H. F. Ellis (1907–2000)

Absolutely cringe-worthy. Arthur James Wentworth is a buffoon, a contemptible believer in his rightness and everyone else’s wrongness. This makes for the most outrageous school room situations where he is tormented by what he believes are boys “of ungovernable insolence.” He forever fails to understand that he will never have the upper hand nor will he have the compassion of his colleagues. He places himself in the most absurd situations with the complete belief that it is all “perfectly natural really”. He is more times than not the subject of the laughter behind the hand.

The extracts the reader is treated to happen between the scholastic year of 1938-9, at Burgrove Preparatory School just prior to England’s involvement in WWII. This is a very short mildly entertaining book which is replete with a love for the eccentric and droll ways of an Assistant Master of Mathematics at a boy’s prep school.

Thank you NetGalley and Prelude Books for a copy.… (mehr)

H.F. Ellis is a superb author of humor, who perhaps doesn't get the respect he deserves, and A.J. Wentworth is a brilliant and timeless comic creation. The fun is in the contrast between Wentworth's view of himself and the reality of his role at Burgrove School, where his bumbling and fussy obsessions make him a figure of fun. The humor is devoid of cruelty, however, as the impression comes through that the other members of staff and even the boys may not accord him the respect he thinks they do, and certainly feels he deserves, but they are fond of him. The humor is gentle, but can still make you ache from laughing. A gem.… (mehr)