"The Ruined Boys" by Roy Fuller

 It's a school story, set in a mediocre and failing boys' boarding school between the world wars; a context which must be increasingly difficult for readers to empathise with. Jennings, or Harry Potter, it isn't.

This is a classic coming-of-age story. Following the separation of his parents, Gerald, the hero, is desperate to conform (a hugely important motivation in humans that is not often seen in novels). He is intelligent but naive; he can be verbally very cruel and bullying; he is also bullied. 

Most of the time we see things from the perspective of Gerald, the only character whose thoughts are shared with the reader, although the reader is usually one step ahead of the protagonist. It is told in the past tense as a series of short episodes, without any huge revelations of major excitements. As such, it is hugely true to life. 

The author was known for memoirs, poems and novels and was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1968 to 1973. The poet in him is clear from his descriptions (eg "The moon threw shining oblongs on the concrete floor."; 1.1) and his use of some interesting words, for example: "He was conscious that his respectful reply, neutral glance ... hid an inchoate, potential, amazing commerce between them."(1.6) It's a great line, but, given that the story is essentially told from within the consciousness of the protagonist, would he use the words 'inchoate' and 'commerce'? He's clever, yes, and articulate, and it is written about a time nearly a hundred years ago, but ...

Selected quotes:

• "It was courageous of the otherwise foolish Matley to pray regularly and publicly, whereas he himself prayed merely when life become cruel and then in secret, under the bedclothes or in the lavatory." (1.7)
• "A young girl who is given the trappings of womanhood - a husband, a kitchen, a shopping basket - immediately evolves an appropriate and quite different character." (1.10) An interesting line from the point of view of how gender stereotyping has evolved but also an acute psychological observation about how our characters - or at least our masks - adapt to our circumstances.
• "Life was a continual struggle to achieve security from terrible moments of insecurity." (1.12)
• "Perhaps the main function of reading was not to pass the time by giving entertainment but to confront the reader with a task - a task measured grossly by one's gradual and toilsome reduction of the number of unread pages." (2.8)
• "He became aware of the noises of summer - of insects, larks, leaves - that provide the normally unidentified ostinato that nevertheless enriches the obvious themes of colour, sun and cloud." (2.9)
• "Though he could recognize truth he seemed incapable of initiating it." (2.10)

August 2022; 248 pages

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God