A review by bryannoise
Borstal Boy, by Brendan Behan
4.0
A surprisingly fun-to-read book, the language is great, a wild mix of british isles dialogues, cockney slang, and prison slang, all artfully compared and contrasted.
It's very upbeat for a prison book, and there's not much of a story arc or structure, it's fairly stream-of-consciousness. Some greater truths are very slowly revealed, and Behan grows as a person, but there's not much drama and very few shocks or twists, it's as if he found the monotony and structure of prison relaxing, and prison becomes easier and more pleasurable for him as time passes. He portrays himself in a very flattering light, and while he's self-depricating about his few flaws, it's almost frustrating how everything keeps going his way. He's constantly pandering to both his captors and other inmates, finding common ground to keep everyone happy, which is probably a good strategy for getting through prison, and life in general, but not great for dramatic conflict, ha.
But the book is altogether very enjoyable, I look forward to reading his fiction.
It's very upbeat for a prison book, and there's not much of a story arc or structure, it's fairly stream-of-consciousness. Some greater truths are very slowly revealed, and Behan grows as a person, but there's not much drama and very few shocks or twists, it's as if he found the monotony and structure of prison relaxing, and prison becomes easier and more pleasurable for him as time passes. He portrays himself in a very flattering light, and while he's self-depricating about his few flaws, it's almost frustrating how everything keeps going his way. He's constantly pandering to both his captors and other inmates, finding common ground to keep everyone happy, which is probably a good strategy for getting through prison, and life in general, but not great for dramatic conflict, ha.
But the book is altogether very enjoyable, I look forward to reading his fiction.