The Wrong Boy

[Skinheads an Nail Varnish]

I don't know if this has been posted before(I am new to thiis forum,and apologise) But I have read this fantastic book (about a Morrissey fan going through life,it is humorous and sad in parts) and is a wonderful read I would highly recommend it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wrong-Boy-W...bs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206235035&sr=8-2

 

[sweet and tender hooligan]

I don't know if this has been posted before(I am new to thiis forum,and apologise) But I have read this fantastic book (about a Morrissey fan going through life,it is humorous and sad in parts) and is a wonderful read I would highly recommend it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wrong-Boy-W...bs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206235035&sr=8-2

Yeah it's a great book

 

[jesuisbryony]

How odd
I was thinking about starting a thread on this a few minutes ago

Personally, The Wrong Boy is rubbish. It's so unrealistic and just .. naf.

 

[Practising Troublemaker]

I think I did a thread ages ago...Love this book, started to lose structure a bit at the end but otherwise a great if not sad little read.

"Grimsby, oh Grimsby,
One Look Is All It Takes,
To See That Sometimes Even God,
Can Make Some Mistakes"

Love PTxx.

 

[boy_afraid_Liverpool]

How odd
I was thinking about starting a thread on this a few minutes ago

Personally, The Wrong Boy is rubbish. It's so unrealistic and just .. naf.

So you dont think that this book highlights exactly how adults can mess up kids lives by failing to listen?

You didnt see that in the book?

What about the bit where they were making judgements about him because all of his drawings at school were in black and not in colour like his peers. They never asked him why, they just presumed it was because he was maudlin or depressed. THe actual reason was that by the time he got to the pens, the only ones ever left were the black ones so he had no choice.

The book is amazing and if you have not read it then rush out and buy it as soon as you can. Especially if you are from a working class background and then maybe you will fully understand the environment that this boy is growing up in. I don't know if it translates as well outside of Blighty (and yes I know you are near Preston but I am saying that for anyone reading this outside of the UK) but as an English man who grew up in a council estate, I completely understand this book and its take on life. Not un-realistic at all in my opinion. Maybe your small village is not quite the same as the environment the book is set in. I am not having a go at you here by the way, I just don't quite get the un-realistic comment because for me it was all very real.

Remember it is a work of fiction, but very like Blood Brothers (written by the same author) it is based around the same sort of working class concepts. Very funny, very sad and a wonderful read.

 

[Practising Troublemaker]

So you dont think that this book highlights exactly how adults can mess up kids lives by failing to listen?

You didnt see that in the book?

What about the bit where they were making judgements about him because all of his drawings at school were in black and not in colour like his peers. They never asked him why, they just presumed it was because he was maudlin or depressed. THe actual reason was that by the time he got to the pens, the only ones ever left were the black ones so he had no choice.

The book is amazing and if you have not read it then rush out and buy it as soon as you can. Especially if you are from a working class background and then maybe you will fully understand the environment that this boy is growing up in. I don't know if it translates as well outside of Blighty (and yes I know you are near Preston but I am saying that for anyone reading this outside of the UK) but as an English man who grew up in a council estate, I completely understand this book and its take on life. Not un-realistic at all in my opinion. Maybe your small village is not quite the same as the environment the book is set in. I am not having a go at you here by the way, I just don't quite get the un-realistic comment because for me it was all very real.

Remember it is a work of fiction, but very like Blood Brothers (written by the same author) it is based around the same sort of working class concepts. Very funny, very sad and a wonderful read.

Couldn't agree more, I guess you really have to be able to relate to the protagonist in order to truly understand...2000 posts!

Love PTxx.

 

[jesuisbryony]

It's not the subject matter I dislike, it's the way it was written.
However much I tried I just couldn't enjoy it that's all.

 

[Practising Troublemaker]

It's not the subject matter I dislike, it's the way it was written.
However much I tried I just couldn't enjoy it that's all.

I agree that it lost a certain, solid style of writing half way through.

Love PTxx.

 

[AHappyRocket]

I'ts a few years since I read it, but I remember it as being fabulous.

Might re-visit it if I can find it. Think I may have lent it tho....

 

[2-J]

I can't remember much of it, I read it many years ago.

I did finish it and it was reasonably exciting, though part of the thrilll was perhaps the Morrissey connection, for me at the time.

As for the lack of realism, don't some of the problems start because the main character is caught trapping flies with his penis? If that's not unrealistic I don't know what is.

 

[Jukebox Jury]

I read it on holiday in 2002 and again last year - the only book I've ever read twice!
Really enjoyed it, though trapping flies in your foreskin was a bit far fetched, but the bits about 'Uncle Bastard Jason' ripping off his mum and things like that was very real. I also have a friend who has a son in a 'special needs school' and really shouldn't be, but once you are institutionalised in these places there's no getting out.

I'd recommend it if anyone hasn't read it yet.

Jukebox Jury

 

[Skinheads an Nail Varnish]

Yes, It's like a the beginning of the book Raymond is playing some of The Smiths tracks to his Mother, an what she says reminds me of my own Mother back then saying to me about Mozzer,and I feel the Authour knows what it feels like to be a Morrissey fan,(and is true at the building site! I know I havebeen scorned!)

 

[Mike Mozfan]

I read it and liked it, it was poignant in many places!

 

[bysshe]

I just finished it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I really loved his gran. My favorite part was the bit about his grandfather and what his gran thought about him. Hilarious.

 

[half a person]

I enjoyed it, but the ending was really crap, ruined the book. It was a bit unrealistic throughout, but the ending was just too much.

 

[boy_afraid_Liverpool]

I think people are missing the point a little. It is not meant to be 100% realistic, its a work of fiction. If it was 100% realistic it would be shit.

It does however come from a real place, the working class (as it was not as it is today) of the UK.

The author' son was in to Morrissey and used to sit in his room playing it, that is how he became aware of Morrissey.

Morrissey is an aside in the book though, you do not have to be a morrissey fan to enjoy the book. It is about childhood, and how adults can cause children so many problems by either failing to listen to them or by just imposing things on them. Prescription drugs for example.

It is a great read, and if you are from a working class background, particularly a British working class background, a lot of this book will ring true to you. But dont lose sight of the elements of fantasy that make the story a work of fiction.

I would be interested to know if any non-british readers have found the book as compelling as I did.

 

[prisoner77]

Willy Russell mentioned it was going to be adapted into a film a while back.

I think if it fell into the wrong hands it could appear very mocking of certain people.