Anglické obludy

by James Scudamore, Ladislav Nagy (Translator)

Idylické dětství pro desetiletého Maxe skončí okamžikem, kdy nastoupí do chlapeckého internátu. Namísto pohádkové svobody, jíž si užíval na dědově statku, se ocitá ve světě plném nepochopitelných pravidel, kde co chvíli hrozí nejrůznější tresty. Zároveň ale nachází oporu díky skupině spolu žáků, již pevně drží při sobě. O řadu let později, když už Max i jeho kamarádi stojí na prahu dospělosti, vyjde najevo tajemství o tom, co se kdysi ve škole dělo, a znovu je připoutá k sobě řadou tíživých otázek. Kdo o čem věděl, a odkdy? A kdo bude trvat na tom, že je nutné zjednat spravedlivou nápravu, ať je to všechny stojí, co to stojí? V románu, který překlenuje několik desetiletí od 80. let 20. století, se rozvíjí příběh o poutech mezi muži – o těch tvořených náklonností a skutečnou péčí, ale i o těch zcela zničujících.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Roman

328 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2020

About the author

James Scudamore is the author of the novels English Monsters, Wreaking, Heliopolis, and The Amnesia Clinic. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award and been nominated for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Man Booker Prize.

Reviews

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bevor Max mit 10 Jahren auf die "Schule am Berg", ein englisches Internat, geschickt wird, erlebt er einen letzten idyllischen Sommer bei seinen Großeltern auf dem Bauernhof. Er bewegt sich in purer Freiheit, bevor er in die reglementierte und strenge Welt des Internats gebracht wird. Der Bruch, den er zwischen diesen Lebensabschnitten erfährt, ist enorm und sein neuer Alltag an der Schule ist von Gewalt und Angst geprägt. Trotzdem lernt er dort zum ersten Mal das starke Band inniger Freundschaft kennen, die ihn auch Jahre nach seiner Zeit am Internat begleiten wird. Doch als Erwachsener bekommt er mit, dass die Schläge und Demütigungen nicht die einzigen Gewalttaten an der Schule waren. Seine Freunde entscheiden sich aber dagegen, ihre Erfahrungen öffentlich zu machen - und die Fragen nach Konsequenzen und wer was wusste, drängen sich auf...

"English Monsters" von James Scudamore ist keine leichte Lektüre. Die angesprochenen Themen sind sehr schwer zu ertragen und vor allem über den Schilderungen des Internat-Lebens schwebt für die Lesenden immer die Angst vor den Strafen, die die Schüler erfahren müssen. Trotzdem steckt in diesem Buch eine wunderschöne Geschichte über eine tiefe Freundschaft, die viel aushält und auch Halt gibt. Diese Verwebungen zwischen Schock und Trauer aber auch Freude und die Schönheit der Begegnungen haben mir sehr gut gefallen.

Sehr zugesagt haben mir auch die Schauplätze des Romans, allen voran das Wohnhaus und der große Garten mit Teich der Großeltern von Max. Ich habe es sehr genossen, über Max Kindheit an diesem Ort zu lesen. Als starken Kontrast dazu fungiert das Internat: es ist düster, bietet kaum Komfort und über allem liegt eine Atmosphäre des Schmerzes und der Angst - trotzdem oder wohl gerade deshalb fand ich auch dieses Setting wirklich gut gewählt. London und das kleine Städtchen in Italien tun dann noch ihr Übriges, um den Geist an fremde Orte zu entführen.

Was mich nicht ganz überzeugen konnte ist die Wahl der Charaktere im Buch. Vor allem mit den Frauen, denen Max als Erwachsener sein Herz schenkt, wurde ich nicht warm und ich habe vor allem bei seiner ersten großen Liebe die Beziehung zwischen den Beiden nicht wirklich als der Geschichte dienlich empfunden. Die Protagonisten des Romans fand ich hingegen ausgesprochen gut gezeichnet.

