- Mass Market Paperback: 132 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (14 July 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316010138
- ISBN-13: 978-0316010139
- Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 1.3 x 17.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 970,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
About the Author
James Hilton is the bestselling author of many beloved books that also became hit movies, including Lost Horizon, Goodbye, Mr Chips and Random Harvest. He was born in Leigh, Lancashire.and passed away in 1954 in Long Beach, California.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This novel summarises the whole career of retired schoolmaster Mr Chipping - known, of course, to his pupils as "Chips" - dwelling on the highlights, which in some cases relate to events in late nineteenth and early twentieth century history that we still remember, not least the First World War. It takes the form of a gentle reminiscence, or appreciation, and includes generous examples of the sort of things for which former schoolboys (sorry, the fictional Fenland school Brooklands was a boys' school) remember their more interesting and influential teachers, and the things that teachers remember of their pupils. Chips was pleased to have taught representatives of as many as three generations of some families, and was not averse to recounting the sins of the father, or even the grandfather, to a class including the latest inheritor of the family failure to rapidly assimilate the finer points of Latin grammar.
In middle age, Chips was married, but sadly only very briefly, for his vivacious young wife died along with their newly born child, we assume from complications at the birth. Whilst she lived, and for ever after, Chips' wife was an important influence on his approach both to his pupils and the political and other affairs of the wider world. Thus the old-fashioned schoolmaster, who could sometimes, but not invariably, surprise with leniency, came to be held with particular affection by his boys, and his insistence on recognising as entire human beings boys from the London slums, a former German master killed fighting on the "wrong" side, and 1926 General Strikers will, we do not doubt, have influenced at least some of them for the better.
The book could be seen as sentimental, and that may account for much of its huge popularity on first publication (1934), but there will be few readers now with an experience of school at all close to that recounted. That helps bring to the fore some of the book's other qualities; among them its picture of life at a minor public school of its time, and the appreciation of the important relationship established between teachers and their pupils. Although much has changed, that relationship remains just as important as in the time of Mr Chips. Because all pupils and many staff so soon move on, schools as institutions have short memories. By contrast, the individual pupils and staff making up those institutions almost invariably remember for the rest of their lives the ethos and atmosphere of the school, and many individual occasions and incidents. It is good to be reminded of that.
In middle age, Chips was married, but sadly only very briefly, for his vivacious young wife died along with their newly born child, we assume from complications at the birth. Whilst she lived, and for ever after, Chips' wife was an important influence on his approach both to his pupils and the political and other affairs of the wider world. Thus the old-fashioned schoolmaster, who could sometimes, but not invariably, surprise with leniency, came to be held with particular affection by his boys, and his insistence on recognising as entire human beings boys from the London slums, a former German master killed fighting on the "wrong" side, and 1926 General Strikers will, we do not doubt, have influenced at least some of them for the better.
The book could be seen as sentimental, and that may account for much of its huge popularity on first publication (1934), but there will be few readers now with an experience of school at all close to that recounted. That helps bring to the fore some of the book's other qualities; among them its picture of life at a minor public school of its time, and the appreciation of the important relationship established between teachers and their pupils. Although much has changed, that relationship remains just as important as in the time of Mr Chips. Because all pupils and many staff so soon move on, schools as institutions have short memories. By contrast, the individual pupils and staff making up those institutions almost invariably remember for the rest of their lives the ethos and atmosphere of the school, and many individual occasions and incidents. It is good to be reminded of that.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
36 reviews
53 of 55 people found the following review helpful
unabashedly sentimental
13 Oct 2000
Format:Hardcover
When we were kids, our grandparents used to take us to Radio City Music Hall for the movie and Christmas Pageant every year. The year I was 12, the movie was a remake of Lost Horizon--my most graphic memory from that night is my horror when the woman suddenly aged after leaving Shangri-La. As it turns out, that version of the movie is pretty dreadful, while Frank Capra's 1937 original is widely considered to be a classic. At any rate, I liked the film enough to read the book and also Hilton's other classic, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and I loved them both. Recently, our library got a restored edition of the Capra film and we enjoyed it thoroughly. So I went back & reread the books.
I assume most folks know at least the rough outlines of the stories. In Lost Horizon, Hugh Conway, a British diplomat, is skyjacked and he & his traveling companions end up in the Himalayas. Eventually they are lead to the hidden Valley of the Blue Moon and the city of Shangri-La, where folks do not age and the powers that be are collecting all of the world's knowledge and greatest artworks, so that it will be safe from the turbulent political storms of the outside world. Eventually, the high lama reveals to the diplomat that he has been chosen to take over leadership of Shangri-La and after an abortive attempt to leave (at the insistence of one of his fellow travelers), Conway returns to assume his destined place in Shangri-La.
Good-bye, Mr. Chips, on the other hand, is about an eccentric but lovable British schoolmaster, Arthur Chipping (Mr. Chips). Seemingly destined to be a bachelor for life, he meets and marries a young woman who loosens him up quite a bit, before dying in childbirth. Chips is left alone, except that is for the succeeding generations of boys who pass through Brookfield School. After decades at the school, he retires, telling the assembled alumni, "I have thousands of faces in my mind. ... I remember you as you are. That's the point. In my mind you never grow old at all", only to be called back during WWI, at which point he becomes acting headmaster. One of his duties is to read the list of the school's war dead; for everyone else they are just names, but for Chips, each name has a face attached. After the War he reretires, after 42 years teaching Roman History and Latin at Brookfield.
