Good old book about good old boys
This is a semi-autobiographical novel written almost 90 years ago. You are unlikely to find it at your local bookstore. It deals with life in a British Public (actually private and exclusive) School just before and during The Great War. The topic is a bit outdated, and the scandal it engendered in 1920 because of its homoerotic content is ho-hum boring by contemporary standards. The author was stricken from the old boys list at his actual public school, but seems not to have minded. In any event, he has been dead for several decades. Alec was Evelyn Waugh's brother, part of that remarkable family of writers.
If you have a taste for obscure period pieces, especially with some significance as social history, you may enjoy this book, if you can find a copy. It's not exactly summer beach reading, but like all books written a century or so ago some of the linguistic usages and conventions of punctuation are interesting. The period attitudes which inform the text are occasionally fascinating, though comments regarding contemporary issues can be puzzling, and great fun to contemplate.
Alec went on to write a series of books, set in that sophisticated Art Decoish interwar period, some good, some not. He eventually became more involved with the Caribbean and South Pacific, and wrote "Island in the Sun", his most famous book, which was made into a hit film. This was about 50 years ago, so don't bother checking the schedule at your local multiplex.