"English Monsters" ist ein Roman über eine starke Freundschaft, aber auch über viel Leid. Ich habe ihn gern gelesen und bin wieder einmal sehr zufrieden damit, auf welch tolle Weise die Bücher den Geist auf Reisen in andere Länder und andere Zeiten schicken können 📖💘

[Zuzulivres · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Začiatok knihy ma úplne vtiahol, prvú tretinu som prečítala na posedenie. Potom sa to však zlomilo. Hoci som rozumela, kam príbeh smeruje, spracovanie mi prišlo trochu neobratné a miestami ťažkopádne. Strácala som sa v postavách aj v čase, a čítanie ma začalo unavovať. Už som len chcela, aby prišiel koniec. Škoda, potenciál tam bol.

[melodram · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Man kann sich aus einem Gefühl herausfühlen, aber man kann sich nicht in ein Gefühl hineindenken.“
.
Bevor der zehnjährige Max von seinen Eltern auf die „Schule am Berg“ - ein englisches Internat geschickt wird, verbringt er einen letzten idyllischen Sommer bei seinen Großeltern. Liebevoll wird er von seinen Großeltern umsorgt. Innerhalb der Internatsmauern herrscht jedoch ein strenges Regiment. Züchtigung und Schläge bei Vergehen gegen die willkürlichen Schulregeln, stehen an der Tagesordnung. Einzig die entstehende Freundschaft und enge Bindung zu seinen Schulkameraden, lässt ihn in dieser Zeit auch Geborgenheit und Freude erfahren. Jahre später wird Max erfahren, dass neben Prügel und Strafen weitere dunkle Geheimnisse den Alltag einiger seiner Mitschüler bestimmt haben. Dies führt Max nach langer Zeit der Kontaktlosigkeit mit seinen damaligen Freunden wieder zusammen. Es werden Fragen gestellt und nach Gerechtigkeit gesucht. Max findet sich in einer Lage der Hilflosigkeit wieder. Er weiß wer die Opfer sind, aber sein bester Freund will nicht reden.
.
James Scudamore gelingt mit „English Monsters“ ein wundervoll zärtliches Porträt von Freundschaft und Zuneigung. Ein Band, das durch traumatische Ereignisse in der Jugend geknüpft und durch die gemeinsame Vergangenheit gestärkt, immer bleiben wird. Mit dem Titel nimmt Scuadmore Bezug auf ein Computerspiel, das von einem Schüler entwickelt wird: ein fröhliches Adventuregame ist das nicht!
.
Zärtlich und sanft aber gleichwohl bedrohlich, bringt Scuadmore diese Geschichte auf den Punkt. Die Nachwirkung in meinem Kopf ist groß. Obwohl ich Schwerverdauliches gelesen habe, habe ich das Gefühl eine großartige Geschichte voller Zuneigung und besänftigender Momente erlebt zu haben, so dass ich gerne in diesem leisen, kraftvollen Ton verweilt wäre. Ein ganz starker Roman, der mich an „Jahreshighlight“ denken lässt!👌🏻
.
👉🏻aus dem Englischen von Ulrike Wasel / Klaus Timmermann

[Bosorka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spíš 4,4 než čistá 4. Velmi nepříjemné a mrazivé téma, ovšem citlivě zpracované. Nic, z čeho by měl člověk noční můry, ale rezonuje velice dlouho to i právě díky náznakům, jimiž je román podáván. Je to příběh o rozpomínání se, o prozření, které sakra není ani trochu jednoduché. Dějem se posouváme sice v čase, ale s občasnými návraty zpět, jak si vypravěč teprve v dospělosti začíná některé momenty zasazovat do kontextu. Čtenář je tak rozkrývá pomocí jednotlivých příběhů, jež na sebe zdánlivě zcela nenavazují. Občas je potřeba se zamyslet, kde se v čase zrovna nachází.
Možná o trochu líp se četl začátek knihy, který se v internátu přímo odehrává, nicméně v dospělosti zúčastněných bylo zajímavé podívat se na to, jak se kdo s prožitým (ne)srovnal. Velmi bolestná historie internátních škol...

