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    Gentlemen and Players: A Novel
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    Gentlemen and Players: A Novel
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    Gentlemen and Players: A Novel
    Ebook453 pages7 hours

    Gentlemen and Players: A Novel

    By Joanne Harris

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The New York Times bestselling author takes a riveting new direction with this richly textured, multi-layered novel of friendship, murder, revenge, and class conflict set in an upper-crust English school—as enthralling and haunting as Ian McKewan’s Atonement and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley

    Audere, agere, auferre.

    To dare, to strive, to conquer.

    For generations, elite young men have attended St. Oswald’s School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric classics teacher who has been a revered fixture for more than 30 years. But this year, things are different. Suits, paperwork, and Information Technology rule the world, and Straitley is reluctantly contemplating retirement. He is joined in this, his 99th, term by five new faculty members, including one who—unknown to Straitley and everyone else—holds intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Ozzie’s ways and secrets, it’s comforts and conceits. Harboring dark ties to the school’s past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: Destroy St. Oswald’s.

    As the new term gets underway, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances—a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug—they soon escalate to the life threatening. With the school unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of St. Ozzie’s ruin. But the old man faces a formidable opponent—a master player with a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move.

    A harrowing tale of cat and mouse told in alternating voices, this riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel showcases Joanne Harris’s astonishing storytelling talent as never before.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061839917
    Unavailable
    Gentlemen and Players: A Novel
    Author

    Joanne Harris

    Joanne Harris is the author of seven previous novels—Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, Five Quarters of the Orange, Coastliners, Holy Fools, Sleep, Pale Sister, and Gentlemen & Players; a short story collection, Jigs & Reels; and two cookbook/memoirs, My French Kitchen and The French Market. Half French and half British, she lives in England.

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    Reviews for Gentlemen and Players

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    • 3/5
      Fifth book for the readathon.

      I normally love everything that Joanne Harris writes, but I found this one a bit too predictable, and the characters a bit too much like others. 'Julian' had shades of blueeyedboy, mostly. The whole pattern of the book, too, the steady undermining forces and the final triumph, that's familiar from her other books as well. I don't think I was surprised once.

      She does evoke the school environment very well, at least to the mind of someone who attended a private school. And there are some very good lines, for example, this: "At thirteen, everything counts; there are sharp edges on everything, and all of them cut."

      A fun read, but not a great one, and definitely not something I'll read again.
    • 2/5
      Gentlemen and Players is about an English private school for boys, St Oswald’s. The first of two narrators for the story is the now grown up child of one of the school’s former porters who as a child was a frequent trespasser into the school grounds and is now a teacher at the school bent on revenge for the real and imagined harm done to them by the school. The second narrator is Roy Straitley a curmudgeonly Latin teacher at St Oswald’s 33 years who is no less obsessed with the school than the porter’s child. Between them these two narrators tell of the events which made such an impression on the porter’s child and also show two sides of the current events unfolding within the school’s hallowed halls.

      The school is the main character in the book as well as the location for almost all of the plot development. And although that sounds as if it should make for an interesting twist on character-driven stories I found it quite boring at times. The notion that every student, teacher, parent and even the other people in the town who don’t attend the school would be so obsessed with and in awe of a relatively minor institution is fairly ludicrous. If it had only been the two narrators who were so consumed by all things St. Oswald’sian I think the story might have been more believable.

      Neither of the two narrators are particularly interesting characters either: stereotyped as they are fairly early on. There certainly wasn’t a single surprise in anything Straitley said or did and, for me anyway, even the more enigmatic porter’s child had a fairly predictable story arc. The book relied heavily on a ‘shock’ twist that I thought blindingly obvious from several hundred pages before the big reveal which probably explains why I was more than a little bored.

