Forced to go to school one more year to graduate, sixteen-year-old Pennington seems alternately bent on proving he is the thug most of his teachers consider him and the gifted pianist the music master says he is.
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Forced to go to school one more year to graduate, sixteen-year-old Pennington seems alternately bent on proving he is the thug most of his teachers consider him and the gifted pianist the music master says he is.
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
Dust Cover Illustrated. Good Clean Cond. Yes / Dj Mylar Protected. J: Juvenile Literature. Quality Hardback: hard cover edition in Very Good condition, some slight wear to edges, as normal for age of book; and in a Good Dust Jacket with some egde wear and slight chipping. Overall good / nice copy of this scarce title. Excellent reading on the subject. A good book to enjoy and keep on hand for yourself, or would make a GREAT GIFT for the fan / reader in your life. Reading is one of the great pleasures in life. Ex-Library book in good readable condition. Typical library marks, stamps, pocket, stickers or ffep removed. Please send us a note if you have any questions. Thank you.
A wonderfully literate book, the whole trilogy in fact, and I would also recommend the Flambards series by the same (seriously underrated) author.
The eponymous (anti-?)hero Patrick Pennington is a beautifully-drawn characterization of resentful youth, without sugar-coating but with sympathy and understanding. Also humour - some parts of it make me laugh out loud, though it's not really written to be a funny book, just a good story, especially for teenage boys. I loved it as a teenage girl too.
The themes are complex, hard to do justice to in a short review, but it's basically a coming of age novel about a boy whose options are very limited, and who is his own worst enemy. As the story unfolds, he learns that his musical talent might offer him a way out, though not without price, and the author doesn't offer glib or easy answers. Unlike many more recent books, though, it's not written directly to tackle a "social problem", and doesn't come across that way at all.
If I had any slight caveats, I could tell you that it's a bit British in outlook, and some of the issues have dated slightly (hairlength as a bone of contention for example). In a lesser book the final resolution might be considered a deus ex machina, but I personally think the author gets away with it, and it sets up the next two books too.
Caveats aside, some truly evocative writing, excellent depth of character, a good story, what more could one want? If you appreciate quality adolescent literature, I don't think you'll be disappointed, especially since some of these copies are going for less than three dollars.