Product Description

I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered, for there's a system and a science in taking the piss out of a screw and I'm a well-trained man at it.' So writes Brendan Behan, poet, writer and literary legend, of the episode that coloured his life. Arrested in Liverpool as an agitator for the IRA, he was tried and sent to reform school. He was sixteen years old. The world he entered was brutal and coldly indifferent. Conditions were primitive, and violence simmered just below the surface. Yet, Brendan Behan found something more positive than hate in borstal: friendship, solidarity and healing flashes of kindness. Extraordinarily vivid, fluent, and moving, it is a superb and unforgettable piece of writing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48174 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 372 pages

About the Author
Brendan Behan was born in Dublin in 1923. A member of the IRA, he was sentanced to three years in Borstal in 1939 and a further fourteen years in 1942. He became a dominant literary figure almost overnight with the 1956 production of his play The Quare Fellow, based on his prison experiences. This recgonition was reinforced by the success of Borstal Boy and his second play, The Hostage. Brendan Behan described his recreations as 'drinking, talking, and swimming' but no factual description could do justice to his flamboyant, larger-than-life character. Generally regarded as irreverent and unpredictable if not actually dangerous, there was nonetheless no publicity which ever obscured his marked talents or his great understanding of human nature. Brendan Behan died in 1964.

Customer Reviews

Funny, compassionate and a great story.
This is an autobiography about Behan's teenage years before and during World War 2, which he spent in a British borstal serving a sentence for IRA membership. I really enjoyed this book which works on more than one level. It is really entertaining - some of the characterisations and turns of phrase are hilarious. It's also a great book about growing up and getting to know yourself. The setting is just a starting point - he shows how he forms friendships with people he thought were his enemies and how he confronts his own prejudices. Don't be put off by what might seem a narrow subject area, because the way Behan tells his own story makes it of universal interest.

The shattering of long held myths
I though for most of my life that both the IRA and anyone who had been sent to a Borstal Institution (a 'bad boys school', I was told) were at best to be feared, at worst to be despised.
With his biography 'Borstal Boy' Brendan Behan effortlessly blows both of my long held myths out of the water.
His account of his time spent under the influence of the British Judicial System, at a tender and incredibly impressionable age is writen with a stunning intermingling of humour and wisdom, and with shocking honesty.
I found it hard to put down, drawn as I was into the lives of 'Paddy''Chewlips' 'Joe' and 'Jock' not to mention 'Jones 538'. It is a great read, but more importantly perhaps, a slight insight into a world populated by young, and often troubled, young men.

Talk about un-put-downable.............
Brilliant!!!!!!!!!! A touching story abount a confused young man who learns that those whom he thought were his natural enemies were in fact no different than himself. In fact they had more in common with him than many of the upper and middle class of his own race. A brilliant and touching book with plenty of light moments as well as a serious underlying lesson for those who believe what they are told rather than basing their opinions of others on their own experiences. We will never see his likes again.