      In the end I was just never engaged by this book or the all-consuming world of St Oswald’s and I felt the author’s attempt at clever suspense was a bit too see-through. The potentially interesting themes, like the class differences between a porter’s child and the privileged boys of a private school, were handled superficially and so failed to add much to what was, in the end, a fairly dull reading experience for me.
    • 3/5
      This is a gripping story and the author provides enough clues for you to work out who the culprit is by about half way through the book - by a process of elimination with an open mind. I couldn't put the book down, but nor did I enjoy it. Mine was a purely personal response - I loathed the constant sense of impending disaster, and the sheer nastiness of the main character. Right from the start I found it reminiscent of Fay Weldon's Life and loves of a she devil, another well written book which I heartily disliked.
    • 5/5
      POSSIBLE SPOILERS ALERT!I went into this book knowing that it had a spectacular twist at the end, so it may be that forewarned is forearmed, as I was able to figure the twist by p. 125. I would maintain, however, that an astute reader would be able to figure the twist 1/4 of the way through the book, simply by virtue of some of the ways Harris words certain things, and certain "revelations" that are encountered along the way. Still and all, very cleverly developed story, narrated from two perspectives: Ron Straitly, who has been teaching at St. Oswald's Private School for Boys for 33 years; and the pro-/an- tagonist, whose father was a porter for the school at one time, became involved in an unpleasant incident, leaving the pro-/an- tagonist with a grudge against the school.Harris handles the major twist quite well, and the introduction of a red herring along the way made me wonder if I weren't mistaken (I wasn't). The characters are well-developed, the institution of "private schools" is examined competently, and the sense of suspense she develops throughout the book is quite delicious. Her writing is first rate. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone exists who could turn this into a movie that was equally as effective as the book.I subtracted half of a star because I think she (1) introduced considerations in the conclusion that really had no significance to the story line at all; and (2) just belabored the ending, making the book about 30 - 40 pages longer than it needed to be.Well worth the reading - an interesting twist on the classic who-dun-it, consistently suspenseful up to the ending.I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Both clever and disturbing, this thriller is set in an exclusive British boy's school named St. Oswalds. The envious child of the former caretaker who used to roam the halls in a stolen school uniform is now back as a teacher and determined to destroy the place where belonging was an impossible dream. The only one who stands in the way is the pragmatic and aging classics teacher Roy Straitley. He is slowly being edged out of his classroom by the new computer department but the intrepid teacher follows the clues to reveal a narcissistic and bold nemesis.The plot of this story is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it develop. Harris is terrific at characterizations and how people interact in small communities. The various reactions among staff as minor mishaps turned deadly was especially fascinating. Harris revealed that she had actually taught at a school similar to the fictitious St. Oswald's for many years so that must be why it was so realistic. Roy Straitley was by far my favorite character and I rooted for him all the way. I guessed the twist early on but never figured out who it was until right at the end. But since the story was so good it was fun to relax and enjoy every angle.
    • 2/5
      It was an interesting book in the end but it bored me quite a bit with its repetitive scenes of school life. It should have been shorter though it is only about 200 pages long! (i read it as an e-book)
    • 4/5
      It helps to think of this novel as a game, and you, the reader, as one of the players. There are many tipoffs that this is exactly the case. The title is one. The second is the chess metaphor for the novel’s narrative structure, starting with the opening gambit of “Pawn.”Understanding that this is a game, and that there are secrets and strategies to be figured out, I won’t reveal too much plot. I will only say that the story is set in an English boy’s school that is erupting with scandal upon scandal, and that there are two opposing players, two narrators, although one of them – Roy Straitley, a Latin teacher – isn’t aware of the game until play is well under way.This is a fun read, an entertaining read, a good book for when you’re sick or have a long plane ride ahead of you. It is not necessarily great literature, but then it doesn’t aspire to be, as the cutesy character names that underline the character’s personality (such as the teachers Meek, Keane and Dare) should alert you. If you approach the book as if it is a game, then you should get along fine.
