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Borstal Boy (Arena Books) [Paperback]

Brendan Behan (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Book Description

Publication Date: 5 April 1990 | Series: Arena Books

'I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered, for there's a system and a science in taking the piss out of a screw and I'm a well-trained man at it.'

So writes Brendan Behan, poet, writer and literary legend, of the episode that coloured his life. Arrested in Liverpool as an agitator for the IRA, he was tried and sent to reform school. He was sixteen years old.

The world he entered was brutal and coldly indifferent. Conditions were primitive, and violence simmered just below the surface. Yet Brendan Behan found something more positive than hate in Borstal: friendship, solidarity and healing flashes of kindness. Extraordinarily vivid, fluent, and moving, this is a superb and unforgettable piece of writing. Borstal Boy was adapted into a film in 2000.

Frequently Bought Together

Borstal Boy (Arena Books) + Confessions Of An Irish Rebel (Arena Books) + After The Wake (Classic Irish Fiction)
Price For All Three: £21.47

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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (5 April 1990)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099706504
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099706502
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Brendan Behan Page
Brendan Behan
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Product Description

Review

"He has more than charm, he has instinctive kindness and charity, a verbal grace, an unforced assertion of a strong personality" (Sunday Times )

"The best thing in Irish writing since Sean O'Casey" (The Spectator )

Book Description

A moving autobiography from the famous, even infamous Irish playwright and author, Brendan Behan. Continuing the longstanding tradition of political Irish literature, propagated by James Joyce and Sean O'Casey, this is the true story of life in the IRA.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, compassionate and a great story. 23 Oct 1998
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is an autobiography about Behan's teenage years before and during World War 2, which he spent in a British borstal serving a sentence for IRA membership. I really enjoyed this book which works on more than one level. It is really entertaining - some of the characterisations and turns of phrase are hilarious. It's also a great book about growing up and getting to know yourself. The setting is just a starting point - he shows how he forms friendships with people he thought were his enemies and how he confronts his own prejudices. Don't be put off by what might seem a narrow subject area, because the way Behan tells his own story makes it of universal interest.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Talk about un-put-downable............. 18 Oct 2004
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Brilliant!!!!!!!!!! A touching story abount a confused young man who learns that those whom he thought were his natural enemies were in fact no different than himself. In fact they had more in common with him than many of the upper and middle class of his own race. A brilliant and touching book with plenty of light moments as well as a serious underlying lesson for those who believe what they are told rather than basing their opinions of others on their own experiences. We will never see his likes again.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The shattering of long held myths 27 Oct 2002
By DD Dean
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I though for most of my life that both the IRA and anyone who had been sent to a Borstal Institution (a 'bad boys school', I was told) were at best to be feared, at worst to be despised.
With his biography 'Borstal Boy' Brendan Behan effortlessly blows both of my long held myths out of the water.
His account of his time spent under the influence of the British Judicial System, at a tender and incredibly impressionable age is writen with a stunning intermingling of humour and wisdom, and with shocking honesty.
I found it hard to put down, drawn as I was into the lives of 'Paddy''Chewlips' 'Joe' and 'Jock' not to mention 'Jones 538'. It is a great read, but more importantly perhaps, a slight insight into a world populated by young, and often troubled, young men.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Pass it on!
This book was given to me when I was in my early twenties with the proviso that when I'd finished it I must pass it on. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Saracen's Bob
5.0 out of 5 stars borstal boy
I bought this book after viewing the film of the same title. This was because i enjoyed the film so much that i wanted to read Brendan's own account of the event which could have... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2011 by william
5.0 out of 5 stars One fat Irishman
Brendan behan was Sui generis, one of a kind. Words flow from him like wine from an overturned bottle, unstoppable and fluid; sometimes puzzling, sometimes touching, often... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2010 by J. Rottweiller Swinburne
5.0 out of 5 stars Borstal boy
fantastic book, brill story, well worth reading, the film is not as good as this book, will read again when i get it back from family members.
Published on 19 Aug 2009 by Mr. Robert Murphy
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great
One of the "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". An account of a three year sentence in Borstal for intent to plant an IRA bomb in Liverpool. Read more
Published on 10 July 2009 by William Jordan
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Brilliant
Although this book was written some years ago, its sentiments still ring through. Captures beautifully the state of mind of a confused young man who genuinly believed all he had... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars Gaelic genius of the old school
An amazing book detailing the thoughts and actions of an Irish rebel named Brendan O'Beachain in the '50s. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2001
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