Review - A Kestrel for a Knave

I think the other English group read A Kestrel for a Knave, back at GCSE, but it never really appealed to me. Still, it was there today at the library, so I picked it up. It's pretty short, and there are no chapters. It's kind of an odd format to tell a story, just like maybe a boy is sat down and spilling out his story without thinking of how to structure it. Which makes sense, of course, considering the main character. It's pretty grim, too. Working class life in England back when teachers could still hit students, etc, etc.

I found some of it lovely -- particularly the way Billy opens up to talk about Kes, and the way one of his teachers treats him kindly. The story he writes for the class is a little heart-breaking in how simple his little lies are; for his brother to be gone, his father to be home, teachers to actually like him.

I don't feel like I have much to say about it, in the end, though. I wish I did -- obviously it's worth studying and thinking about, but I just didn't connect with it much -- for all that it's set near where I grew up.