At Freddie's. [Paperback]

Penelope. Fitzgerald (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Wm Collins & Sons & Co (1982)
• ASIN: B000O8KL3Y
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The strange world of theatre - children's theatre, January 25, 2001

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Freddie's (Paperback)

What a surprising book and what a funny one. The first Penelope Fitzgerald I read and a lovely introduction to her wonderfully witty work. "At Freddie's" is life in a slowly fading London Theatre school for children. It is the 1960's and Freddie, who is the mysterious woman who runs the school, believes that children should be trained for Shakespeare and for the stage - not for the fleeting career of television and advertisements which are starting to pull children from other schools.

Into this world drop Carroll, an unsuprisable Irishman, who doesn't seem to be able to do anything. He applies to Freddie for a job as a teacher but admits he can't really teach, or in fact do anything. Freddie hires him because he is cheap and honest, and he procedes to do just what his interview shows he could do so promisingly - nothing. But he has fallen in love with the other teacher who applied the same day, Hannah. Hannah is more ambitious and wants to 'chose, not be chosen'. A dictate which runs her life. Their relationship is played out against the lives of school's precocious children, mostly the strange friendship of Mattie - a 13 year old child over-actor and the quiet, self-contained 9 year-old, Jonathon.

It was a wonderful, fun read.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A totally original character, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: At Freddie's (Paperback)

At Freddie's may not be the absolute best of all Fitzgerald's novels (the competence is so stiff), but Freddie may very well be her most original and likeable character. If you love theater, Shakespeare, London, have a sense of humor and some respect for children's creativity for mischief, in all probability you will be as defenseless against her as all the other characters seem to be in this very compact, very enjoyable and unexpectedly moving novel . All Fitzgerald books can take us to other worlds, the world of Freddie truly deserves to be visited.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Theatrical Skullduggery, September 24, 2000

By 

J. McFarland "jbmcfar" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Freddie's (Paperback)

Penelope Fitzgerald is at her most devilishly entrancing in this tale revolving around the London acting school run (and I mean RUN!) by Freddie, a larger-than-life Gorgon whose will cannot be resisted. Fitzgerald has fun skewering the backstage pretentions, intrigue and petty jealousies of the London theater world of the early 1960s, but, clearly loving every seedy corner of it, she celebrates it with such gusto that you want to sign up on the spot for a season or two. That combination of wryness and fondness makes this short novel among Fitzgerald's most satisfying. And when Freddie goes out looking for a pound or two, hang on to your wallets!