    • 4/5
      One I've been meaning to read for years (I met Joanne Harris years ago in Dublin and have a signed copy of this book as a result).A cleverly written thriller, with two distinct voices - those of the Classics tutor, and that of the killer who has returned to St Oswald's school after 15 years to bring retribution over the death of their friend Leon.It shows Harris' skill in that you dont really know who the killer is (or even really their sex) until the last few chapters of the book. Well you *do* know, in that they are the child of the school porter 15 years earlier, but who they are now, and who they are pretending to be is not known.
    • 4/5
      A fun and clever thriller set at St. Oswald's, a venerable exclusive private school for boys with a long history and a solid reputation. There are two narrators relating the story, the first being Roy Straitley, the Classics teacher with the heart of gold who is looking forward to his "century", i.e. his 100th term at the school, and the second by the now grown child of the school's former caretaker who had developed an unhealthy fixation on the institution and one of it's students in pre-pubescence, and is now out to bring down St. Oswald's in a chaos of carefully orchestrated scandals and meticulously planned murders. We know from the very beginning that people will get killed, though we don't know who, why, how nor when, nor whether Straitley will end up as the hero who saves the day, or as one of the killer's victims, or possibly both?
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I’ve read recently. A brilliantly executed, clever thriller, this book is also a mainstream look at love, loyalty, duty, transgression and identity.Harris conjures up two powerful characters, an old school Latin school master that I fell in love with and the killer who is brave, bright, and ruthless.But perhaps the most impressive character in the book is the school that consumes both master and murderer.Technically, Harris is masterful: two points of view and regular flashbacks managed with ease, crisp clear language and a truly ingenious plotI heartily recommend it. I look forward to reading the rest of her novels.
    • 4/5
      My respect and appreciation for Joanne Harris' writing continues to increase.Having previously enjoyed "Chocolat" and "The Girl with No Shadow," I certainly expected to enjoy "Gentlemen & Players." However, as I worked my way into the book, I became concerned that Harris was pulling a fairly simple story out to unreasonable lengths. One of her great skills is in presenting different narrative voices, and the two narrators here were no exception: both were very well presented (and in the audiobook version, clearly distinct). I worried, though, that a lot of the story was there just to try and support the verisimilitude of the narrators. To my mind, the basic story simply didn't support a novel of this length: it felt like a stretched-out revenge thriller, something like Patricia Highsmith's "Strangers on a Train."...And at some level, it is. It *is* a revenge thriller - more so as it goes on - and it does have some real similarities to Highsmith's work; some of it, though, is simple misdirection. "Gentleman & Players" has more layers than is initially apparent. I still felt the book was a little long, but overall, it was a solid and enjoyable mystery - and by the end, I was very happy I stuck with it.
    • 4/5
      This novel by Joanne Harris centres around St Oswald's Grammar School for Boys, which in itself becomes a central character in the early stages of the book. The school is rich in history and tradition, avoiding any kind of scandal and ensuring any mishap is kept from the local press. Order must be maintained at all costs.The book shifts narrators from Mr Straightley, Classics teacher who is one of the longest serving professors on staff, and a mysterious new member of staff motivated by deep revenge and set on destroying the school from the very foundations.Gentlemen and Players was published in 2005, six years after her very successful novel Chocolat, and was nominated for the Edgar Awards. I don't want to give away any more of the plot as there is a massive twist towards the end of the book that caught me completely by surprise. I thought I knew which member of staff was the impostor, but I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. The impostor has a dark character and years of hurt and torment, and a cleverly plotted method of revenge.I enjoyed reading about this character in their younger years, and found myself cheering for Mr Straightley, the sharp -witted, Latin speaking Professor who tries to get to the truth of the sudden decline of his beloved school.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to all those who enjoy a thriller and a twist!
    • 3/5

