Product Description

I'd been kicked out of two boarding schools and the last thing I wanted was to be here, on the East Anglian coast, in a third. But without St. Oswald's, I would not have discovered the fisherman's hut with its roaring fire, its striped blankets, its sea monster stew. Without St. Oswald's, I would not have met the boy with the beautiful eyes, the flickering half-smile, and no past. Without St. Oswald's, I would not have met Finn. And without Finn, there would be no story. Shall we begin?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32766 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
Praise for What I Was: 'Already a classic' – Sunday Times 'Mesmerizing' - Daily Telegraph 'Mordantly funny and searingly well written' - The Times

Review
A plot that is at once thrilling and sensitively told

About the Author
Meg Rosoff had three or four careers in publishing and advertising before writing her highly acclaimed first novel, How I Live Now. She moved from New York City to London in 1989, where she lives with her husband and daughter. What I Was is her third novel, after How I Live Now and Just in Case, for which she was awarded the Carnegie Medal.

Customer Reviews

Subtle, lucid, brilliant - a masterpiece
This is a luminous, lucid, brilliant book - which is ironic, as in some ways it's a book about what isn't said or seen. Told in a subtle, witty, intelligent voice, this is funny, thoughtful and ultimately very moving - so complex and skilful that the "love story" or "coming-of-age story" labels simply don't do justice to it.

In the mundane, bleak world of a sixties boarding school next to the sinking East Anglian coastline, the narrator stumbles on the hut where a boy, Finn, lives alone, fending for himself. Entranced by Finn's beauty, strength, and freedom, he observes and then shares the idyll, escaping from a background of mediocrity and duplicity before inadvertently acting as the catalyst for the destruction of Finn's life. The relationship is perfectly judged - subtle, understated, described with a warmth and honesty that is laudable - and Rosoff encapsulates the feeling of attraction that is less I-want-you than I-want-to-be-you perfectly. The book acknowledges the self-absorption and naivety of the narrator without his losing our sympathy, and while his love for Finn is ambiguous at least it remains one of the most recognisable portrayals of desire I've ever read. In terms of action, it's fairly slow - don't anticipate wars, shootings, plane crashes, car crashes... and yet I found it the most compelling of Rosoff's books, utterly absorbing and truthful. It is also, of course, very funny.

I notice that the new cover is utterly romantic fiction - but don't be put off. This is far more gripping and interesting than it looks. It is probably more of a women's book than a men's one - I found the narrator perfectly male, but then I'm female, and my male friends have expressed some doubts - but it is sharper, more austere and has more integrity than that soft-focus seascape would seem to imply. So buy it anyway. Buy the kids' edition. Or buy one of each.

A story of friendship and love
This is another wonderful book from Meg Rosoff. As she demonstrated in her previous novels How I Live Now and Just In Case, Ms Rosoff has a gift for getting inside the adolescent mind. What I Was is a story of friendship and love, recounted by Hilary in his old age when the coast of East Anglia, where his story unfolds, has slipped into the sea.

It is 1962 and Hilary, a difficult and unhappy 16 year old at a boarding school in Suffolk meets Finn, a boy of his own age who lives alone in a fisherman's cottage and whose enviable existence has somehow escaped the education authorities. The story of their relationship is sensitively and intelligently told, there is a tragedy, a twist and a scandal, and an ending which had this reader in tears.

Young friendships
This is an interesting story of contrasts. Hilary is in his fourth school, having been thrown out of three before this, the school really doesn't provide for him. When he comes across Finn, a youth who lives alone on a tidal island this changes his life. Finn doesn't go to school but has learnt as much as is possible with the resources available.

As time goes on the friendship deepens but can they keep their friendship a secret and what are the secrets that both are holding in their hearts?

It's a story of friendship, of finding a place in the world and of assumptions. It's heartwarming and interesting and would bear re-reading well.