31 January 2006

Book Banter -- Gentlemen and Players

Title: Gentlemen & Players
Author: Joanne Harris
Length: 432 pages
Genre: literary fiction
Plot Basics: Roy Straitley, a long-time teacher at St. Oswald's Grammar School for Boys, loves his school and becomes the foil for an unknown adversary determined to exact revenge on the floundering school.
Banter Points: Harris has written a fantastic book with unbelieavable plot twists at the end. Word Nerd was on the edge of chair for the last pages, shaking her head that the revelations at the end that all added up to what had been hinted at but so wonderfully subterfuged (is that a verb?) for pages. Harris' multiple narrators were great. Read more about that here. The humor is dry and very British and the ending is a twist-a-minute. Harris also artfully weaves a chess metaphor through the book in a way that flows with the plot and isn't overhanded.
Bummer Points: The story's over. This was definitely one of those books where it's almost a shame to finish it because it's been so good.
Word Nerd recommendation: This a smart, sophisticated and scintillating novel, well-worth reading.

2 comments:

Roxann said...

grrrr.... I'm in classes now! These really really great must-read-right-now books couldn't wait until the summer, could they? ~sigh~

~opens another browser window to visit the library's webpage~

Bethany K. Warner said...

Take heart. The little library gnomes won't eat a book like this while your devoting time to your textbooks.