Customer Reviews

The Whipping Boy

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First published in 1936, Nicholas Monsarrat's third novel, three years before his quite good social commentary and Spanish Civil War piece, This Is The Schoolroom(see my Review; April 30, 2008).
Although not as strong as its successor, he is capable of some fine passages. These are a few examples:

* A porter knocked against her roughly, apologized and was surprised to meet a most angelic smile. Momentarily he forgot to be class-conscious, and basked in it.

* 'Hallo, you two boozers,' she began amicably. 'I knew you'd be here. Are you giving him bad habits, Ian?'

* A good hotel proprietor watches no one and sees everything;

* She was prepared to sleep with him, because they would both enjoy it and it was the obvious thing to do; but the idea of making it a triangle, of coming between him and his wife, never entered her head. For it didn't matter to that extent, it wasn't as important as that: it never was, and saving some outstanding change of heart or conversation of habit, it never would be. To have sexual intercourse was something you did because you wanted to, like switching on the radio or lighting another cigarette: it had no latent significance, it was not tied up with honour or duty or convention, it was not a sin any more than enjoying the tang of good sherry was sin; physically it was a great deal, but mentally, morally, socially it was nothing.
So she was able to enjoy herself, while celebrating a premier Christian festival.

* Helen smiled. 'One or two - the usual ones, you know. Less dring, more think.' She'd only just thought of that and it sounded quite funny.