Description
‘Exams tend to corrupt; final exams corrupt finally.’
This novel is about exams, literature, sex, cancer and time.
Part 1:1961: Examining a mind. Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Peter Green and his friends Jack (big, dangerous) and Casey (small, sinister) face final examinations in English. Keen, they discuss their literary ideas. Peter, whose main study-aid is sexual pleasure, discards lissom Arabella, one of his two girlfriends. Competitive exams apparently subvert left-wing ideals. Peter alienates a don, Haggerty. Discoverer of literary ‘covert plotting’, he overlooks real-life covert plots.
Part 2: 1969: Examining a campus. Sussex University.
Jack, tricked by Haggerty, lectures there. Peter quarrels with radical students.
Part 3: 2011: Examining a body. Hospitals in and around London.
Peter undergoes intimate examinations. Death makes incursions.
Now what use is the study of literature?
This ironic novel -- using real exam-papers and real medical reports -- depicts the conflict between mind and body. The book is aimed particularly at students studying English Literature, and at their teachers.
More Information
Endorsements
"'I was fascinated and pleased by "Final Exam" -- a stimulating blend of high energy intellectual and sexual tease." - Ian McEwan (Best-selling author)
Reviews
'A book to treasure! It's not often you read a book that makes you howl with laughter, "google" and slightly envy the authors wonderfully fruity imagination. Not only did I laugh out loud many times, (which must have disrupted the entire neighbourhood) I was compelled with the twists and turns that occur in Peter Green's world. Every examination (whether academic or not) has its trials and tribulations and more importantly requires us to search for answers to sometimes very painful questions. Perhaps this book is a text which makes one question their own journey, value and morality in a world which disappears before us. A rare delight in the literary world and one that should be read by anyone who likes to laugh. After all, it is the best medicine!' (Mr J V Cairns, Amazon review.)
'Challenging and compelling...a fascinating and thought-provoking read' says Katie (Head of a high school English Department).
'It has pace, atmosphere, believable characters and a wonderful wit.' (Robin Flowers, a technical author.)
'A graphic account of what it feels like to take an exam.' (Jon Connell, publisher.)
'To read Peter Green's novel is to confront the mind, body and soul of the grammar school boy turned National (armed) Serviceman turned Cambridge student, in the years when the exam system was at its most difficult. Try the exams in this book. I did and failed. Yet I passed the very same exams when I took them in the 1950s. How could a grammar school compete with Eton? Read this book and find out.' (Andrew Parkin, poet, editor, and Professor Emeritus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.)
'Filthy and digusting, but beautifully written.' ('Maud' on the Kindle website.)
'Ths brilliant...bountiful bonanza, / Worthy of couplet or Spenserian stanza... / I puzzled, yawned, or laughed my rocker off, / Felt like a pedant, clown, or pleb, or toff, / And thought: "What has my friend and colleague done? / Destroyed our occupation? Just had fun?"' (Laurence Lerner, poet, critic, and Emeritus Professor of English.)
'You got a first on your final exam.' (Paul Kirschner, editor and critics, writing to Peter Green.)
Bibliographic Information
- Imprint PublishNation
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781291468991
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 7.99 GBP
- Pages228
- Publish StatusPublished
- ResponsibilityCedric Watts
- Page sizeA5
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