Winslow Boy (Nick Hern Books)

Rating:
Summary: The Winslow Boy
Review: I enjoyed this play immensely and I also enjoyed the David Mamet film as well--a film that I thought was engrossing and a more than satisfying character study.

I liked how the play speaks of something that we sometimes give little regard to in today's society---the importance of and honor in a good and stable reputation. It was very enlightening to read this tale of a family (especially the father) who was in service of maintaining their son's dignity and place in society.

I was also taken by how this quest for honor taxes the family. My favorite scene in the play also begets my favorite line. The scene where the mother tells the father that he should let their son go on with his ife and not stigmatize him by this singular event is very honest and real. And when the mother says, "When he (their son) is grown, he won't thank you for it."-meaning the preservation of his reputation, I thought the whole idea and point of the story was driven home.

An excellent read indeed

Rating:
Summary: Deep insight into the winslow boy
Review: The book shows the defficenceis of England before WW1.

Overall it is the most boring book i have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: An Exciting, Thoughtful, Beautiful Play
Review: There are two movie adaptations of "The Winslow Boy" available, recently starring Jeremy Northam (1999), and anciently starring Robert Donat (1948). But neither is an adequate substitute for the real thing, the full text by Terence Rattigan. In 1988, PBS broadcast a superb production of the full text, starring Ian Richardson and Emma Thompson, but it has not, unfortunately, been transferred to video.

The play concerns a public battle against the government, waged by a father to vindicate his son, expelled from a naval academy for cashing a stolen money order. Although the crusade is exciting, the play is most interesting in what it reveals about the people intimately involved: the members of the Winslow family, their close friends and their lawyer. The resulting insights and realism are among the story's chief virtues.

At first reading, the play may seem a straightforward tale of innocence versus injustice. But on closer inspection, one finds that the boy's innocence is never proved, and that some in the family deny or doubt it. Moreover, even if he is innocent, the harm to members of the family and to the country from pursuing the case might be greater than the harm from letting it drop. Such uncertainty is frustrating, but life is like that. Crusades are often launched for ends whose worth is unclear. The play is wise to develop this point.

Moreover, the actions and motives of crusaders may be a mixture of good and bad. This may make them harder to join, but certainly interesting and instructive to watch. One admires the boldness, determination and persistence of the father, Arthur Winslow, without whose initiative the crusade would not exist. Yet he is rather a sourpuss, often dominating or humiliating others. His daughter and indispensable lieutenant, Kate, is the most attractive member of the family, bright and realistic but emotionally withheld and often blinded by partisanship. Sir Robert Morton, the celebrated advocate who represents the Winslow boy is a supercilious, cold fish, and a brilliant (unscrupulous?) forensic champion. All three make substantial sacrifices for the sake of their crusade.

The author is a master of surprise and reversal. Much of the dramatic excitement comes when esteemed characters behave badly, or disregarded characters greatly please. Perhaps the most beautiful moment in the play is a marriage proposal to Kate by Desmond Curry, an old family friend whom she rather disdains (and the reader discounts). And the mother, Grace Winslow, whose views have been generally ignored, finally makes a powerful case that the crusade, out of pride and stubbornness, is destroying her husband and family for a son who is uninterested in the result.

Another excellence of the play is its treatment of controversy. On the questions as to whether the crusade is justified and worthwhile, for the family and for the country, the author impartially assigns plausible arguments to the various sides, from the characters, the newspapers they quote, or the proceedings they attend.

An outstanding play, with plenty of food for the intellect, the heart and the soul.