On the surface, these two stories couldn't be more different, but reading them now I realize how similar they actually are. Shangri-La is an oasis of civilzation in a world that was after all between two World Wars. It is a place where the great achievements of our culture will be preserved, even if war consumes the rest of the World, which for much of this Century seemed like a possibility. Mr. Chips, meanwhile, is the living embodiment of institutional memory. The classes of boys, the teachers and headmasters, even the subjects and teaching methods, come and go, but Chips has remained throughout. He "still had those ideas of dignity and generosity that a frantic world was forgetting." He embodies the pre-War world and its values. In his book Mr. Bligh's Bad Language, Greg Dening says that: "Institutions require memory. A memory creates precedent and order." In the very midst of an epoch that was witnessing an unfettered attack on all of the West's institutions and values, Hilton created Shangri-La and Mr. Chips; both represent the conservative ideal--providing a bridge of memory to all that is beautiful and good and decent in our past, lest, in our zeal to create a perfect world, we forget the qualities and accomplishments which bequeathed us the pretty good world in which we live.
These books are unabashedly sentimental and I'm sure some would even find them mawkish. But I love them and I appreciate the subtley non-political way in which they make the most important of political points: even as we move forward we must always preserve those things and ideas of value in our past.
Mr. Chips GRADE: A+
Lost Horizon GRADE: A
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A sober, beautifully crafted romance!
20 Feb 2000
Format:Hardcover
Those who dont like this book may as well stop living in this world - the beauty of the world os not for them. This novel-or rather a novellette- breathes softness and romance in every word. Hilton's books are all most precious to me - they convey the feelings of either a world that is lost forever or perhaps a world that never existed but should. The craft of Hilton is apparent in the way he weaves the tale through flashbacks- the switches between the past and the present are so beautifully handled as to make them rarely apparent. The characters of Mr.Chips and Katherine are to my mind, one of the most delightful in fiction. Darcy and Elizabeth leap to mind - but this couple was not too far behind. I just wish it had been a much bigger novel- but small is beautiful they say. DOnt ever miss this one- or "Random Harvest". They are a couple of the best ever reads u will get.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
An Institution within an Institution
21 Dec 2005
Format:Hardcover
It's a rare thing that the movie is better than its source material, but I think (at least for American audiences) that this is true for this novelette.
This is a simple story of the life of an English boarding school teacher, a reminiscence from the vantage point of old age, where the accomplishments and disappointments of his life can be properly seen in their entirety. Starting as a young teacher whose main problem is maintaining discipline in the classroom, who still has at least a few ambitions of becoming headmaster at a possibly more prestigious school, Arthur Chipping is portrayed as an average person with perhaps a proclivity to being dogmatic and unyielding in his opinions and methods of teaching. As he grows older, the ambitions recede, replaced by an acceptance of his place within the system, but his rigidity in outlook becomes more pronounced till he marries. His wife's influence does much to make Arthur not only more accepting of other viewpoints, but a kinder, more compassionate man, whose fairness and length of service does much to endear him to his students. Further events in his life eventually lead to his becoming something of an institution, a fixture as much a part of the school as the walls.
The character of Arthur is obviously well defined and is easy to empathize with. However, for American audiences that are not very familiar with the English school system, there is a vagueness about the school, how it is run and the profound influence it has on its students, a lack of background information and clear portraits of the students that really needs to be there to properly understand Arthur's story. This is where the various movie versions of this story surpass this book, as this background can be easily shown in that medium, whereas the book assumes the reader already knows this type of information. Even with this failing, however, both the respect that Mr. Chipping eventually earns and the overriding theme of the constancy of the institution shaping the lives of its students into proper English gentlemen can be easily seen and appreciated.
This book is quite short, but within its confines it manages to define both its major character and a system of learning very well. For those who attended similar institutions, its ending may very well produce some tears and a feeling of `that was my teacher'. Others not familiar with this type of school may find their time better spent watching the movie.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
This is a simple story of the life of an English boarding school teacher, a reminiscence from the vantage point of old age, where the accomplishments and disappointments of his life can be properly seen in their entirety. Starting as a young teacher whose main problem is maintaining discipline in the classroom, who still has at least a few ambitions of becoming headmaster at a possibly more prestigious school, Arthur Chipping is portrayed as an average person with perhaps a proclivity to being dogmatic and unyielding in his opinions and methods of teaching. As he grows older, the ambitions recede, replaced by an acceptance of his place within the system, but his rigidity in outlook becomes more pronounced till he marries. His wife's influence does much to make Arthur not only more accepting of other viewpoints, but a kinder, more compassionate man, whose fairness and length of service does much to endear him to his students. Further events in his life eventually lead to his becoming something of an institution, a fixture as much a part of the school as the walls.
The character of Arthur is obviously well defined and is easy to empathize with. However, for American audiences that are not very familiar with the English school system, there is a vagueness about the school, how it is run and the profound influence it has on its students, a lack of background information and clear portraits of the students that really needs to be there to properly understand Arthur's story. This is where the various movie versions of this story surpass this book, as this background can be easily shown in that medium, whereas the book assumes the reader already knows this type of information. Even with this failing, however, both the respect that Mr. Chipping eventually earns and the overriding theme of the constancy of the institution shaping the lives of its students into proper English gentlemen can be easily seen and appreciated.
This book is quite short, but within its confines it manages to define both its major character and a system of learning very well. For those who attended similar institutions, its ending may very well produce some tears and a feeling of `that was my teacher'. Others not familiar with this type of school may find their time better spent watching the movie.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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