      Good story; my only problem with this book was that I'd read one too many reviews of it beforehand. I'd certainly seen it mentioned that the book had a twist to it and that it was a big surprise. However if you know this before you read it you can see the twist coming a mile off; or at least I could. Which is my own fault for trying to play beat the author rather than enjoying the tale really. A good story well told all the same.

    • 4/5
      This is a fabulous novel and thriller. St Oswald's is an old and prestigous grammar school for boys. As the fall term commences, trouble begins, at first annoying incidents, then growing more sinister. The classics teacher, Roy Straitley, finds himself in a life and death struggle with a dangerous opponent who has planned this attack for many years.Dark and sinister, but at times intensely funny, this is a great read.
    • 5/5
      Great tale of revenge. Didn't see that end coming! Genius!
    • 5/5
      A marvellous study of revenge set against the background of a minor public school that dominates its local area. The book is in part narrated by the principal character, curmudgeonly Classics teacher Roy Straitley, who is just about to start his ninety-ninth term teaching at the school (of which he is, himself an old boy), and is dead set on achieving his century. However, he does feel beset from the various members of the Senior Management Team who all advocate new ideas which they communicate in a jargon-strewn lingo that Straitley can scarcely understand. The new school year brings with it a crop of new teachers, one of whom writes a second narrative which is intertwined with Straitley's. This new teacher had grown up in the school's gatehouse as their father had been the School's Porter, though they had had to attend the local sink estate comprehensive school. Growing up the teacher had formed an overwhelming obsession with to school to the extent that they frequently masqueraded as one of the junior boys.As a new member of staff this teacher sets about a Machiavellian scheme to undermine the body of the school, with devastating (though often humorous circumstances).Absolutely spellbinding, with alarmingly (deliciously?) close echoes of my own old school.Definitely worth reading.
    • 5/5
      They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. This is the tale of an obsession that goes very wrong, and brews plans for thirteen years before the revenger wreaks absolute havoc by opening a closet full of skeletons that brings a community to its knees. I’ll say at the outset that I loved this book. It’s a complex and twisty thriller with delicious moments of black humour set in a northern boys grammar school. The plot piles on layer after layer and turns at every corner, but satisfyingly just about allowed me to think I’d worked it all out – I felt very smug, and then wham! one last twist.The story is told from two viewpoints. Firstly veteran classics teacher Mr Straitley who is planning his retirement, but not until he’s completed his hundredth term at St Oswalds. He’s seen it all, or so he thinks, but the creeping march of technology into the classroom is leaving him behind. He’s still good at staffroom politics though, and keeps on top of all the gossip. It’s the first day of term – new teachers – how will they fit in?"I can usually fit any fresher into the appropriate category within a few minutes’ acquaintance. The geographer, Mr Easy, is a typical Suit: smart, clean-cut and built for paperwork. The Games man, God help us, is a classic Jobsworth. Mr Meek, the computer man, is rabbity beneath his fluffy beard. The linguist, Miss Dare, might be a trainee Dragon if not for the humorous twist to her mouth; I must remember to try her out, see what she’s made of. The new English teacher – Mr Keane – might not be as straightforward – not actually a Suit, not quite a Beaver, but far too young for the tweedy set."Then there is the son of one of the old school caretakers. He had to go to the local comprehensive where he was hopelessly bullied - there was no place for him at St Oswalds. He played truant, and insinuated himself into the grammar school so well, that everyone believed he was a pupil, but he has been nursing a bitter grudge, and thirteen years later its time for him to seek his revenge.So, we have the two narrators, one young and one old, and two timelines – the present and thirteen years earlier. Harris cleverly swaps between them throughout; although sections have clear breaks, you’re not always initially sure who is speaking when. I love novels set in schools and combining that with a real thriller of a plot made this a winner for me. The teachers in particular were really well-drawn – you can recognise all the types – they probably taught you and I, (I had a particular candidate in mind for Mr Straitley). This is also a thriller with a great sense of humour – indeed on Harris’ website, she introduces Gentlemen and Players with quotes from Molesworth – the funniest set of books about skool ever.I sped through this novel’s 505 pages – it never felt long at all and it entertained throughout, I loved it.(9/10) I bought this book.
    • 5/5
      An engaging mystery set in an all-boys' private school which finds itself suddenly at war with an unknown assailant – a war whose general is the elderly Classics master, and which it seems inevitable it will lose. Very different from Joanne Harris's other books; absorbing, riveting, and clever. It's slightly marred by a plot twist which, as with almost all plot twists, most readers will see coming, but other than its chess-game theme, which is rather wasted on a non-chess player, that's really the only quarrel I have with it.
    • 3/5
      This book started so strong and the character of Roy Straightly is just wonderful (same doesn't go for the other protagonist "Julian Pinchbeck"). I loved the catty gossip and reflections on both the administration and staff of the school. The book is well written, good, funny dialogue and some keen observations. I was fairly intriqued wondering who/how/what in regards to the mystery, but how it all "comes together" is absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable. It took such quanum leaps of faith, plus would have to rendered most of the (rather astute) characters dumb, deaf AND blind. In fact, when the big twist was revealed, I actually groaned. Ah well, what can you do. Goofy ending, but sort of entertaining most of the way.
    • 4/5
