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    The Old Boys
    The Old Boys
    The Old Boys
    Ebook214 pages3 hours

    The Old Boys

    By William Trevor

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The “wryly entertaining” debut novel of old grudges and petty power struggles from the Whitbread Award–winning author of Love and Summer (The New York Times).

    Graduates of an elite English public school, the septuagenarian members of the Old Boys Association have convened in London to decide who shall be their next president. Mr. Jaraby has been proposed, and unless there is an objection from his circle of peers, he will assume the position automatically. It seems like little more than an excuse to get together and reminisce about old pranks played on the headmaster. But while none of their boyhood bonds have been forgotten, neither have their old cruelties been forgiven.
     
    Mr. Nox certainly remembers Jaraby’s behavior from their time as schoolmates. And when he decides to oppose Jaraby for the presidency, the conflict unleashes decades of buried rivalries, regrets, failures, and the savage nature hidden just beneath good English manners.
     
    “The elemental value of Mr. Trevor’s wryly entertaining story lies less in its grubby specifics than in its illuminating generalities. It reminds us that at every level of every society there are groups of Old Boys cocooned in smug insularity.” —The New York Times
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateMay 21, 2019
    ISBN9781504058094
    The Old Boys
    Author

    William Trevor

    William Trevor KBE was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.

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    Reviews for The Old Boys

    4/5

    29 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I'm a big fan of William Trevor - he writes so well. This is a very early novel, his 2nd I believe, It has more wit and humour than I expected - really very amusing - in particular the dialogue between the leading character (Jaraby) and his wife is sharp and witty.It's about a bunch of men who had all attended the same public school. Now in their dotage they are about to elect a new President of the Old Boys Association. It's not straightforward as old wounds from schooldays generate some bitter rivalry to win the post. The old boys have become a bit dotty, set in their ways, with fixed ideas so they are amusing, but I found the relationship between Jaraby and his wife the most engaging aspect of the novel.
    • 3/5
      funny but cruel. no likable characters.
    • 4/5
      Got this in a omnibus of 3 early novels of Trevor. Never read him before, and to be honest, never heard of him before.Loved this book! Wow, very funny, great dialogue. Pretty basic plotting, but this is his first novel, and all reports seem to indicate ideas and plotting get more complicated and complex as his career goes on. Characters here are funny and as well fleshed out as an ensemble cast can be in 165 pages.Highly recommended to people who like English authors with a decided Pickwickian feel.
    • 3/5
      This was, I believe, Trevor's first novel and it shows. It's the story of the alumni association of a boy's school and the petty mean-spirited ways in which these men act, even years after leaving school behind. At times it is hilarious, but it falls apart at the end and the reader is left without a satisfying resolution.

    Book preview

    The Old Boys - William Trevor

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