[DaViD´82 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Citlivě o necitlivých tématech. Správně klukovsky, časem chlapsky, lehce cynicky, trochu s nadhledem a přesto vždy seriózně. Těžkých knih na podobné téma je habakuk. Tahle je však jiná. Lépe řečeno, snaží se být jiná.

Předně je pohledem chlapce/mladíka/muže, který zjišťuje, že se "to tehdy" stalo jeho kamarádům a spolužákům, nikoli přímo jemu. Je v šoku z toho, že si ničeho nevšiml, jak to ovlivnilo život jeho přátel... A o tom, jak oni naleznou cestu ven, zatímco on se točí ve spirále. Nikterak zásadní, ale jakkoli jde o téma, které vyloženě nabádá k citovému vydírání a prvoplánovému znechucení, tak zde je to díky pohledu zvenčí jiné a a možná právě proto i tak působivé.

[Phee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hints of dark academia, a story of friendship, growing up, tinged with the shadow of abuse and damage done in youth. Took my sweet time with this one and enjoyed it all the more for it.

[Havers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Britische Internate sind schlechter als ihr Ruf. Sie haben zwar den Anspruch, die künftige Elite der Upper Class zu erziehen, aber wenn man in der jüngeren Vergangenheit die Artikel der englischen Presse verfolgt hat, stellt man schnell fest, dass viele Kinder dort ein unsägliches Martyrium erdulden mussten.

So auch Max Denyer, der, als die unbeschwerten Kindheitstage bei den Großeltern vorbei sind und seine abwesenden Eltern die Erziehung in die Hände des Lehrpersonals der Schule auf dem Hügel legen, den Übergriffen der „English Monsters“ ausgesetzt sein wird. Dort geht es weniger um das Vermitteln von Fähigkeiten und das Formen der Persönlichkeit, sondern vielmehr um deren Auslöschung, das Brechen des Willens. Psychische und physische Gewalt ist Usus, Unterdrückung, an der Tagesordnung, und obwohl wir das Jahr 1986 schreiben, ist das an den Privatschulen noch immer erlaubt. Die Lehrer agieren allesamt in einem rechtsfreien Raum und nutzen das weidlich aus, ganz gleich, ob sie wie „Crimble“ sanftmütig erscheinen oder ihre Brutalität offen ausleben. Und der tatterige Schulleiter? Lässt seinem Kollegium freie Hand und setzt selbst gerne die Reitpeitsche ein. Insbesondere die Übergriffe des Geschichtslehrers „Weapons“ Davis machen nicht nur Max das Leben zur Hölle. Der Alltag schweißt zusammen, geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid. In Simon und Luke findet er nicht nur Leidensgenossen sondern auch eine Freundschaft, die die Zeit überdauert. Aber dennoch gibt es Dinge, über die sie schweigen. Bis ins Erwachsenenleben hinein.

Ein aufwühlender Roman, brutal und zärtlich zugleich, über ein menschenverachtendes Erziehungssystem, das auf Unterdrückung fußt und dessen traumatisierende Auswirkungen die Generationen überdauern. Aus dem Führungspersönlichkeiten in Politik und Wirtschaft hervorgehen, die einem eklatanten Mangel an Einfühlungsvermögen, an Empathie für ihre Mitmenschen haben.

1998 wurde die Prügelstrafe an Privatschulen in England und Wales abgeschafft, in Schottland 2000 und in Nordirland 2003.

[Jakub Karda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silný příběh napsaný velmi čtivě a ve skvělém překladu

[Luke Fellows]

James Scudamore’s English Monsters is a complex, harrowing, and poignant novel about child abuse and the incurable psychological trauma it inflicts.

