Another absorbing tale by Patrick Gale, this one set amidst the turbulent adolescence of three characters at an elite private school which reeks of history, tradition and the strictures of class and gender.

Look it's a Patrick Gale novel, of course this was love by the third chapter. A gay English Secret History would be a fitting and yet not fully descriptive note to make about it. As a coming of age novel, Friendly Fire deals so well with issues of family - real and found, love, sexuality and the limits/bounds of sexuality in Gale's usual heat rending beautiful prose.

It's not quite the soul-changing masterpiece that I found Take Nothing With You to be, but it's still a an utter marvel and come for this man and his works and by thunder I'll do you one.

My friend Fanny, who is a huge Patrick Gale fan (and who I interviewed here) gave me a copy of this several birthdays ago but for some reason I never got around to reading it until now, despite thinking that it sounded excellent from the synopsis. I think it was one of those cases of “saving” a book indefinitely and not wanting to be without the option of picking up something that I knew was a good read. Anyway, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I need to read more books by Patrick Gale. He is excellent, and if his books were people they would be witty, slightly neurotic and rather creative introverts, with whom I would like to be friends.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/friendly-fire-by-patrick-gale/]

for some reason, i really love boarding school stories and this one was incredibly charming. patrick gale makes his characters so relatable and funny and sad.

As ever with Patrick Gale, this is an immersive well-written book.

That said, I find it curious that a gay man would write a coming of age book from the perspective of a young teenage girl in a boarding school. It is not that I am against writers imagining things they have not experienced, more that, why would you write about puberty, menstruation, first bras ..... ?

The bar is hugely elevated in this unravelling of the highly strung emotions of adolescence covering so many issues about identity, sexuality, belonging, class, passion, alienation, morality, disgrace all being played out in a homoerotic male school with a few scholarly girls.

Whilst I found it easy to read it really wasn't Gale's best work. I kept thinking of a long ago read novel The Glittering Prizes by Frederick Raphael which dealt with antisemitism and class so much better.

I always enjoy Patrick Gale's stories. They're told with that touch of humour that appeals to me, though this one in fact is somewhat less amusing than some of his previous books. Still, it's a worthwhile tale of an orphan living in a group home who gets the chance to attend a prestigious local school.

The small group of friends she eventually finds herself in, is one on the edges - something I could relate to, never having fit easily into any of the cliques at my own school - and the situation develops into something she is not quite prepared to cope with. The observations of her life, and how she and those around her deal with what she finds herself involved in, leading through sadness and pain, and eventually to a life that fits her perfectly, is well worth the read.

The typical English setting and 1970s atmosphere is also well described, and as always I walked away wishing I could write with the flair that Mr Gale shows.

A very readable private school novel.

See, I'm not quite sure how I felt about this book. A lot happens, and some parts were really true and heartfelt and touching, but overall I don't know how I feel about it. The ending seemed somehow forced, like the loose ends were all being tied together methodically and it felt a little forced. Look forward to potentially discussing this with others.

A different take on the public school novel (seen through the eye of disadvantaged girl), Friendly Fire starts gently but eventually builds up to quite a dramatic climax.

It took me a long time to get into this book. With all of Patrick Gale's other books that I have read I have been taken in by the first page! But I am glad I stuck with it to reach it conclusion. Looking forward to my next Patrick Gale.