Jim - One (Opener)

A brief refresher of Book One (this used to be posted with Sons of Thunder, but I moved it here)

            If you were to look at the enrollment records from Wellington’s School for Boys from the spring term of 1941 - pretty f*****g unlikely that you would, but for argument’s sake - our story would sound pretty simple. Off the record, there was a whole lot more s**t for us to deal with, but let me give you the short version:

            In March of 1941, despite the looming presence of war, four boys arrived in London to receive their education in the lovely English countryside. They came from different backgrounds: Herschel Abrahamson, a Polish Jew; Erich Amery, from Germany; Gabriel Moretti, a Brit with plenty of Italian in his blood; and me, James Banhart, the reckless and intelligent American with devilish good looks and supreme wit.

            Though they made an unlikely group of comrades, they left what humble mark they could on their beloved alma mater, until that fateful day in May when they went their separate ways. Not one of them actually graduated.

            That’s the short way of telling that story. It’s also the least accurate version imaginable.

            In the short version, there was boiler full of whiskey and cigarettes, no strippers or bombings. Nobody kicked down any doors or caught anyone else wanking. We never stole anything or punched anyone, and nothing ever started on fire. No one ran into any burning buildings, got strangled by a call girl, or contemplated murdering the headmaster. There were no nosebleeds or black eyes or bruised ribs or stitches, and in the end everybody still had all their skin. None of us had sex with anyone’s sister, and there was absolutely zero homosexuality to speak of. No one jumped out of any third-floor windows, got seduced in the middle of an air raid or hurled on the streets of London (for the record, that last one was not me). There were no explosions or bars or dead ex-lovers or secrets. In the short version, the four of us never followed each other to this hellhole ghetto in Poland.

            In short, the short version is pretty boring.

            The problem is that the long version didn’t end so nicely.

Author's Note

A recap of Sons of Thunder

I hope this makes you want to read Sons of Thunder, because you should not be reading this if you haven't!!

Reviews

[Arianna]

ha i have the right to read this, and not to mention this was the best opener.
i think this is fantastic.
i think that this is great.
it really is :D
i love this book I cant wait for the second part.