Yet it is also so much more than that. It is a novel about the broader relationship between adults and children, and the magnitude of the impact, positive and negative, that families can have on each other. It is a Bildungsromance of a sort- the coming of age of a young man, and the evolution of his understanding of those that are shaping and have shaped his life, including himself. And finally, perhaps most profoundly, it is a novel of memory and the past, of the ineluctable passage of time, and the recherche du temps perdu.

Who are we? Why are we? Where have we come from? And where do we go from here? It is Scudamore’s best work, his most mature by far, and nothing less than a masterpiece of the modern English novel. Everyone must read it.

The main plot centers around child abuse (both physical and, as it turns out, sexual) at an English boarding school. Max, the protagonist and narrator, starts as a rootless but happy-go-lucky lad, whose father’s career has taken him around the world. The one constant that grounds his existence is his positive relationship with grown-ups, particularly his loving and jocular (if flawed) grandfather. When his parents send him to a boarding school near his grandparents, the façade of his security crumbles, as he finds adults who are willing to manipulate, persecute, and abuse their charges, all in the name of a perverted view of education and its role in strengthening the character. His solace is his friends- Simon above all- who have to face the indignities and vicissitudes alongside him.

This narrative is set in the past, through the eyes of a middle-aged Max. By seamlessly weaving the past and the present, Scudamore from the start encourages us to join Max in grappling with the meaning and implication of distant events. Scudamore’s skill is in his ability to bring us along that journey to self-discovery in a way that allows us to grasp the involuted intricacy of the interrelationships between those who bear its scars.

There is no black and white in English Monsters. Max’s time at the school wasn’t one of unremitting misery. His grandparents proved to him that all was not bad in the adult world. Yet lurking in the background is an evil that is as unspeakable as it is quasi-condoned. That is the grim reality of child abuse- its victims are often left wondering if they themselves aren’t to blame- or if things really weren’t as bad as others are trying to make out- a confusion that lasts with all the characters throughout the novel (as seen in Simon’s relations with Crimble, and the contrasting perspectives of the Price brothers). They can’t write off their shared experiences as pure horror, because to do so would be to efface their own existence, to negate the worth of their childhoods, to stigmatize them as humans permanently damaged- in a sense to immortalize the humiliation and debasement that titillated the perversions of their antagonists.

The full revelation of what happened at the school is slowly and deliberately unfolded from the viewpoint of the narrator and his friends at various stages in their lives. Only with time does it become clear that none of them has escaped the past’s pernicious influence- albeit in different ways and to different degrees- and its myriad effect on their familial, amical, and sexual adult relationships. Throughout, Scudamore’s Max observes and never condemns, allowing the reader to appreciate the complex contradictions in our memories, relationships, and construction of our own ontology. In the end Max’s only salvation is his relationship with his own son- the only relationship that ultimately allows him to see that our past doesn’t have to define our future, even if we can never fully unchain ourselves from it.

English Monsters deserves to be compared to Franzen’s The Corrections, Hartley’s The Go-Between, McEwan’s Atonement, and Barnes’ Sense of An Ending, in the quality of its exploration of corrupted childhood and its inextricable consequences. It is literary realism at its best. And it deserves all the plaudits it ought to receive.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d been waiting for this book to come out since I read a very interesting review – I was expecting a kind of English, male My Dark Vanessa. And though that description is not wholly inaccurate, it’s not exactly the book I was expecting.

It’s January 1987 and ten-year-old Max is sent off to prep school near his grandparents’ house (his parents work abroad) and during his three years there we learn about the cruelty and eventual physical and sexual abuse the pupils face there.

At first, Max makes it sound like a big adventure – some punishments, yes, but especially given that this is fiction nothing too shocking. And the time actually spent at school is a relatively short part of the book – it’s more a story of how trauma can follow you through life. The more sensitive, difficult to read parts come later.