      St. Oswald's Grammer School for Boys has stood for generations. Students and teachers have come and gone. There have been a few scandals but the school has survived. Now the institution is under attack from the inside. Things have gone missing, property has been vandalized, and teachers have been accused of incompetence and inappropriate behavior. Could the occurences have something to do with a tragedy that happened fifteen years before?The story is told by two characters; Roy Straitley, the classics teacher who has been at the school for more than thrity years and the person who is causing the troubles. Roy is loved by his students because they can tell how much he cares. The reader discovers what happened in the past through the memories of the person who is creating the mayhem. This indivual is obviously mentally ill. What I found interesting about this book, besides the well written story, was the great similarities between the British and American education systems. Some of the problems the teachers had with incompetent administation, changes in curriculum and overly protective parents are the same challenges faced by many educators in America. My edition of the novel contains an essay at the end on education by the author who was a teacher for twelve years.
    • 4/5
      Excellent. Had me going to the end.
    • 4/5
      Well-written novel of obsession and revenge, set in St Oswald's minor (British) public school. Lots of characters which I sometimes found hard to remember, but well-observed and humorous plot with several twists.
    • 4/5
      Better than I thought it would be, and I expected a lot. A truly surprising twist ending that caught me off guard, and that I won't give away here. No magical realism as in so many other Harris books.
    • 4/5
      One of six books nominated for best novel by the Edgar Awards in 2007. It did not win but for me it was a very close call between this one and the book that did win, The Janissary Tree.Gentlemen and Players has a lot going for it and is acturally put together better and has a more likable main character in Roy Straitley than the Janissary Tree which is cluttered and messy. The main character is less well defined in The Janissary Tree, and has a very chaotic story in which to try and find out what is going on. Roy Straitley is trying to solve his mystery inside a school, an enviroment that the author of Gentlemen And Players knows well and uses extremely well throughout the book. The conflicts between the teachers ring very true as does the interactions between the teachers and the students. There are dual narrators, one is Straitley and the other is the unknown killer. At times this is an advantage for the story but at other times it is confusing and somewhat frustrating since the narrative by Straitley is so focused. His narrations advance the story and our understanding of the school and the character of Straitley. The killers narration is not as good. By necessity it is more clouded and less revealing so the reader can't guess who the killer is, unfortunatntly it doesn't read as well as the Straitley narration and in fact is a distraction at times. Another confusing segment is the chess references that occur throughout. But the strengths outweigh the weaknesses in this story. In fact, Gentleman and Players has more strengths than The Janissary Tree does. It also has fewer weaknesses than The Janissary Tree does. It is only by a small margin that I liked one more than the other. In the end I liked The Janissary Tree better because the messy, cluttered structure of the book mirrored the story that it was telling. The confusion within the structure of the book was very close to the confusion of the times being described, in short one of the weaknesses of the book (in some ways) is also one of the reasons why I liked the whole of the book as much as I did. The confusion in Gentleman and Players is necessary for the story to be told but is frustrating in some ways while the confusion and messiness in The Janissary Tree actually add to the enjoyment of the book. Other readers may not agree but by a slim margin I agree with The Janissary Tree winning for best novel in 2007.
    • 3/5
      I found this slow to start with, and then couldn't put it down until the last gripping moment.
    • 5/5
      Any book that gives you an ending that you just don't expect has to rate five stars! Joanne Harris is a favorite author and this book certainly didn't disappoint. A townie gets involved with the local boarding school scene. A somewhat dark story with a jolly old don who bumbles along. Great suspense read.
    • 3/5
      The narrator, a bitter soul, has come back to wreak a little vengeance for an unhappy childhood. Somewhat derivative from Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, but Harris does a very good job with two alternative voices and a sort of stunt-like plot resolution. A good read for a cold night.
    • 4/5
      A bit slow to set up but ultimately fascinating account of a British public school and the poisonous environment it created. One of the most surprising mystery novels Ive read in awhile.
    • 5/5
      This story takes us into the hallowed halls of St. Oswalds - a private boys school that is everything that one thinks of when those words are said - stately, old, and steeped in tradition. We have two main characters. The first is Roy Straitley, a Latin teacher who has been teaching at Oswalds for 33 years. He is the epitome of tradition - begrudges the technology changes and doesn't do email; teaches a dying language that is mocked by other instructors and is constantly trying to be pushed aside and ended by the school; and fiercely loves his boys and what he teaches. The second is a new teacher with a vendetta. This new teacher was actually the child of a past Porter (groundskeeper, basically) and longed to be a student at St. Oswalds. A tragic incident in the past causes this new teacher to seek revenge.And boy, is the revenge serious. It starts out simply: missing pens, tea mugs. And then it becomes more and more serious as the story evolves.I really enjoyed this book - reading about St. Oswalds made me feel cozy and the mystery and suspense of the story really drew me in. I'd definitely suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the life of private schools and the traditions they entail or anyone who likes twisted-types of mysteries.
    • 5/5
      St Oswald's public school is the setting for this brilliant comic novel. Told by three protagonists, two of whom are the same person separated by 15 years, and the other a teacher nearing retirement. The child/new teacher is, we know, the destroying angel, a psychopathic force intent on destroying the school in revenge for the destruction wreaked,by the school, on the child.The old teacher, Roy Straitley, is a dinosaur, a Classics master, being forced out by the management gobbledegookers who now run the school, the late Leo McKern, would have been a racing certainty to play him in the film of the book. As chaos breaks out, teachers are accused of terrible acts, things go missing, a pupil vanishes and the entire toppling folly crashes down, Roy Straitley gets close to the truth, but not close enough.Tremendous stuff and a great twist, as well.