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Review
‘Utterly compelling from first to last: sad and funny and written with the matchlessly fine yet modest prose that marks him out as such a superb writer.’ Stephen Fry
'Friendly Fire is an intense tale of love, life, intellectualism and passion. Inspirational.' Daily Express
'Patrick Gale is a writer who has always seemed particularly well attuned to the assorted agonies and ecstasies of childhood…The emotions still ring true.' Daily Mail
‘Gale's finely tuned rites of passage novel depicts a learning curve of betrayal and shame’ Metro
'”Friendly Fire” is another triumph for Gale. It is part of an oeuvre which looks ever more formidable, particularly for a novelist still in mid-career.' Independent
‘Every intimate bond portrayed in the novel is shaped by the broader culture, in which failure to be a “real boy” or “good girl” is punished by acts of shaming. Gale delicately shows that what shames people in this context isn’t truly shameful – just very private.’ TLS
‘A very enjoyable read from one of Britain’s finest novelists.’ Gay Times
Daily Telegraph
'...a mesmerising account of the gradual unveiling of a frighteningly complex adult world.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's not surprising that Gale, brought up in prisons and public schools, should return from time to time to tales of institutional life. What is surprising is the freshness of perspective he manages to find in each reworking of a familiar milieu.
Themes recur as well as places: the outsider as the reference point for sanity (and often morality) and the use of a central character who is in some way freakish: Sophie, our protagonist here, has a bizarrely parent-less and yet multi-parented life and is reminiscent of Dido from A Sweet Obscurity in that though a child, she has a certain grave maturity which affects the lives of the adults around her.
These outsiders' stories may or may not carry some metaphorical representation of Gale's experiences as a gay man but what is fascinating is his ability to find the dystopic in the 'normal' and set it against the surer groundings which the freaks have managed to dredge out of their less-than-fortunate circumstances.
I've just read Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go' and there are interesting comparisons: Ishiguro's narrative is also set in a boarding school, also focuses on the interplay between apparently unusual children and the adult world around them. But Gale's story is the subtler of the two in that he does the whole job with character, rather than needing to invent a sinister parallel reality in order to provide the metaphorical underpinnings for outsider-hood.
I noted in a previous review that Gale is often compared to Joanna Trollope and Iris Murdoch. In Friendly Fire, we get a good taste of Dickens too: When Dr Harestock announces the morning hymn he 'never treated the first line as a title but read until the first full stop.' In Great Expectations, Mr. Wopsle's announcements of the psalm always involve his 'giving the whole first verse.'
Dickensian too are the wonderful illustrations by Aidan Hicks: not only are they lovely in their own right, but they can also be used by the eagle-eyed as a way of foretelling the action as each chapter begins.
You get a lot with Gale: he's clearly read everything good in English Literature and knows how to play the magpie with it. But he is never less than original even in this, his thirteenth novel. I can't think of an intelligent person I know who could fail to enjoy it and to appreciate its subtle, lingering charm.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'll be brief: I've been reading Gale's work since Little Bits of Baby (still in my Top Ten along with his Facts of Life).
He has completely mastered the ability to portray the complexities of human nature in a most accessible way - the landscapes of his characters' emotions and motivations are laid out before us with considerable dexterity. Similarly the various UK locations of his novels are expertly depicted.
I would suggest that he has yet to produce a poor novel - and that is why I buy them on day of publication and read them in very few sittings. How many authors can create the same sense of expectation and maintain the mix of high standards and originality?
In Friendly Fire he brings to life those strains and fears of adolescence - via youths of widely differing backgrounds and set in juxtaposed locations of public school, children's home and bourgeois suburbia. I for one felt transported back to my early to mid teens.
And, finally, if you are heading for a beach this (like his others) will hit the spot. Not because it's simplistic literature - it just reads so well.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Lots of interesting detail about Winchester College. Hard to believe that Sophie would have been so unrebellious, that punk could have so little impact on these kids, that a low-class girl like Sophie could be so at ease with all the members of the upper classes that she comes into contact with.
The characters, Charlie, Lucas and Mr Compton are drawn much more convincingly than the straight ones - Sophie, Wilf and Margaret.
Overall an enjoyable read but not the definitive seventies school novel.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Teenage Angst
Patrick Gale is an author I only discovered fairly recently and the first novel I read of his was Notes From An Exhibition which I found absolutely engrossing and reviewed here in... Read more
Published 16 months ago by LindyLouMac
Patrick Gale hits the mark every time
I'm torn between wanting to have read everything Patrick Gale has written yet needing another one still to read. Read more
Published 23 months ago by voodoowumman
One of his best novels!
If you went to public boarding school, of couse you would have a different slant on any book which tried to give you a taste of that life. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2010 by fishwife
Boys and Girls.
Gale hangs his tale of teenage love and angst on the skeleton of Winchester College life in the 70s. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2009 by Gargoyle
Simple and Readable
I read this after reading some of Gale's other novels and although it was readable and fairly enjoyable it's not my favourite. Read more
Published on 23 July 2009 by Munky Nuts
great book- still missing alittle something
I would definately say that this book is a great read. It is about a young yet very articulate orphan named Sophie. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2006 by sweetcherrie
Truth Can Be Found In Fantasy
This book is in many ways an accurate portrayal of growing up in a British public school. However, at times it reads like a bored child daydreaming in class. Read more
Published on 19 July 2006 by Mickey Cliddesdene
more 'Mallory Towers' than 'Another Country'
There's nothing particularly wrong with Friendly Fire, it feels effortlessly written, but that's just the problem, it's rather too twee, safe and lacking what... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2006 by Richard Hughes
Harry Potter for Very Grown Ups
Reading Patrick Gale is always time well spent. I am always impressed by the deep levels of understanding and knowledge that he brings to all kinds of situations. Read more
Published on 6 April 2005 by Mrs. Katharine Kirby
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