I can’t help but think 1987 is significant given that until 1986 corporal punishment was legal in ALL schools in the UK and helps the author with his ‘private schools are bad’ thesis. Just as a side note, CP was legal in fee-paying schools until 1998 (outrageous, I know!) but bear in mind, the fact that it was legal certainly does not mean that it was in practice everywhere. Even so, I think that’s all besides the point as the real issue in this book is the trauma of sexual abuse, which was never legal anywhere (obviously).

In the end, it’s not quite the book I expected – I really thought I would like it more. I did read it quickly though. I found myself liking the scenes with the Grandad, even if I thought he was a bit sinister at first, they reminded me a bit of Unsettled Ground.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.75. Started great, devolved into wanky accounts of Italian holidays. Like many male writers, Scudamore seems to not know what to do with female characters, outside of fucking and pregnancy. What truly started to annoy me, though, is I got a sense that Scudamore thought Max was artistic and socially conscious and Not Like Those Public School Tories, but he absolutely was a massive snob who thought he was more profound than anyone else.

[Ivo Skopal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Téma zneužívání, bití a šikany na anglické internátní škole a to, jak se s tím vypořádalo pár přátel. Čtení jsem si užil. Krásná kniha, i když je o temném tématu. Je však napsaná s citem, plná krásných emocí, přátelství, nádherných rodinných vazeb. Není napsaná s cílem šokovat, prvoplánově, sprostě. K téhle knížce se rád jednou vrátím a moc se těším na další knihy autora.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

English Monsters is a novel about a boarding school, abuse, and the effect it has on the friendships and lives of the students. Max's childhood is international travel mixed with running around his grandparents' farm, until at the age of ten he is sent to boarding school. The school is full of rules and violent punishment, but Max also ends up with a close group of friends for the few years he is there. As an adult, it turns out there was more going on at the school than he knew, and as the secrets are revealed, the friends make different choices.

This is a novel that very much offers what it says on the tin, from the blurb and title: abuse at a boarding school and the impact on a group of friends. The main focus is on Max, Simon whose mum works at the school, and Luke, whose brother is head boy and whose whole family become part of the novel. These friendships are the highlight of the book, particularly Max and Simon's friendship, which is the constant through each section of the narrative, though at times you almost want more of these relationships instead of focus on other background characters. The choice of Max as protagonist brings an interesting sense of distance and drift, as he is someone without purpose and who was unaware of things going on when he was a child, which makes him feel like the kind of not wholly reliable narrator often associated with stories looking back over academic experiences and friendship groups.

English Monsters is an understated novel that doesn't bring surprises, and which looks at abuse, what happens when victims tell their story, and the importance of friendship. There are elements that feel un- or under-explored as the narrative progresses, but the novel also suggests the complexity and ambiguity in the way different people deal with things.

[Radical Cartoons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its impossible to review this book without spoilers, because in this day and age we can easily guess what is meant by "English Monsters", and we will be right. I knew nothing about the author or whether this book is in any way autobiographical, and picked it up purely out of curiosity.
Set in a Hogwarts-style boarding school (and JK Rowling's success was her mining of our common national memories of the numerous children's books set in these schools), it follows a group of upper class schoolboys as they grow into adulthood.
The narrator is the only one who (he believes) was not a victim of more than cold showers and random brutal punishments, but there are moments when he, and the reader, wonder if he has understandably suppressed his memories.
Whatever, they are all equally dysfunctional as adults, no matter how materially successful they become. This story's real gut punch comes as we slowly become aware that the awful people from their past have not in fact been left in the past, but are still very much enmeshed in their lives.
Less Billy Bunter, think more of Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film "If..".

