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Review
So filthy, I read it with the door of my office closed, as if afraid of being caught. --Rachel Cooke, The Observer
A very funny and a very decent book... unless laughter is corrupting, it s not going to corrupt anyone. --Robert Nye, The Guardian
A heart-wrenching love story… The first British novel to explore sexuality in such a frank and honest way. --Forum
A very funny and a very decent book... unless laughter is corrupting, it s not going to corrupt anyone. --Robert Nye, The Guardian
A heart-wrenching love story… The first British novel to explore sexuality in such a frank and honest way. --Forum
Product Description
One of the landmark novels of our time, The Hand-Reared Boy was the first British novel to explore, frankly and with unabashed honesty, the sexual awakening of a young boy. Horatio Stubbs grows from childhood to adolescence and his preoccupations (and those of all young men) are described with wit and perception as he reaches puberty. The Hand-Reared Boy was rejected by thirteen publishers before being published in 1970. Readers were more accustomed to Brian Aldiss as a writer of award-winning science fiction. It has now been recognised for what it is an original, delightfully funny description of the young Horatio Stubbs s burgeoning sexuality, the emotions of adolescence had never been treated so explicitly. The Hand-Reared Boy no longer provokes a sense of shock but it has become the classic study of a boy s self-discovery and realisation that other people are more than sexual objects.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite the fact that this book is based at the turn of the last century, nothing has really changed with boys ripening into puberty. This book deals candidly with a boy discovering about his sexuality & masturbation, both on his own, with his brother (and sister for that matter), and with his classmates within an all boys boarding school. It then follows through into his early manhood and into the losing of his virginity although, as in real life, continues to experience the joys of masturbation. Although explicit in every detail, and perhaps not for anyone who is easily offended, The Hand Reared Boy has the ring of a true story that most adult males can relate to. It is bawdy, hilarious, and at times extremely erotic. However, this is an excellent example of the difference between erotica and pornography.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Aldiss' book is best known for lifting the lid on the lights-out goings-on at public schools, but there is far more to the Hand Reared Boy than that. The main protagonist, Horatio, is depicted in the first person. His candour is both amusing and at times, shocking. Horatio indulges in layman's psychology, but does so knowingly and with some lack of respect for the science. Nonetheless, this helps to paint his characters with great depth.
Horatio tells of his recollections of growing up, his constant fascination with corporeal pleasures and his first great love. The narrative is provided long after the original events and so the narrator is able to use his life experiences to understand the other characters better. What seemed like slights to him as a teenager can now be seen with greater empathy.
Although the greater part of the book explores Horatio's relentless pursuit of someone... anyone... to help bring him pleasure, it is neither gratuitous nor pornographic - certainly not by today's standards.
Horatio is born to a middle class family and grows up around the time of WWII, his father having served in WWI. There are strong hints at the dysfunctional family and his mother's psychological problems. His family employs servants and aspires to ever higher social standing. All of these factors: mental illness, class, the treatment of the servants, the social climbing, public school life and the demands on the populace in times of war, are fascinating and provide the story with a depth that lasts well beyond the first reading.
The Hand Reared Boy is a compelling coming of age story as well as a view into a time not so long ago, but increasingly out of reach, covering the turmoils of living through WWII, the sexual revolution and the very significant change in class politics. Horatio's growth is not only sexual, but also emotional and that is what gives this book more substance than might first seem apparent.
Horatio tells of his recollections of growing up, his constant fascination with corporeal pleasures and his first great love. The narrative is provided long after the original events and so the narrator is able to use his life experiences to understand the other characters better. What seemed like slights to him as a teenager can now be seen with greater empathy.
Although the greater part of the book explores Horatio's relentless pursuit of someone... anyone... to help bring him pleasure, it is neither gratuitous nor pornographic - certainly not by today's standards.
Horatio is born to a middle class family and grows up around the time of WWII, his father having served in WWI. There are strong hints at the dysfunctional family and his mother's psychological problems. His family employs servants and aspires to ever higher social standing. All of these factors: mental illness, class, the treatment of the servants, the social climbing, public school life and the demands on the populace in times of war, are fascinating and provide the story with a depth that lasts well beyond the first reading.
The Hand Reared Boy is a compelling coming of age story as well as a view into a time not so long ago, but increasingly out of reach, covering the turmoils of living through WWII, the sexual revolution and the very significant change in class politics. Horatio's growth is not only sexual, but also emotional and that is what gives this book more substance than might first seem apparent.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
At the time it was seen as extremely sexually challenging, touching on the taboo of sex at a public school and not just between the boys but the staff too! Rachel Cooke of The Observer said of it "So filthy, I read it with the door of my office closed, as if afraid of being caught." Well, that was then and it is far from as shocking to the modern reader than it was in it's day, alas.
It tells the story of Horatio Stubbs an upper middle class boy who gets sent to public school to be `improved'. He had already begun the not so innocent sexual experiments of youth and thus his entrance into public school life was fairly well paved.
This is essentially a love story where the love is necessarily hidden like a light, under the proverbial bushel. Aldiss fills the story with period anecdotes and the sort of detail that resonates with a true auto biography and the sort of home spun wisdom that just isn't spun enough anymore, such as "learning to distinguish between facts and fantasies is one of the most vital arts that separates childhood from adulthood. Some people - politicians, actors, the mentally sick - never acquire the art."
So why only 4 stars, well it is very much of its time and I adore it for that but it seemed to be positioned as some sort of sexually enlightening novel that is still risqué by today's standard, but it is most definitely not, it is also really short but that said, this is really quality and not quantity and if you approach it as a semi (forgive the pun) auto biographical love story told in a humorous way, then you will not be disappointed.
It tells the story of Horatio Stubbs an upper middle class boy who gets sent to public school to be `improved'. He had already begun the not so innocent sexual experiments of youth and thus his entrance into public school life was fairly well paved.
This is essentially a love story where the love is necessarily hidden like a light, under the proverbial bushel. Aldiss fills the story with period anecdotes and the sort of detail that resonates with a true auto biography and the sort of home spun wisdom that just isn't spun enough anymore, such as "learning to distinguish between facts and fantasies is one of the most vital arts that separates childhood from adulthood. Some people - politicians, actors, the mentally sick - never acquire the art."
So why only 4 stars, well it is very much of its time and I adore it for that but it seemed to be positioned as some sort of sexually enlightening novel that is still risqué by today's standard, but it is most definitely not, it is also really short but that said, this is really quality and not quantity and if you approach it as a semi (forgive the pun) auto biographical love story told in a humorous way, then you will not be disappointed.
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