out to make you laugh at their ‘madcap’ heroines, but only manage a smile. I had to put this book down to finish laughing and then have cause to laugh again as soon I picked it back up. Breary also managed to make me care about her characters (something that Frank Richards, say, never has done.)
The form in question isthe Lower Fourth, of which the mistresses of Grey Ladies have a very low opinion. Well, this term, perhaps is will be different. The form will have two new girls and a new form mistress. Twins Ann and Coleen Carstair come to school with a reputation for heroism (that has echoes of ‘This Time Next Term’). As the daughters of a famous explorer, who is a bit absent-minded in his home life, they’ve had an unconventional upbringing and, in an original twist, bring a monkey to school. To be fair, it is the dog that they also bring that is most trouble.
At Grey Ladies, Ann falls under the spell of artistic head-girl Shirley Lampeter, and seems to like the orderliness of school, which changes the twins’ dynamic. In the past, Coleen took the lead and Ann drifted along with her, so Coleen is not happy.
The newest members of Brontë dormitory and the Lower Fourth make an immediate impact, with a midnight feast that goes wrong and a few words from Miss Lancaster firing them all up - well, most of them - to reform themselves. This well-meaning desire leads, of course, to mad things, as they try to become more cultured and bring down their smug rivals in the Upper Third.
Breary manages to lampoon her characters - Ann’s adoration of Shirley, the twins’ fractious relationship and the juniors’ thought processes - with sharp wit, but also affection. Shirley is able to see others’ point of view and her own weaknesses, but a friendship based on their shared interest in art does develop between her and Ann despite the difference in maturity. After two terms of, if not hard slog, but well-intended shenanigans and a heroic rescue by the competent sailing twins and Jancis, the form’s laconic head-girl, it’s good to see the Lower Fourth (somehow) turn its reputation around.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/145728.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
This is the funniest book I’ve read all year, and I am all the more impressed because many authors of boarding school stories set out to make you laugh at their ‘madcap’ heroines, but only manage a smile. I had to put this book down to finish laughing and then have cause to laugh again as soon I picked it back up. Breary also managed to make me care about her characters (something that Frank Richards, say, never has done.)
The form in question isthe Lower Fourth, of which the mistresses of Grey Ladies have a very low opinion. Well, this term, perhaps is will be different. The form will have two new girls and a new form mistress. Twins Ann and Coleen Carstair come to school with a reputation for heroism (that has echoes of ‘This Time Next Term’). As the daughters of a famous explorer, who is a bit absent-minded in his home life, they’ve had an unconventional upbringing and, in an original twist, bring a monkey to school. To be fair, it is the dog that they also bring that is most trouble.
At Grey Ladies, Ann falls under the spell of artistic head-girl Shirley Lampeter, and seems to like the orderliness of school, which changes the twins’ dynamic. In the past, Coleen took the lead and Ann drifted along with her, so Coleen is not happy.
The newest members of Brontë dormitory and the Lower Fourth make an immediate impact, with a midnight feast that goes wrong and a few words from Miss Lancaster firing them all up - well, most of them - to reform themselves. This well-meaning desire leads, of course, to mad things, as they try to become more cultured and bring down their smug rivals in the Upper Third.
Breary manages to lampoon her characters - Ann’s adoration of Shirley, the twins’ fractious relationship and the juniors’ thought processes - with sharp wit, but also affection. Shirley is able to see others’ point of view and her own weaknesses, but a friendship based on their shared interest in art does develop between her and Ann despite the difference in maturity. After two terms of, if not hard slog, but well-intended shenanigans and a heroic rescue by the competent sailing twins and Jancis, the form’s laconic head-girl, it’s good to see the Lower Fourth (somehow) turn its reputation around.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/145728.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.