[Jamie Klingler · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems obvious that this book will be about abuse given the title and that it takes place at a boarding school, but the lead up to it takes quite a while. I enjoyed the characterization of Max's relationship with his grandparents and developing friendships but then the book seems to get muddled. There are whole sections that go unexplained and are left unresolved. Think it would have benefited from more editing and less characters.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bitter antidote to the numerous jolly hockey stick boarding school books that I grew up on (and loved!), this is an often uncomfortable portrayal of the effects of child abuse on survivors’ future adult lives as well as how the past can be remembered so differently by different people and the bitterness that this creates. Also a damning incitement of a certain type of privileged English upbringing that can occasionally be heavy handed but that on the whole feels representative. I’m surprised that this hasn’t been more widely read.

[Dees · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to stop halfway because I just couldn't get into it.

[Scuffed Granny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never heard of James Scudamore. I was a little suspicious of the title too, suspecting that it would be a less than savoury subject matter and I was not wrong. But the front cover has a list of praiseful comments and I do like to form my own opinion on books.

English Monsters is told by Max and starts with the life that he has before he is sent to boarding school. He has a good life; his parents live abroad and when he is not with them, he stays with his grandparents and has a particularly close relationship with his grandfather, who is his hero.

He doesn't want to go to school but, as he is getting older and his education is becoming more important, his parents think it would be a good thing for some stability and so, enrol him to go to the school, just up the road from where his grandparents live. Here, he makes some friends: Simon, who is thought of as a bit strange; Luke, who seems fearless and is confrontational with teachers; Becky Lynch, sister to Neil Lynch who shares Max's dorm, and is his first girlfriend.

There is a lot of discussion about the teachers as well, some of them hated and some of them more well thought of. In some ways, it is what you would expect about a public boarding school in terms of corporal punishment and thwarting the rules but it also has a darker underside. When one of the teachers despised has allegations of sexual abuse levelled against him, Max re-examines his past and what he remembers of it and looks at his friends for evidence of their having been targeted.

This is a dark book in many ways and it is not for those who are sensitive as it highlights human depravities in a considered way; it is not about judging the act and its perpetrators but more a discussion of the effects an abusive incident can have. That is not to say that there is not judgement and retribution and damnation here as there is but this is not a diatribe in fiction form. It is a story about a lot of things: school; family relationships; what we can glean from behaviour and what we can't; how we choose to deal with information and the repercussions; how abuse manifests itself.

Not easy but thought-provoking.

[Wild Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the fact that the book focused on the sometimes very ordinary lives that people lead after traumatic experiences and how their mental health can still be deeply affected.
As former classmates at a boarding school the boys go their own way after and the uncovered scandals about the school's teachers and their dubious albeit often accepted teaching methods do not exactly overshadow everyone's life in the beginning. Step by by step we learn with them how much was actually going on, since every character in the book seems to have a bit of the real story to tell.
And we find out in which strange ways victims can be tied to their abusers, how much they are willing to cover up because they doubt even themselves.
It is also a story about children and their parents, what it means to care and love and protect. Not all of the parents of the boys really know how much their behaviour shaped their offspring. A really touching read.

[Teresa Bower · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about 10 year old Max who is sent to boarding school and discovers the cruelty and perversion of the teaching staff as it was in the 1980's, although I would hope not the norm. At times it was a difficult read, not only because of the graphic description of the beatings and sexual depravity but also because of the way it is written, jumping around in time. I enjoyed reading about Max's time with his grandparents, especially his loving but flawed grandfather and it was interesting following a group of boys as they leave school, follow different paths and find their way in the world. There was also great sadness in the effects of their schooldays upon certain characters. On the whole this is a well written book and it opened my eyes to boarding school life as it probably was.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about growing up, childhood friends, love and families alongside systemic child abuse in a boarding school. Whilst the abuse is horrifying it is told in a matter of fact way by the small boys who are experiencing it, so it isn't until they look back that they realise how wrong it all was.

The main character describes his loving relationship with his grandfather, the man who guided him through life and provided the support and stability when he was abandoned to the school by his parents. He also has some friends from the school, and as they mature their lives continue to be impacted by their time at school and the people that they met.

