The central character in the book is flung into his third boarding
school, 1960s' school called St Oswald's, where he has no clear talents, isn’t
involved in sports, and has no real friends. His name, Hilary, isn’t known until
about two-thirds of the way into the book, and his life is also pieced together
in a random way, with no clear direction; and he doesn’t really care. While at
St Oswald's, he meets Finn. He completely falls for his free lifestyle in a hut
by the sea, and spends as long as he can there. As I was reading this book, I
had read some other reviews for it which completely gave away the plot, so
although I vaguely knew what was going to happen, it didn’t shock or interest
me much.
The story took place over quite a long period, but so gradually that it didn’t make it seem very interesting. It was very
slow moving, and it did pick up a bit along the way, but not a lot. I liked the
ending, which contrasted with the rest of the story, but didn’t contradict it, and
it gave it a new slant. The characters were very believable and
the emotions were well shown through Meg Rosoff’s words. The detail was
excellent and it was very well-written, but the plot itself didn’t hold much
appeal for me.
I wouldn’t recommend it, because I found it hard to get into and
I wasn’t as gripped as I found I was with other books, yet I know that others
will recommend it because it was so well-written.