I enjoyed this book - it is a gentle narration of a life affected by the wrong doings of some people who were handed power over children.

[Mrs B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The picture of a small boy on the front cover, looking at a grey sky, together with the book’s title, gives it away. This is a mournful and tender book about systematic physical and sexual abuse of young boys at a quintessential English boarding school.

It’s very well written and compelling to read, but also uncomfortable, particularly the awful “love letters” between a teacher and one of the boys. The monsters come in various forms (vicious sadists, more subtle predators who offer their victims cocoa and apparent sanctuary). The bitter aftershocks of the boys’ traumas reverberate into adulthood, and you are left feeling hollow and moved.

[Adri Dosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehm... Kniha mi svým stylem psaní a mluvy připomíná knihu od Davida Enia... pozor, ne obsahově... jen způsobem mluvy. Je to takové typické mužské psaní. Ne každému tento styl sedne. Mě zase tak moc nesedl. Odhaluje nejen existenci v osmdesátkáchh, ale je především o traumatecch. V tom se mi to zase strašně jevilo jako z jednoho filmu. I v tom filmu byla parta kluků, kteří se ocitli v pasťáku nebo v sirotčinci, kde je zneužívali a oni se potom rozhodli pomstít a všechny, co v tom měli prsty zabili. Také se k tomu sešli po letech. Tato kniha byla jiná.. více psychologická, více se v tom babrala a dala cestu jakože z reálného světa. Nicméně, nebavilo mne to tolik jako onen film.

[Zuzana Kolouchova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hodně se mi líbil styl, jakým je kniha napsaná. Neumím to moc popsat, ale prostě někdy autor píše tak, že to ve vás rezonuje a přijde vám, že to je něco z vás, a někdy to jde jen tak kolem, i když je příběh sebezajímavější. Zajímavě zpracované téma, které není přelomové, vzdáleně mi to tím anglickým stylem připomínalo Patricka Melrose, ale tohle bylo takový citlivější, nezaměřený přímo na oběť zneužívání, ale na kluka, který byl u toho a kterýmu se sice nic nestalo, ale stejně ho pobyt v internátu poznamenal na celý život. K tomu kontrast idylického pobytu u prarodičů. Hodně zajímavá kniha.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving account of the complex consequences of child abuse in adults. A hard read in places as much for the poignant descriptions of the warm relationship between Max and his grandfather as the bewilderment he feels at boarding school.
Scudamore looses steam towards the end but overall an impressive read.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really feel like I should have more to say about this book, but honestly it just feels forced. The writing is fine, even exceptional in some places. The characters were interesting enough. I think I'm just exhausted by affluence as narrative. It's a quick read if you're in the mood for something slightly miserable.

[EFC Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to say you've enjoyed a book that is essentially so sad. But I did. A well written, engaging novel. It has affected me. It's one of those books that is hard to read because if content but needs to be heard. I pray it isnt autobiographical, but even if it isn't, the experiences are real for many. So sad.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of this book had some absolutely beautiful writing. Unfortunately, as the story got going, some of that writing lost its power. A relatively quiet story about abuse at a boys school and the different ways the boys handled it as they grew up. The main character, Max, was hard for me to care about as an adult. He constantly sabotaged his life and yet he had the least to overcome.

[Susan Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am confused by the ending. He kind of sabotages his ability to be there for his son's birthday. Then the book ends with a chapter about his intoxication and being in love with his son. People describe parenthood like this all the time, but in the context of the story are we supposed to be weary of this affection? I found it unsettling.

[Zuzana Konopáčová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anglická internátní škola a téma bití, zneužívání, šikany. Napsáno citlivě a bez touhy šokovat. Jak se s dětstvím vypořádají hrdinové v dospělosti? Je možné se někomu svěřit?
Zároveň je v knize krásně zobrazené téma dětství s prarodiči na anglickém venkově. Kolik vám toho do života může dát milující dědeček?